Perth and East Perthshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Last updated

Perth and East Perthshire
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
Major settlements Perth
19501983
Number of membersOne
Replaced by Perth & Kinross and Tayside North [1]
Created from Perth

Perth and East Perthshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 to 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Contents

Boundaries

The constituency was defined by the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949 and first used in the 1950 general election. The boundaries were exactly those of the preceding Perth constituency, and it was one of two constituencies covering the county of Perth and the county of Kinross. The other was Kinross and West Perthshire. [2]

The Perth and East Perthshire constituency was defined as covering the burghs of Abernethy, Alyth, Blairgowrie, Coupar Angus, Perth, and Rattray in the county of Perth and the Blairgowrie, and Perth districts of the county. [2]

1950 boundaries were used also for the general elections of 1951, 1955, 1959, 1964, 1966 and 1970.

For the February 1974 general election, the results of the Second Periodical Review of the Boundary Commission were implemented, and there was a minor change to the boundaries of Perth and East Perthshire. It was redefined as covering the burghs of Abernethy, Alyth, Blairgowrie and Rattray (now a single burgh), Coupar Angus, and Perth in the county of Perth, and the Eastern, and Perth districts of the county. [2]

February 1974 boundaries were used also in the general elections of October 1974 and 1979.

In 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, counties and burghs throughout Scotland had been abolished in favour of regions and districts and islands council areas. The county of Kinross and most of the county of Perth had been merged into the Tayside region. The burghs of Callander, Doune, and Dunblane in the county of Perth, the Perth parish of Muckhart and the Western district of the county (except the electoral division of Ardoch) had been merged into the Central region.

New constituency boundaries, taking account of new local government boundaries, were adopted for the 1983 general election. Constituencies defined to cover the Tayside region included Perth and Kinross.

Members of Parliament

ElectionMember [3] PartyNotes
1950 Sir Alan Gomme-Duncan Unionist previously MP for Perth
1959 Ian MacArthur Unionist
Oct 1974 Douglas Crawford SNP
1979 Bill Walker Conservative
1983 constituency abolished: see Perth and Kinross

Election results

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Perth and East Perthshire [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Alan Gomme-Duncan 24,850 56.1
Labour William Hughes 11,70626.4
SNP Donald Stewart4,1189.3
Liberal John Lamont Wilson3,6238.2
Majority13,14429.7
Turnout 44,29781.6
Unionist win (new seat)
General election 1951: Perth and East Perthshire [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Alan Gomme-Duncan 25,798 50.4 -5.7
Labour Neil McBride 11,16725.7-0.7
SNP Robert McIntyre 6,47914.9+5.6
Majority14,63133.7+4.0
Turnout 43,444
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1955: Perth and East Perthshire [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Alan Gomme-Duncan 22,948 56.7 +6.3
SNP Robert McIntyre 9,22722.8+7.9
Labour John B Urquhart8,31320.5-5.2
Majority13,72133.9+0.2
Turnout 40,488
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1959: Perth and East Perthshire [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Ian MacArthur 24,217 58.2 +1.5
SNP Robert McIntyre 9,63723.1+0.3
Labour Thomas W Moore7,78118.7-1.8
Majority14,58035.1+1.2
Turnout 41,63575.6
Unionist hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Perth and East Perthshire [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist Ian MacArthur 23,912 57.9 -0.3
Labour Frederick L Forrester10,18424.7+6.0
SNP Robert McIntyre 7,18617.4-5.7
Majority13,72833.2-1.8
Turnout 41,28275.60.0
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1966: Perth and East Perthshire [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Ian MacArthur 22,129 56.5 -1.4
Labour James Jennings10,91127.9+3.2
SNP Malcolm B Shaw6,12815.6-1.8
Majority11,21828.6-4.6
Turnout 39,16872.3-3.3
Conservative hold Swing -2.3

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Perth and East Perthshire
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Ian MacArthur 21,860 52.1 -4.4
Labour Valerie A. Friel9,97223.8-4.1
SNP Duncan C. Murray7,11217.0+1.4
Liberal Richard Livsey 3,0117.2New
Majority11,88828.3-0.3
Turnout 41,95573.5+1.2
Conservative hold Swing -0.2
General election February 1974: Perth and East Perthshire
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Ian MacArthur 21,167 47.3 4.8
SNP Douglas Crawford 12,19227.2+3.4
Labour Valerie A. Friel6,78415.28.6
Liberal K. Smith4,64410.4+3.2
Majority8,97520.1-8.2
Turnout 44,78778.3+4.8
Conservative hold Swing
General election October 1974: Perth and East Perthshire
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
SNP Douglas Crawford 17,337 40.8 +13.6
Conservative Ian MacArthur 16,54438.98.4
Labour J. White5,80513.71.5
Liberal R. Duncan2,8516.73.7
Majority7931.9N/A
Turnout 42,53773.8-4.5
SNP gain from Conservative Swing +11.0
General election 1979: Perth and East Perthshire
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative William Connoll Walker 20,153 42.0 +3.1
SNP Douglas Crawford 17,05035.55.3
Labour W.F. McKenzie6,43213.40.3
Liberal B. Goudie4,4109.2+2.5
Majority3,1036.5N/A
Turnout 48,04577.3+3.5
Conservative gain from SNP Swing +4.2

Notes and references

  1. "'Perth and East Perthshire', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972 ( ISBN   0-900178-09-4), F. W. S. Craig 1972
  3. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "P" (part 1)
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig

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