Moray (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Moray (Scottish Parliament constituency).

Coordinates: 57°30′43″N 3°14′53″W / 57.512°N 3.248°W / 57.512; -3.248

Moray
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Moray in Scotland.
Current constituency
Created	()
Member of Parliament	Angus Robertson (SNP)
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	Scotland

Moray is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Boundaries

The constituency covers the whole of the Moray council area. Between 1997 and 2005, it covered a slightly smaller area. A similar constituency, also called Moray, is used for elections to the Scottish Parliament.

The Moray constituency is bordered by the constituencies of:

• Banff and Buchan
• Gordon
• West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine
• Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey

History

It was created in 1983 from parts of the former seats of Moray and Nairn & Banff.

Member of Parliament

The MP since 2001 is Angus Robertson, who leads the Scottish National Party in the House of Commons. The overall SNP leader, Alex Salmond, is an MSP and Scotland's First Minister.

Election		Member [1]	Party
	1983	Alex Pollock	Conservative
	1987	Margaret Ewing	SNP
	2001	Angus Robertson	SNP

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Angus Robertson	16,273	39.7%	+3.1%
	Conservative	Douglas Ross	10,683	26.1%	+4.1%
	Labour	Kieron Green	7,007	17.1%	-3.3%
	Liberal Democrat	James Paterson	5,965	14.5%	-4.7%
	UKIP	Donald Gatt	1,085	2.6%	+2.6%
Majority			5,590	13.6%
Turnout			41,004	62.2%	+3.0
	SNP hold		Swing	-0.5%

On 9 April 2010 the prospective Labour candidate Stuart MacLennan was sacked by the Labour party following offensive comments MacLennan had made on the social networking service Twitter, calling elderly voters "coffin dodgers" and referring to leaders of other political parties (and other candidates from his own party) in four letter terms.^[3][4]

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Moray
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Angus Robertson	14,196	36.6	+7.2
	Conservative	Jamie Halcro-Johnston	8,520	22.0	−0.9
	Labour	Kevin Hutchens	7,919	20.4	−3.9
	Liberal Democrat	Linda Gorn	7,460	19.2	+1.2
	Scottish Socialist	Norma Anderson	698	1.8	−0.6
Majority			5,676	14.6
Turnout			38,793	58.4	+1.2
	SNP hold		Swing	+4.1

General Election 2001: Moray
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Angus Robertson	10,076	30.3	−11.2
	Labour	Catriona Munro	8,332	25.1	+5.2
	Conservative	Frank Spencer-Nairn	7,677	23.1	−4.5
	Liberal Democrat	Linda Gorn	5,224	15.7	+6.8
	Scottish Socialist	Norma Anderson	821	2.5	N/A
	Independent (politician)	Bill Jappy	802	2.4	N/A
	UKIP	Nigel Kenyon	291	0.9	N/A
Majority			1,744	5.2
Turnout			33,223	57.4	−10.8
	SNP hold		Swing

General Election 1997: Moray
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Margaret Ewing	16,529	41.6
	Conservative	Andrew Findlay	10,963	27.6
	Labour	Lewis Macdonald	7,886	19.8
	Liberal Democrat	Debra Storr	3,548	8.90
	Referendum Party	Paddy Mieklejohn	840	2.1
Majority			5,566	14.0
Turnout			39,766	68.2	-4.5
	SNP hold		Swing	3.5% Con to SNP

General Election 1992: Moray
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Margaret Ewing	20,299	44.3
	Conservative	Roma Hossack	17,455	38.1
	Labour	Conal Smith	5,448	11.9
	Liberal Democrat	Brinsley Sheridan	2,634	5.7
Majority			2,844	6.2
Turnout			45,836	73.2
	SNP hold		Swing

General Election 1987: Moray
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Margaret Ewing	19,510	43.2
	Conservative	Alexander Pollock	15,825	35.0
	Labour	Conal Smith	5,118	11.3
	Liberal	D G M Skene	4,724	10.5
Majority			3,685	8.2
Turnout			45,177	72.6
	SNP gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1983: Moray
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alexander Pollock	16,944	39.2
	SNP	Hamish Watt	15,231	35.2
	Liberal	M R Burnett	7,901	18.3
	Labour	Jim Kiddie	3,139	7.3
Majority			1,713	4.0
Turnout			43,215	71.1

References

1. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 3)
2. ^ Moray UK Polling
3. ^ "Twitter abuse Stuart MacLennan candidate removed". BBC News. 9 April 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/scotland/8610934.stm. Retrieved 9 April 2010. 
4. ^ Naughton, Philippe (9 April 2010). "Labour candidate Stuart MacLennan sacked over Twitter rants". London: Times Online. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7093061.ece. Retrieved 10 April 2010. 

Sources

• Election result, 2010 (BBC)
• Election result, 2005 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997 - 2001 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997 - 2001 (Election Demon)
• Election results, 1983 - 1992 (Election Demon)
• Election results, 1992 - 2005 (Guardian)

See also