Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Na h-Eileanan an Iar (/nə ˈhɪlənən ənˈjɪər/; Scottish Gaelic pronunciation: [nəˈhelanən əˈɲiəɾ]), formerly Western Isles, is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. It is also one of eight constituencies in the Highlands and Islands electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the eight constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Na h-Eileanan an Iar
county constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Na h-Eileanan an Iar shown within the Highlands and Islands electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Current constituency
Created	1999
Party	Scottish National Party
MSP	Alasdair Allan
Council area	Na h-Eileanan Siar

Electoral region

The Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency is part of the Highlands and Islands electoral region; the other seven constituencies are Argyll and Bute, Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Inverness and Nairn, Moray, Orkney, Shetland and Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch.

The region covers most of Argyll and Bute council area, all of the Highland council area, most of the Moray council area, all of the Orkney Islands council area, all of the Shetland Islands council area and all of Na h-Eileanan Siar.

Constituency boundaries and council area

The Western Isles constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, with the name and boundaries of an existing Westminster constituency. It voted for the first time in the 1999 Scottish Parliament election. From the 2005 United Kingdom general election, however, the name of the Westminster (House of Commons) constituency was changed to Na h-Eileanan an Iar.

The Holyrood constituency covers Na h-Eileanan Siar (the Western Isles council area).

Geographically, the constituency consists of the Outer Hebridean islands. The major islands are Barra, Benbecula, Lewis and Harris, North Uist and South Uist. On the grounds of the remoteness of the constituency from the rest of Scotland, and the difficulties involved in getting from island to island, there is a significantly smaller electorate than in the mainland Scottish Parliament constituencies.[1]

Politics

The seat had been a two-way marginal between the Labour Party and the Scottish National Party for many years. In recent years, however, it has become increasingly safe for the Scottish National Party. Despite that, during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum the constituency voted against independence by a margin of 53.42% (10,544) to 46.58% (9,195) in favour on a turnout of 86.2%[2]

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1999	Alasdair Morrison	Labour
	2007	Alasdair Allan	Scottish National Party

Election results

2010s

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Na h-Eileanan an Iar [3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Alasdair Allan	6,874	52.1	-13.2
	Labour	Rhoda Grant	3,378	25.6	-3.0
	Conservative	Ranald Fraser	1,499	11.4	+7.1
	Scottish Christian	John Cormack	1,162	8.8	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Ken MacLeod	293	2.2	+0.4
Majority			3,496	26.5	-10.2
Turnout			13,206	60.9	+1.7
	SNP hold		Swing	-5.1

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Na h-Eileanan an Iar [4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Alasdair Allan	8,496	65.3	+18.7
	Labour	Donald Crichton	3,724	28.6	-13.0
	Conservative	Charlie McGrigor	563	4.3	-1.2
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Morrison	228	1.8	-4.5
Majority			4,772	36.7	+31.7
Turnout			13,011	59.2	-2.6
	SNP hold		Swing	+15.9

2000s

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Western Isles

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Alasdair Allan	6,354	46.6	+5.4
	Labour	Alasdair Morrison	5,667	41.6	-5.4
	Liberal Democrats	Ruaraidh Ferguson	852	6.3	+2.2
	Conservative	Dave Petrie	752	5.5	+0.6
Majority			687	5.0	N/A
Turnout			13,625	61.8	+3.4
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing	+5.4

Scottish Parliament Election 2003: Western Isles

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alasdair Morrison	5,825	47.0	-3.7
	SNP	Alasdair Nicholson	5,105	41.2	+5.2
	Conservative	Frank Warren	612	4.9	-3.3
	Liberal Democrats	Conor Snowden	498	4.0	+0.8
	Scottish Socialist	Joanne Telfer	347	2.8	+0.4
Majority			720	5.8	-8.9
Turnout			12,387	58.4	-3.3
	Labour hold		Swing

1990s

Scottish Parliament Election 1999: Western Isles

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Alasdair Morrison	7,248	50.7
	SNP	Alasdair Nicholson	5,155	36.0
	Conservative	Jamie McGrigor	1,095	7.6
	Liberal Democrats	John Horne	456	3.2
	Scottish Socialist	Joanne Telfer	347	2.4
Majority			2,093	14.7
Turnout			14,301	61.7
	Labour win (new seat)

Notes

1. See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland Archived 2007-09-21 at the Wayback Machine
2. https://www.bbc.com/news/events/scotland-decides/results
3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/scotland-constituencies/S16000110
4. Statement of Persons Nominated Comhairle nan Eilean Siar