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Perth and East Perthshire (UK Parliament constituency)

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Perth and East Perthshire
Former county constituency
for the House of Commons
Major settlementsPerth
19501983
SeatsOne
Created fromPerth

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.

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.[1]

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.[1]

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 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.[1]

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.

Member of Parliament

Election Member[2] Party Notes
style="background-color: Template:Unionist Party (Scotland)/meta/color" | 1950 Sir Alan Gomme-Duncan Unionist previously MP for Perth
style="background-color: Template:Unionist Party (Scotland)/meta/color" | 1959 Ian MacArthur Unionist
style="background-color: Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color" | Oct 1974 Douglas Crawford SNP
style="background-color: Template:Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party/meta/color" | 1979 Bill Walker Conservative
1983 constituency abolished: see Perth and Kinross

Election results

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Perth and East Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Bill Walker 20,153 42.0 +3.1
SNP Douglas Crawford 17,050 35.5 −5.3
Labour W.F. McKenzie 6,432 13.4 −0.3
Liberal B. Goudie 4,410 9.2 +2.5
Majority 3,103 6.5
Turnout 48,045 77.3 +3.5
Conservative gain from SNP Swing +4.2
General Election October 1974: Perth and East Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Douglas Crawford 17,337 40.8 +13.6
Conservative Ian MacArthur 16,544 38.9 −8.4
Labour J. White 5,805 13.7 −1.5
Liberal R. Duncan 2,851 6.7 −3.7
Majority 793 1.9
Turnout 42,537 73.8
SNP gain from Conservative Swing +11.0
General Election February 1974: Perth and East Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ian MacArthur 21,167 47.3 −4.8
SNP Douglas Crawford 12,192 27.2 +3.4
Labour V.A. Friel 6,784 15.2 −8.6
Liberal K. Smith 4,644 10.4 +3.2
Majority 8,975 20.0
Turnout 44,787 78.3 +4.8
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1970: Perth and East Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ian MacArthur 21,860 52.1
Labour V.A. Friel 9,972 23.8
SNP D.C. Murray 7,112 17.0
Liberal R. Livsey 3,011 7.2
Majority 11,888 28.3
Turnout 41,955 73.5
Conservative hold Swing

Notes and references