Stirling (UK Parliament Constituency)

Stirling 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

1983–1997: The Stirling District electoral divisions of Airthrey, Bannockburn, Castle, Dounebraes, Menteith, Queensland, St Ninians, Strathendrick, Viewforth, and Wallace.

1997–2005: The Stirling District electoral divisions of Bannockburn, Castle, Dounebraes, Menteith, Queensland, St Ninians, Strathendrick, Viewforth, and Wallace.

2005–present: The Stirling council area.

The constituency covers the whole of the Stirling council area. Most of the area is rural, which has tended to vote Conservative, but there are some large towns in the East, most notably Stirling itself, which used to vote Labour, but has now moved towards SNP. A similar constituency, also called Stirling, is used by the Scottish Parliament.

History

The area covered by the modern constituency was first represented in the British House of Commons in consequence of the Act of Union 1707 in 1708. The county town of Stirling was represented as part of Stirling Burghs and the county was represented by Stirlingshire, each returning one member.

In 1918, Stirling Burghs was abolished and Stirling was then represented by the Stirling & Falkirk Burghs and from 1974 Stirling, Falkirk & Grangemouth constituencies. Along with Clackmannanshire the county was meanwhile represented by Clackmannan and Eastern Stirlingshire and Stirling and Clackmannan Western (later Stirlingshire West).

The modern constituency of Stirling was established in 1983. In 2005 the west portion of Ochil was moved into Stirling.

Constituency profile and voting patterns

Constituency profile

The seat is large, in Central Scotland and covers the Stirling council area.

Its population is concentrated around the historic City of Stirling and surrounding areas of Bannockburn, Bridge of Allan and Dunblane on its eastern fringes around the River Forth and its lower tributaries. This area consists of a mixture of Conservative-leaning suburbs to the north and west, such as Bridge of Allan and Dunblane and the Stirling suburbs of Cambusbarron, Kings Park and Torbrex, and somewhat more secessionist and poorer SNP or Labour-voting areas such as Raploch and south-east Stirling, in addition to Bannockburn, and the villages of Cowie, Fallin and Plean south-east of the city.

Boundaries stretch up to the west following the Valleys of the River Forth and Teith, running up into the wooded glens of the Trossachs on the eastern side of the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, such as the more sparsely populated eastern shore of Loch Lomond, and it takes in a variety of fresh water lochs, such as Loch Katrine and Loch Venachar.

A number of small villages dot the corridors of the A84, A85 and A811 roads, including Callander, widely recognised as the gateway to the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, and more widely as the gateway to the Scottish Highlands. The scenic areas mentioned have proven especially rich territory for successful Conservative candidates and campaigns, hosting many retirees and wealthy investors.

Voting patterns

When the Stirling constituency was first created for the 1983 general election, combining northern elements of the West Stirlingshire constituency with the town of Stirling from the Stirling, Falkirk and Grangemouth constituency and southern elements of the old Kinross and West Perthshire constituency it was thought of as a fairly safe Conservative seat, with Michael Forsyth winning the seat with a majority of 5,133 votes. It became a tight Labour-Conservative marginal