Argyll and Bute (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Argyll and Bute (UK Parliament constituency).

Argyll and Bute (Gaelic: Earra-Ghàidheal agus Bòd) is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering most of the council area of Argyll and Bute. 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.

Argyll and Bute
County constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Argyll and Bute shown within the Highlands and Islands electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Population	60,394 (2019)[1]
Current constituency
Created	1999
Party	Scottish National Party
MSP	Jenni Minto
Council area	Argyll and Bute

The seat has been held by Jenni Minto of the Scottish National Party since the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.

Electoral region

See also: Highlands and Islands (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

The Argyll and Bute constituency is part of the Highlands and Islands electoral region; the other seven constituencies are Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Inverness and Nairn, Moray, Na h-Eileanan an Iar, 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 Argyll and Bute constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of an existing Westminster constituency. In 2005, however, the Westminster (House of Commons) constituency was enlarged slightly.^[2]

The Holyrood constituency covers most of the Argyll and Bute council area. The rest of the council area (which includes the town of Helensburgh) is covered by the Dumbarton constituency in the West Scotland electoral region. The Argyll and Bute Westminster constituency has covered the whole of the council area since 2005.

From the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, boundary changes altered the existing Argyll and Bute constituency. All but three electoral wards of the Argyll and Bute council area were used in the creation of the new seat, namely:

• Cowal, Dunoon, Isle of Bute, Kintyre and the Islands, Mid Argyll, Oban North and Lorn, Oban South and the Isles, South Kintyre.

As of 2019, Argyll and Bute's population (60,394) was the lowest among the 70 Holyrood mainland constituencies, barely two-thirds of the total of those at the top of the list, headed by Linlithgow which had over 95,000 within its boundaries.^[1]

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1999	George Lyon	Liberal Democrats
	2007	Jim Mather	Scottish National Party
	2011	Michael Russell
	2021	Jenni Minto

Election results

Argyll & Bute election results 1999-2021

2020s

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Argyll and Bute^[3]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Jenni Minto	16,608	49.5	3.5	13,966	41.5	0.2
	Conservative	Donald Cameron[a][b]	7,645	22.8	3.0	8,563	25.5	1.3
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Reid	6,874	20.5	5.2	3,659	10.9	2.1
	Labour	Lewis Whyte	2,436	7.3	1.2	2,829	8.4	0.9
	Scottish Green					2,661	7.9	0.4
	Alba					589	1.8	New
	Independent	Andy Wightman[c]				423	1.3	New
	All for Unity					290	0.9	New
	Scottish Family					189	0.6	New
	Abolish the Scottish Parliament					113	0.3	New
	Freedom Alliance (UK)					67	0.2	New
	Reform UK					63	0.2	New
	Scottish Libertarian					60	0.2	New
	UKIP					59	0.2	2.1
	Restore Scotland					36	0.1	New
	TUSC					32	0.1	New
	Independent	Hazel Mansfield				29	0.1	New
Majority			8,963	26.7	6.4
Valid Votes			33,563			33,628
Invalid Votes			165			84
Turnout			33,728	67.8	6.8	33,712	67.8	6.8
	SNP hold		Swing		0.3
Notes Incumbent member on the party list Re-elected via list Incumbent member on the list for Lothian region, having been elected as a member of the Scottish Greens in 2016

2010s

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Argyll and Bute^[4][5]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Michael Russell[a]	13,561	46.0	4.6	12,327	41.7	7.8
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Reid	7,583	25.7	13.5	3,856	13.0	4.9
	Conservative	Donald Cameron	5,840	19.8	1.5	7,151	24.2	8.6
	Labour	Mick Rice	2,492	8.5	6.8	2,739	9.3	5.0
	Scottish Green					2,213	7.5	2.6
	UKIP					679	2.3	0.9
	Scottish Christian					193	0.7	0.2
	Solidarity					162	0.5	0.3
	Independent	James Stockan				153	0.5	New
	RISE					86	0.3	New
Majority			5,978	20.3	12.0
Valid Votes			29,476			29,559
Invalid Votes			116			36
Turnout			29,592	61.0	6.6	29,295	61.0	6.5
	SNP hold		Swing		9.1
Notes Incumbent member for this constituency

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Argyll and Bute^[6][7]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Michael Russell[a]	13,390	50.6	N/A	13,172	49.5	N/A
	Conservative	Jamie McGrigor[a]	4,847	18.3	N/A	4,156	15.6	N/A
	Labour	Mick Rice	4,041	15.3	N/A	3,804	14.3	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Alison Hay	3,220	12.2	N/A	2,155	8.1	N/A
	Scottish Green					1,304	4.9	N/A
	Independent	George Doyle	542	2.0	N/A
	All-Scotland Pensioners Party					436	1.6	N/A
	UKIP					362	1.4	N/A
	Liberal	George White	436	1.6	N/A	247	0.9	N/A
	Scottish Christian					231	0.9	N/A
	Socialist Labour					204	0.8	N/A
	Ban Bankers Bonuses					198	0.7	N/A
	BNP					183	0.9	N/A
	Scottish Socialist					95	0.4	N/A
	Solidarity					50	0.2	N/A
Majority			8,543	32.3	N/A
Valid Votes			26,476			26,597
Invalid Votes			120			61
Turnout			26,596	54.4	N/A	26,658	54.5	N/A
	SNP win (new boundaries)
Notes Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency

2000s

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Argyll and Bute

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Jim Mather	9,944	34.5	+14.9
	Liberal Democrats	George Lyon	9,129	31.7	−3.4
	Conservative	Jamie McGrigor	5,571	19.4	−0.7
	Labour	Mary Galbraith	4,148	14.4	−3.9
Majority			815	2.8	N/A
Turnout			28,792	58.9	+1.1
	SNP gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing	+9.2

2003 Scottish Parliament election: Argyll and Bute

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	George Lyon	9,817	35.1	+0.2
	Conservative	Dave Petrie	5,621	20.1	+3.6
	SNP	Jim Mather	5,485	19.6	−8.9
	Labour	Hugh Raven	5,107	18.3	−1.8
	Scottish Socialist	Des Divers	1,667	5.9	New
	Scottish People's	David Walker	251	0.9	New
Majority			4,196	15.0	+8.6
Turnout			27,948	57.8	−7.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

1990s

1999 Scottish Parliament election: Argyll and Bute

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	George Lyon	11,226	34.9
	SNP	Duncan Hamilton	9,169	28.5
	Labour	Hugh Raven	6,470	20.1
	Conservative	David Petrie	5,312	16.5
Majority			2,057	6.4
Turnout			32,177	64.8
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)