Banff and Buchan (UK Parliament constituency)

For the former Scottish Parliament constituency, see Banff and Buchan (Scottish Parliament constituency).

Banff and Buchan
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Banff and Buchan in Scotland
Major settlements	Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Turriff
1983–2024
Created from	Aberdeenshire East and Banffshire [1]
Replaced by	Aberdeenshire North and Moray East

Banff and Buchan was a constituency of the House of Commons, located in the north-east of Scotland within the Aberdeenshire council area. It elected one Member of Parliament at least once every five years using the first-past-the-post system of voting.

The seat was most recently held by David Duguid of the Scottish Conservatives from 2017; until then the Scottish National Party (SNP) had held the seat since 1987, with the then First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond representing the seat until 2010 and Eilidh Whiteford until 2017.

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was subject to boundary changes which involved expansion into eastern parts of Moray. As a consequence, it was renamed Aberdeenshire North and Moray East, which was first contested at the 2024 general election. ^[2]

Constituency profile

A mostly rural constituency, it took in the towns of Fraserburgh, Peterhead and Turriff, and the main industries are fishing and tourism. ^[3]

The Aberdeenshire council area as a whole voted against Scottish independence in 2014. ^[4]

61% of people in constituency are estimated to have voted in favour of leaving the European Union in the 2016 Brexit referendum. ^[5]

In 2010, Eilidh Whiteford succeeded Alex Salmond as the MP for Banff and Buchan, but the SNP vote share fell below 50% for the first time since 1992, due to a strong challenge by the Conservative Party. In the 2015 general election, the SNP achieved its best-ever result in the constituency, with Whiteford winning a 60.2% share of the vote and increasing her majority by more than 10,300 votes.

In 2017, the constituency saw the second-largest swing to the Conservatives in all of Scotland (20.2%), bested only by the swing achieved by Colin Clark in defeating Salmond in the neighbouring seat of Gordon (20.4%). Observers attributed this to anger at the SNP's opposition to Brexit and support for a second independence referendum. After the election, The Guardian reported, "In the coastal town of Peterhead, locals at the Waverley hotel were toasting Salmond's first defeat since being elected as an MP in 1987. Murdo MacKenzie, 51, a former fisherman, said there was a lot of anger about Sturgeon's stance on Europe. 'Europe is dictating our fishing quotas. I've voted SNP all my life but if you take the power away from Westminster and hand it to Brussels, how is that independence?'" ^[6]

At the 2019 general election, Banff and Buchan's Conservative vote share bucked the Scottish trend and increased by 2.1%, increasing David Duguid's majority to over 4,000 votes and taking over 50% of the vote share.

Boundaries

Map of boundaries 2005-2024

1983–1997: Banff and Buchan District.

1997–2005: The Banff and Buchan District electoral divisions of Banff and Portsoy, Deveron, Fraserburgh North, Fraserburgh South, Mid Buchan, Peterhead North, Peterhead South, and Ugie, Cruden and Boddam.

2005–2024: The Aberdeenshire Council wards of Durn, Banff West and Boyndie, Banff, Aberchirder, Macduff, Gamrie King Edward, Buchan North, Fraserburgh West, Fraserburgh North, Fraserburgh East, Fraserburgh South, Buchan North East, South Buchan, Central Buchan, Lonmay and St Fergus, Mintlaw Old Deer, Mintlaw Longside, Boddam Inverugie, Blackhouse, Buchanhaven, Peterhead Central Roanheads, Clerkhill, Dales Towerhill, Cruden, Turriff West, Turriff East, Upper Ythan, and Fyvie Methlick.

As created in 1983, the constituency replaced part of East Aberdeenshire and part of Banffshire.

New boundaries were used for the 2005 general election, as recommended by the Fifth Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland, ^[7] and the constituency was one of five covering the Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City council areas. The Banff and Buchan constituency was entirely within the Aberdeenshire area, covering a northern portion of it. To the south, Gordon included part of the Aberdeenshire area and part of the Aberdeen City area. Further south, West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine continues to be entirely within the Aberdeenshire area and Aberdeen North and Aberdeen South are entirely within the Aberdeen City area.

As of its abolition, the Banff and Buchan constituency continued to include the port towns of Peterhead and Fraserburgh, along with Turriff which was formerly within the Gordon constituency.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1983	Albert McQuarrie	Conservative
	1987	Alex Salmond	SNP
	2010	Eilidh Whiteford
	2017	David Duguid	Conservative

Election results

Banff election results

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Banff and Buchan ^{[8] [9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Duguid	21,182	50.1	+2.1
	SNP	Paul Robertson	17,064	40.4	+1.3
	Liberal Democrats	Alison Smith	2,280	5.4	+1.9
	Labour	Brian Balcombe	1,734	4.1	−5.4
Majority			4,118	9.7	+0.8
Turnout			42,260	63.4	+1.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.4

General election 2017: Banff and Buchan ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Duguid [12]	19,976	48.0	+19.2
	SNP	Eilidh Whiteford [13]	16,283	39.1	−21.1
	Labour	Caitlin Stott	3,936	9.5	+3.7
	Liberal Democrats	Galen Milne	1,448	3.5	−1.6
Majority			3,693	8.9	N/A
Turnout			41,643	61.6	−4.9
	Conservative gain from SNP		Swing	+20.2

General election 2015: Banff and Buchan ^{[14] [15]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Eilidh Whiteford	27,487	60.2	+18.9
	Conservative	Alex Johnstone	13,148	28.8	−2.0
	Labour	Sumon Hoque1	2,647	5.8	−8.2
	Liberal Democrats	David Evans	2,347	5.1	−6.2
Majority			14,339	31.4	+18.9
Turnout			45,629	66.5	+6.7
	SNP hold		Swing	+10.5

¹: After nominations were closed, Hoque was suspended from the Labour Party when he was charged with multiple driving offences. ^[16]

General election 2010: Banff and Buchan ^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Eilidh Whiteford	15,868	41.3	−9.9
	Conservative	Jimmy Buchan	11,841	30.8	+11.4
	Labour	Glen Reynolds	5,382	14.0	+2.0
	Liberal Democrats	Galen Milne	4,365	11.3	−2.0
	BNP	Richard Payne	1,010	2.6	New
Majority			4,027	12.5	−19.3
Turnout			38,466	59.8	+3.2
	SNP hold		Swing	−10.6

The swing of 10.6% to the Conservatives in Banff and Buchan was the largest swing in Scotland at the 2010 general election. ^[18]

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Banff and Buchan ^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Alex Salmond	19,044	51.2	+2.3
	Conservative	Sandy Wallace	7,207	19.4	−2.1
	Liberal Democrats	Eleanor Anderson	4,952	13.3	−0.6
	Labour	Rami Okasha	4,476	12.0	−1.5
	Christian Vote	Victor Ross	683	1.8	New
	UKIP	Kathleen Kemp	442	1.2	+0.3
	Scottish Socialist	Steve Will	412	1.1	−0.3
Majority			11,837	31.8	−2.3
Turnout			37,216	56.6	+2.2
	SNP hold		Swing	−1.1

General election 2001: Banff and Buchan ^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Alex Salmond	16,710	54.2	−1.6
	Conservative	Sandy Wallace	6,207	20.1	−3.7
	Labour	Ted Harris	4,363	14.2	+2.4
	Liberal Democrats	Douglas Herbison	2,769	9.0	+3.0
	Scottish Socialist	Alice Rowan	447	1.5	New
	UKIP	Eric Davidson	310	1.0	New
Majority			10,503	34.1	+2.1
Turnout			30,806	54.4	−14.3
	SNP hold		Swing	+1.1

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Banff and Buchan ^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Alex Salmond	22,409	55.8	+4.9
	Conservative	William Frain-Bell	9,564	23.8	−10.9
	Labour	Megan Harris	4,747	11.8	+3.2
	Liberal Democrats	Neil Fletcher	2,398	6.0	+0.1
	Referendum	Alan Buchan	1,060	2.6	New
Majority			12,845	32.0	+23.1
Turnout			40,178	68.7	−2.5
	SNP hold		Swing	+11.5

General election 1992: Banff and Buchan ^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Alex Salmond	21,954	47.5	+3.2
	Conservative	Sandy Manson	17,846	38.6	−0.1
	Labour	Brian Balcombe	3,803	8.2	+0.7
	Liberal Democrats	Rhona Kemp	2,588	5.6	−4.0
Majority			4,108	8.9	+3.3
Turnout			46,191	71.2	+0.4
	SNP hold		Swing	+1.7

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Banff and Buchan ^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Alex Salmond	19,462	44.3	+6.9
	Conservative	Albert McQuarrie	17,021	38.7	−1.0
	SDP	George Burness	4,211	9.6	−5.4
	Labour	James Livie	3,281	7.5	−0.3
Majority			2,441	5.6	N/A
Turnout			43,975	70.8	+3.8
	SNP gain from Conservative		Swing	+3.9

General election 1983: Banff and Buchan ^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Albert McQuarrie	16,072	39.7	−3.0
	SNP	Douglas Henderson	15,135	37.4	−3.1
	SDP	Edward Needham	6,084	15.0
	Labour	Ian Lloyd	3,150	7.8	−9.1
Majority			937	2.3	+0.1
Turnout			40,441	67.0
	Conservative win (new seat)

References

Specific

1. "'Banff and Buchan', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
2. Boundary Commission Scotland 2023 Review Report
3. "Vote 2001 - Results & Constituencies: Banff & Buchan". BBC News . Retrieved 13 August 2011.
4. "Aberdeenshire says 'No thanks' to independence". Fraserburgh Herald. 22 September 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
5. "Banff and Buchan". Democratic Dashboard. Archived from the original on 29 May 2021.
6. Summers, Hannah (10 June 2017). "'The minute that Sturgeon talked about another referendum, that was it'". The Guardian . London. Archived from the original on 29 May 2021.
7. "Fifth Periodical Review". Boundary Commission for Scotland . Archived from the original on 9 October 2007.
8. "General Election 2019". Aberdeenshire Council. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
9. "Banff & Buchan parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News . Retrieved 15 December 2019.
10. "Commons Briefing Paper 8749. General Election 2019: results and analysis" (PDF). London: House of Commons Library. 28 January 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
11. "Commons Briefing Paper 7979. General Election 2017: results and analysis" (PDF) (Second ed.). House of Commons Library. 29 January 2019 [7 April 2018]. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 November 2019.
12. "Whiteford facing Tory candidate she knows from school days at General Election". Press and Journal. Aberdeen Journals.
13. "General Election: SNP reselects 54 MPs". www.scotsman.com.
14. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
15. http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/elections/DeclarationofResult-BanffandBuchan.pdf%5B%5D 7 July 2015
16. "Labour withdraws support from candidate facing drink drive charge". STV News. 24 April 2015.
17. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
18. The Newsroom (11 May 2010). "Eilidh holds seat for the SNP". Buchan Observer. Retrieved 14 November 2021.{{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
19. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
20. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
21. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
22. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
23. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
24. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

General

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "A" (part 1)

External links

• Banff and Buchan UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2005 – May 2024) at MapIt UK

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Galloway and Upper Nithsdale	Constituency represented by the Leader of the Scottish National Party in Westminster 2001-2007	Succeeded by Moray

57°28′19″N2°27′04″W / 57.472°N 2.451°W / 57.472; -2.451