Created 2005 Member of parliament Calum Kerr | European Parliament constituency Scotland Party Scottish National Party | |
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Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk is a constituency of the British House of Commons, located in the south of Scotland within the Scottish Borders council area. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) at least once every five years using the first-past-the-post system of voting. The incumbent MP is Calum Kerr of the SNP.
Contents
A mostly rural seat, it includes the towns of Duns, Eyemouth, Galashiels, Hawick, Jedburgh, Kelso, Melrose and Selkirk.
Boundaries
As created by the Fifth Review of the Boundary Commission for Scotland the constituency is one of six covering the Dumfries and Galloway council area, the Scottish Borders council area and the South Lanarkshire council area. The other five constituencies are: Dumfries and Galloway, Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow, Lanark and Hamilton East and Rutherglen and Hamilton West.
The Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk constituency covers part of the Scottish Borders council area. The rest of the council area is covered by the Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale constituency, which also covers part of the Dumfries and Galloway council area and part of the South Lanarkshire council area.
The Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk constituency is predominantly rural, and includes the towns of Duns, Eyemouth, Galashiels, Hawick, Jedburgh and Selkirk.
History
Michael Moore held the seat from its creation in 2005, and was MP for the predecessor seat of Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lauderdale from 1997-2005. The seat and its predecessor seats had a strong Liberal presence since the 1960s, with former Liberal leader David Steel having represented the seat from 1965 to 1997. Historically, the Conservative Party has been the main challenger to the seat, and they currently hold the equivalent Holyrood seat. In the 2015 General Election, Moore and the Liberal Democrats were pushed into third place in the constituency and the seat was narrowly won by Calum Kerr of the Scottish National Party over the Scottish Conservative Party candidate, John Lamont.
Elections in the 2010s
Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk was the eighth most marginal result at the 2015 UK general election and the most marginal result in Scotland, with SNP candidate Calum Kerr gaining the constituency from the Liberal Democrats behind the Conservatives by 328 votes.