Post by YL on Jul 8, 2023 6:50:00 GMT
This constituency contains the whole of the council area of Argyll & Bute together with some adjoining areas in the south-west of the Highland council area. It roughly approximates to the historic county of Argyll, but with some adjustments, including the addition of the Isle of Bute. Much of the constituency has a Highland atmosphere, with especially the north and east being mountainous and the coastline being indented by many long sea lochs; furthermore several of Scotland's better known islands are included. As such it is a large and thinly populated constituency, though it does contain some more densely populated areas close to Glasgow.
One part of the constituency is, historically speaking, neither Argyll nor Bute, but Dunbartonshire. This is in the east of the constituency and includes its largest town, Helensburgh, the western "bonnie banks" of Loch Lomond and also the Gare Loch and Loch Long. Helensburgh is to a large extent a Glasgow commuter town with a frequent rail service to the big city and as such feels a little out of place in the constituency. The rest of this area is more in keeping with mountainous Argyll, but also includes a noticeable military presence, including the nuclear submarine base at Faslane on the Gare Loch.
Adjoining that area to the west of Loch Long is the Cowal peninsula, whose largest town is Dunoon on the western side of the Firth of Clyde, which is connected to the eastern shore by ferry. Significant towns further west in the constituency include the touristy coastal town of Oban, also a ferry port for many of the islands, Inveraray with its castle, and the administrative centre for the area at Lochgilphead. South of these Argyll extends far to the south in the form of the long peninsula of Kintyre terminating in its famous Mull, with the significant town of Campbeltown, regarded as a whisky region in its own right, not far to the north of the Mull.
The "South Lochaber" area added to the constituency by the boundary review is in fact mostly, but not quite all, part of historic Argyll anyway. It includes the dramatic scenery and infamous history of Glencoe, the small town of Kinlochleven, once depending on aluminium smelting, and a number of small settlements on the east short of Loch Linnhe. To the west of Loch Linnhe it includes Morvern, Ardgour, Moidart and Ardnamurchan. These areas are only connected to the rest of the constituency via the Corran Ferry, and are generally more remote, mountainous and thinly populated territory, but they include the small town of Strontian, which has the distinction of being the only place in the UK with an element named after it, reflecting its mineral heritage. At the western tip of Ardnamurchan is Corrachadh Mòr, the most westerly point of mainland Britain.
The rest of the territory consists of islands. None of the islands have a particularly large population individually, but there are enough that the island part of the constituency contributes a significant proportion of the electorate, as well as contributing to the large geographic size of the constituency. They also mean that the current issues with ferry services to the islands are an important local issue. Bute is a large island in the Firth of Clyde, with its main town of Rothesay once being a major resort for Glaswegians. In terms of historic counties, Bute forms the county of Buteshire together with Arran and some other Clyde islands, but it was separated from them in 1974 and joined with Argyll.
The remaining islands are the southern Inner Hebrides; confusingly these are included in wards named "Kintyre and the Islands" and "Oban South and the Isles". In the south we have the major whisky centre of Islay (pronounced "eye-la", not "izz-lay" or anything like that) and its large but thinly populated neighbour Jura, also with a whisky distillery and, near its remote northern tip, the house where George Orwell wrote much of Nineteen Eighty Four. Further north is the large island of Mull, known for its wildlife, and to its west the outlying islands of Coll and Tiree, which in some ways more closely resemble the Outer Hebrides. Other inhabited islands include Colonsay to the west of Jura, the ancient religious centre of Iona, and a number of smaller islands closer to the mainland. Tiree and Islay in particular retain Gaelic speaking elements in their population.
An Argyll & Bute constituency was created in 1983, originally not including the Dunbartonshire area which was added in 2005. In its first election it voted Conservative, but it fell to the Liberals in 1987 and remained with their Lib Dem successors until 2015, when like almost all Scottish constituencies it fell to the SNP, with Brendan O'Hara becoming the MP. The Conservatives came close to winning it back in 2017; O'Hara increased his majority again in 2019, but the Conservatives remain in second. The main predecessor, Argyllshire, was Conservative for most of the 20th century, with a previous SNP period in the 1970s. The addition of "South Lochaber" probably slightly helps the SNP.
At local level the SNP are also the largest party, with considerable presences also from the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, together with, as often in rural Scotland, a large number of Independents. The Conservatives are strongest around Helensburgh, with the SNP weakest in this area; otherwise the SNP strength is fairly evenly distributed. There are also single councillors from Labour, in Helensburgh Central, and the Greens, in Oban North & Lorn.
In census data on occupation and education, the constituency tends not to stand out, with middling figures in many categories. However it is quite high for "skilled trades occupations", while it is rather low for "sales and customer service" and "administrative and secretarial". Farming, fishing and tourism all have a presence here, as of course does making whisky. In terms of deprivation the constituency is also close to the middle of the UK rankings, though there is considerable variation, with the least deprived areas being parts of Helensburgh and the shores of the Gare Loch while there is considerable deprivation in Rothesay, which shares some of the problems of traditional seaside towns, and also in parts of Dunoon and Oban; the islands, other than Bute, and the more rural areas being more middling.
One part of the constituency is, historically speaking, neither Argyll nor Bute, but Dunbartonshire. This is in the east of the constituency and includes its largest town, Helensburgh, the western "bonnie banks" of Loch Lomond and also the Gare Loch and Loch Long. Helensburgh is to a large extent a Glasgow commuter town with a frequent rail service to the big city and as such feels a little out of place in the constituency. The rest of this area is more in keeping with mountainous Argyll, but also includes a noticeable military presence, including the nuclear submarine base at Faslane on the Gare Loch.
Adjoining that area to the west of Loch Long is the Cowal peninsula, whose largest town is Dunoon on the western side of the Firth of Clyde, which is connected to the eastern shore by ferry. Significant towns further west in the constituency include the touristy coastal town of Oban, also a ferry port for many of the islands, Inveraray with its castle, and the administrative centre for the area at Lochgilphead. South of these Argyll extends far to the south in the form of the long peninsula of Kintyre terminating in its famous Mull, with the significant town of Campbeltown, regarded as a whisky region in its own right, not far to the north of the Mull.
The "South Lochaber" area added to the constituency by the boundary review is in fact mostly, but not quite all, part of historic Argyll anyway. It includes the dramatic scenery and infamous history of Glencoe, the small town of Kinlochleven, once depending on aluminium smelting, and a number of small settlements on the east short of Loch Linnhe. To the west of Loch Linnhe it includes Morvern, Ardgour, Moidart and Ardnamurchan. These areas are only connected to the rest of the constituency via the Corran Ferry, and are generally more remote, mountainous and thinly populated territory, but they include the small town of Strontian, which has the distinction of being the only place in the UK with an element named after it, reflecting its mineral heritage. At the western tip of Ardnamurchan is Corrachadh Mòr, the most westerly point of mainland Britain.
The rest of the territory consists of islands. None of the islands have a particularly large population individually, but there are enough that the island part of the constituency contributes a significant proportion of the electorate, as well as contributing to the large geographic size of the constituency. They also mean that the current issues with ferry services to the islands are an important local issue. Bute is a large island in the Firth of Clyde, with its main town of Rothesay once being a major resort for Glaswegians. In terms of historic counties, Bute forms the county of Buteshire together with Arran and some other Clyde islands, but it was separated from them in 1974 and joined with Argyll.
The remaining islands are the southern Inner Hebrides; confusingly these are included in wards named "Kintyre and the Islands" and "Oban South and the Isles". In the south we have the major whisky centre of Islay (pronounced "eye-la", not "izz-lay" or anything like that) and its large but thinly populated neighbour Jura, also with a whisky distillery and, near its remote northern tip, the house where George Orwell wrote much of Nineteen Eighty Four. Further north is the large island of Mull, known for its wildlife, and to its west the outlying islands of Coll and Tiree, which in some ways more closely resemble the Outer Hebrides. Other inhabited islands include Colonsay to the west of Jura, the ancient religious centre of Iona, and a number of smaller islands closer to the mainland. Tiree and Islay in particular retain Gaelic speaking elements in their population.
An Argyll & Bute constituency was created in 1983, originally not including the Dunbartonshire area which was added in 2005. In its first election it voted Conservative, but it fell to the Liberals in 1987 and remained with their Lib Dem successors until 2015, when like almost all Scottish constituencies it fell to the SNP, with Brendan O'Hara becoming the MP. The Conservatives came close to winning it back in 2017; O'Hara increased his majority again in 2019, but the Conservatives remain in second. The main predecessor, Argyllshire, was Conservative for most of the 20th century, with a previous SNP period in the 1970s. The addition of "South Lochaber" probably slightly helps the SNP.
At local level the SNP are also the largest party, with considerable presences also from the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, together with, as often in rural Scotland, a large number of Independents. The Conservatives are strongest around Helensburgh, with the SNP weakest in this area; otherwise the SNP strength is fairly evenly distributed. There are also single councillors from Labour, in Helensburgh Central, and the Greens, in Oban North & Lorn.
In census data on occupation and education, the constituency tends not to stand out, with middling figures in many categories. However it is quite high for "skilled trades occupations", while it is rather low for "sales and customer service" and "administrative and secretarial". Farming, fishing and tourism all have a presence here, as of course does making whisky. In terms of deprivation the constituency is also close to the middle of the UK rankings, though there is considerable variation, with the least deprived areas being parts of Helensburgh and the shores of the Gare Loch while there is considerable deprivation in Rothesay, which shares some of the problems of traditional seaside towns, and also in parts of Dunoon and Oban; the islands, other than Bute, and the more rural areas being more middling.
