Na h-Eileanan an Iar (UK Parliament constituency)

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Script error: No such module "Lang". (Template:IPAc-en; Script error: No such module "IPA".), formerly Western Isles, is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, created in 1918. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It has been represented since 2024 by Torcuil Crichton of Scottish Labour.

The constituency was formed by merging areas which were formerly within the Ross and Cromarty constituency and the Inverness-shire constituency.

Script error: No such module "Lang". is Scottish Gaelic for the Western Isles, which was the constituency's name prior to the 2005 general election. An identical constituency with the same name is used by the Scottish Parliament.

With around 21,000 registered voters, it has the smallest electorate of any constituency in the United Kingdom. It is expressly protected from being combined with other constituencies by the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011.

History and boundaries

The constituency area is that of the Outer Hebrides, known also as Script error: No such module "Lang"., and has remained unchanged since its creation under the Representation of the People Act 1918 for the general election of that year. It is currently defined as being coterminous with the area of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar,^[1] previously known as the Western Isles Islands Area before 1996.^[2] Prior to the creation of the unitary authority, the constituency was divided between the two historic counties of Ross and Cromarty and Inverness-shire and was defined as comprising:

the burgh of Stornoway;
the district of Lewis in Ross and Cromarty; and
the districts of Barra, Harris, North Uist and South Uist in Inverness-shire.^[3]

Status

The constituency has the smallest electorate in the United Kingdom, just over one quarter of the size of the electoral quota under the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies. It has been suggested that Script error: No such module "Lang". could be combined with the Orkney and Shetland constituency; the resulting combined electorate would still be well below the average constituency quota.

The Scottish Boundary Commission in 1980 proposed that the seat should be extended to include the Skye and Lochalsh areas; this was overturned at a public enquiry. Generally, considerations of geographical size, a disparate population and convenience for the MPs concerned, as well as tradition and identity, have tended to override the arguments about numerical imbalance. Furthermore, a change in the Boundary Commission's rules in 2000 added a rule which forbade Orkney or Shetland being combined with another council area.

The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011, as amended by the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020, prevented Script error: No such module "Lang". being combined with any other constituency by designating it as a protected constituency, alongside Isle of Wight (two seats), Orkney and Shetland, and Ynys Môn.^[4]

Electoral history

From its creation in 1918 until the 1935 general election, the seat was held by Liberal MPs of varying descriptions. In 1935, the seat was captured by Malcolm Macmillan of the Labour Party, who would go on to retain the seat for the following 35 years. Macmillan was defeated at the 1970 general election by the Scottish National Party candidate Donald Stewart – who thus became the first SNP member to be represented at Westminster. Since 1970, the seat has alternated between SNP and Labour. Stewart held the seat until he stood down for the 1987 general election, when the seat was regained for Labour by Calum MacDonald.

In 2005 it became a safe seat for the Scottish National Party, with the election of Angus MacNeil. This trend was reversed in the 2017 general election, when the SNP suffered a swing against them for the first time since 1997, but at the 2019 general election the constituency became a safe seat for the SNP again. In August 2023, MacNeil was expelled from the SNP, having earlier lost the parliamentary whip.^[5] At the 2024 general election he stood as an independent gaining 10% of the vote, helping to swing the seat heavily to Labour, represented by Torcuil Crichton.

For the Conservatives, their vote had increased in recent years, since losing their deposit in the 2005 and 2010 elections, but they lost their deposit once again at the 2024 election.

During the 2014 Scottish independence referendum the constituency voted against independence by a margin of 53.42% (10,544) to 46.58% (9,195) in favour on a turnout of 86.2%^[6]

The constituency is notable for having the highest percentage of Scottish Gaelic speakers of any constituency in the world.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Members of Parliament

Election		Member^[7]^[8]	Party
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	1918	Donald Murray	Liberal
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	1922	Sir William Cotts	National Liberal
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	1923	Alexander Livingstone	Liberal
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	1929	Thomas Ramsay	Liberal
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	1931	Thomas Ramsay	National Liberal
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	1935	Malcolm Macmillan	Labour
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	1970	Donald Stewart	SNP
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	1987	Calum MacDonald	Labour
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	2005	Angus MacNeil	SNP
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	2023	Angus MacNeil	Independent
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	2024	Torcuil Crichton	Labour

Election results

File:Western Isles election results.png

Electoral results since 1918