Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross is a constituency

United Kingdom constituencies

In the United Kingdom , each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly.Within the United Kingdom there are now five bodies with members elected by constituencies:...

 of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

 (Westminster

Palace of Westminster

The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...

). It elects one Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) by the first-past-the-post

First-past-the-post

First-past-the-post voting refers to an election won by the candidate with the most votes. The winning potato candidate does not necessarily receive an absolute majority of all votes cast.-Overview:...

 system of election.

Boundaries

The constituency was created in 1997

United Kingdom general election, 1997

The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...

 by merging Caithness and Sutherland

Caithness and Sutherland (UK Parliament constituency)

Caithness and Sutherland was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1997. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

 with an area from Ross, Cromarty and Skye

Ross, Cromarty and Skye (UK Parliament constituency)

Ross, Cromarty and Skye was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1983 to 1997. The constituency elected one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election....

. The rest of Ross, Cromarty and Skye was merged into another new constituency, Ross, Skye and Inverness West

Ross, Skye and Inverness West (UK Parliament constituency)

Ross, Skye and Inverness West was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2005. The constituency elected one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election....

.

In 1999

Scottish Parliament election, 1999

The Scottish Parliament election, 1999 was the first general election of the Scottish Parliament, with voting taking place on 6 May 1999 to elect 129 members...

 a Scottish Parliament

Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...

 (Holyrood

Scottish Parliament Building

The Scottish Parliament Building is the home of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, within the UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Edinburgh. Construction of the building commenced in June 1999 and the Members of the Scottish Parliament held their first debate in the new building on 7...

) constituency was created with the name and boundaries of the Westminster constituency.

In 2005

United Kingdom general election, 2005

The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....

 the Westminster constituency was enlarged slightly, to include a small area from Ross, Skye and Inverness West. The rest of the latter was divided between two new constituencies, Ross, Skye and Lochaber

Ross, Skye and Lochaber (UK Parliament constituency)

Ross, Skye and Lochaber is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

 and Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey

Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (UK Parliament constituency)

Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

.

For representation at Holyrood, therefore, the area of the Westminster constituency is now divided between two constituencies, Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (the Holyrood constituency)

Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the first past the post method of election...

 and Ross, Skye and Inverness West (the Holyrood constituency)

Ross, Skye and Inverness West (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Ross, Skye and Inverness West is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the first past the post method of election...

.

Local government area

See also Politics of the Highland council area

Politics of the Highland council area

Politics of the Highland council area in Scotland are evident in the deliberations and decisions of the Highland Council, in elections to the council, and in elections to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and the Scottish Parliament...

Since it was created in 1997 the constituency has been one of three covering the Highland council area. Since 2005 the other two have been Ross, Skye and Lochaber

Ross, Skye and Lochaber (UK Parliament constituency)

Ross, Skye and Lochaber is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

 and Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey

Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (UK Parliament constituency)

Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

. From 1997 to 2005 the other constituencies of the council area were Ross, Skye and Inverness West

Ross, Skye and Inverness West (UK Parliament constituency)

Ross, Skye and Inverness West was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2005. The constituency elected one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election....

 and Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber

Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber (UK Parliament constituency)

Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2005...

. Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross is the most northerly of the constituencies, and it now has the Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency on its southern boundary.

As enlarged in 2005, the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross constituency covered 23 out of the 80 wards of the council area: all ten wards of the Caithness area committee, all six wards of the Sutherland area committee and seven (Alness and Ardross, Invergordon

Invergordon

Invergordon is a town and port in Easter Ross, in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland.-History:The town is well known for the Invergordon Mutiny of 1931. More recently it was also known for the repair of oil rigs which used to be lined up in the Cromarty Firth on which the town is situated...

, Ferindonald, Rosskeen and Saltburn, Seaboard, Tain East and Tain West) out of the 18 wards of the Ross and Cromarty area committee.
Ward boundaries were redrawn again, this year, 2007, and the management areas were abolished in favour of three new corporate management areas. The new areas consist of groups of the new wards, and boundaries are similar to those of the Westminster constituencies, as defined in 2005. Two areas, the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross area and the Ross, Skye and Lochaber area, have the names of Westminster constituencies. The name of the third area, the Inverness, Nairn, and Badenoch and Strathspey area, is very similar to that of the third constituency.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1997 United Kingdom general election, 1997 The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...	Robert Maclennan	Liberal Democrat
	2001 United Kingdom general election, 2001 The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...	John Thurso John Sinclair, 3rd Viscount Thurso John Archibald Sinclair, 3rd Viscount Thurso , known as John Thurso, is a Scottish businessman and Liberal Democrat politician...	Liberal Democrat

2010

2005

Note: The constituency was slightly enlarged in 2005. Therefore +/- percentages are somewhat notional.

2001

1997