Ochil was 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 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...

). It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP)

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...

 by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. Also, it was one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region

Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions

Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions were first used in 1999, in the first general election of the Scottish Parliament , created by the Scotland Act 1998....

, which elected seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation

Proportional representation

Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...

 for the region as a whole.

The former Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament

Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament

The Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament is the speaker of the Scottish Parliament, elected by the Members of the Scottish Parliament, by means of an exhaustive ballot. He or she also heads the Corporate Body of the Scottish Parliament and as such is viewed as a figurehead for the entire...

 George Reid represented the constituency from 2003 to 2007.

For the Scottish Parliament election, 2011, Ochil was abolished, with the majority of the seat forming the newly created Clackmannanshire and Dunblane

Clackmannanshire and Dunblane (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Clackmannanshire and Dunblane is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It will elect one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...

 seat.

Electoral region

See also Mid Scotland and Fife Scottish Parliament region

The region covered all of the Clackmannanshire council area

Clackmannanshire

Clackmannanshire, often abbreviated to Clacks is a local government council area in Scotland, and a lieutenancy area, bordering Perth and Kinross, Stirling and Fife.As Scotland's smallest historic county, it is often nicknamed 'The Wee County'....

, all of the Fife council area

Fife

Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...

, all of the Perth and Kinross council area

Perth and Kinross

Perth and Kinross is one of 32 council areas in Scotland, and a Lieutenancy Area. It borders onto the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dundee City, Fife, Clackmannanshire, Stirling, Argyll and Bute and Highland council areas. Perth is the administrative centre...

, all of the Stirling council area

Stirling (council area)

Stirling is one of the 32 unitary local government council areas of Scotland, and has a population of about 87,000 . It was created under the Local Government etc Act 1994 with the boundaries of the Stirling district of the former Central local government region, and it covers most of the former...

 and parts of the Angus council area

Angus

Angus is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and Dundee City...

.

Constituency boundaries and council areas

The constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, 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...

, with the name and boundaries of a pre-existing 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...

 (House of Commons) 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....

, however, Scottish Westminster constituencies were mostly replaced with new constituencies. The Ochil Westminster constituency

Ochil (UK Parliament constituency)

Ochil was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1997 until 2005. It elected one Member of Parliament Ochil was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1997 until 2005. It elected one Member of...

, was divided between the Ochil and South Perthshire Westminster constituency

Ochil and South Perthshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Ochil and South Perthshire is a county 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 the Stirling Westminster constituency

Stirling (UK Parliament constituency)

Stirling is a county 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.-Boundaries:...

.

From the Scottish Parliament election, 2011, Ochil was largely replaced by an expanded constituency of Clackmannanshire and Dunblane

Clackmannanshire and Dunblane (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Clackmannanshire and Dunblane is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It will elect one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...

.

Constituency profile

Although a county constituency, Ochil was mostly industrial in character, with the main industries of the region being brewing

Brewing

Brewing is the production of beer through steeping a starch source in water and then fermenting with yeast. Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BCE, and archeological evidence suggests that this technique was used in ancient Egypt...

, distilling, glass manufacture, bottling, tourism

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

 and agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

. There are however affluent areas, including Bridge of Allan

Bridge of Allan

Bridge of Allan is a town in Stirling council area in Scotland, just north of the city of Stirling. It was formerly administered by Stirlingshire and Central Regional Council....

, which is home to wealthy commuters to the city of Stirling

Stirling

Stirling is a city and former ancient burgh in Scotland, and is at the heart of the wider Stirling council area. The city is clustered around a large fortress and medieval old-town beside the River Forth...

 and further afield; Dollar

Dollar, Clackmannanshire

Dollar is a small town in Clackmannanshire, Scotland. It is one of the Hillfoots Villages, situated between the Ochil Hills range to the north and the River Devon to the south. Dollar is on the A91 road, which runs from Stirling to St. Andrews. The town is around 3 miles east of Tillicoultry...

, which has, in its Academy

Dollar Academy

Dollar Academy was founded in 1818, which makes it the oldest co-educational day and boarding school in the world. The open campus occupies a site in the centre of the thriving town of Dollar in Central Scotland, less than 40 minutes drive from the two main Scottish cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh...

, one of Scotland's most renowned private schools; and rural Kinross

Kinross-shire

Kinross-shire or the County of Kinross is a registration county, electoral ward and historic county in the Perth and Kinross council area in the east central Lowlands of Scotland...

. The majority of the constituency's inhabitants, however, are working-class.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	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...	Richard Simpson Richard Simpson (politician) Richard Simpson is a Scottish Labour politician, and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Ochil constituency from 1999 to 2003 and a Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Mid-Scotland and Fife region as of the 2007 election...	Labour Scottish Labour Party The Scottish Labour Party is the section of the British Labour Party which operates in Scotland....
	2003 Scottish Parliament election, 2003 The Scottish Parliament election, 2003, was the second general election of the Scottish Parliament. It was held on 1 May 2003 and it brought no change in terms of control of the Scottish Executive...	George Reid George Reid (Scottish politician) George Newlands Reid, PC , is a Scottish politician. From February 1974 to 1979 he served as a Scottish National Party Member of Parliament for Clackmannan and East Stirlingshire. He was elected in 1999 as a Member of the newly established Scottish Parliament as a regional MSP for Mid Scotland and...	Scottish National Party Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....
	2007 Scottish Parliament election, 2007 The 2007 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the third general election to the devolved Scottish Parliament since it was created in 1999...	Keith Brown Keith Brown (politician) Keith Brown is a Scottish politician and currently the Minister for Housing and Transport in the Scottish Government. As a member of the Scottish National Party , he was elected to the Scottish Parliament to represent the Ochil constituency at the 2007 election...
	2011 Scottish Parliament election, 2011 The 2011 Scottish Parliament general election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament.The election delivered the first majority government since the opening of Holyrood, a remarkable feat as the mixed member proportional representation system is used to...	Constituency abolished: see Clackmannanshire and Dunblane Clackmannanshire and Dunblane (Scottish Parliament constituency) Clackmannanshire and Dunblane is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It will elect one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...

Election results

Note: Although George Reid was elected as a Scottish National Party

Scottish National Party

The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....

 candidate in 2003, he became independent the same year, as the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament

Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament

The Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament is the speaker of the Scottish Parliament, elected by the Members of the Scottish Parliament, by means of an exhaustive ballot. He or she also heads the Corporate Body of the Scottish Parliament and as such is viewed as a figurehead for the entire...

.