Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber was a county constituency 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...

 from 1983 to 1997. It elected 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.

History

Throughout the 1983 to 1997 period, this marginal constituency was represented by a Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

, and then Liberal Democrat

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...

, MP: Sir David Russell Johnston

Russell Johnston, Baron Russell-Johnston

David Russell Russell-Johnston, Baron Russell-Johnston, usually known as Russell Johnston, was a leading Scottish Liberal Democrat politician.-Early life:...

 (later Baron Russell-Johnston

Russell Johnston, Baron Russell-Johnston

David Russell Russell-Johnston, Baron Russell-Johnston, usually known as Russell Johnston, was a leading Scottish Liberal Democrat politician.-Early life:...

), who had been, previously, MP for the Inverness

Inverness (UK Parliament constituency)

Inverness was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election....

 constituency.

Boundaries

The constituency was created to cover four of the eight districts of Highland

Highland (council area)

Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole. It shares borders with the council areas of Moray, Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross, and Argyll and Bute. Their councils, and those of Angus and...

 local government region

Regions and districts of Scotland

The local government areas of Scotland were redefined by the Local Government Act 1973 and redefined again by the Local Government etc Act 1994....

: the Inverness district, the Nairn district, the Lochaber district and the Badenoch and Strathspey district. The region and districts had been created in 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973

Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973

The Local Government Act 1973 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that reformed local government in Scotland, on May 16, 1975....

, when the county

Counties of Scotland

The counties of Scotland were the principal local government divisions of Scotland until 1975. Scotland's current lieutenancy areas and registration counties are largely based on them. They are often referred to as historic counties....

 and burgh

Burgh

A burgh was an autonomous corporate entity in Scotland and Northern England, usually a town. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burgh status was broadly analogous to borough status, found in the rest of the United...

 system of local government was abolished. The other districts of the region were covered by the 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....

 constituency and the 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....

 constituency.

In 1996, under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994, the districts were abolished and the region became a unitary council area.

In 1997, constituency boundaries were redrawn to divide the Highland area between three new constituencies: 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...

, 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 Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross

Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (UK Parliament constituency)

Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross 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.-Boundaries:...

. New constituency boundaries divided the areas of some of the former districts.

Member of Parliament

Event		Member	Party
	1983 United Kingdom general election, 1983 The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...	Russell Johnston Russell Johnston, Baron Russell-Johnston David Russell Russell-Johnston, Baron Russell-Johnston, usually known as Russell Johnston, was a leading Scottish Liberal Democrat politician.-Early life:...	Liberal Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
	1988		Liberal Democrat
	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...	constituency abolished: see Inverness East, Nairn & 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...   and Ross, Skye & 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....

Elections in the 1990s

In the 1992 election, the four major parties were separated by only 3.41%, the closest four-way result in an election to the UK Parliament since 1918.

Elections in the 1980s