Everything about Politics Of The Highland Council Area totally explained
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 (
Westminster) and the
Scottish Parliament (
Holyrood). In the
European Parliament the area is within the
Scotland constituency, which covers all of the 32
council areas of
Scotland.
Highland Council
The Highland Council (
Comhairle na Gaidhealtachd in
Gaelic) became a
local government authority in 1996, when the two-tier system of
regions and districts was abolished and the Highland region became a
unitary council area. The first
general election of the Highland Council, however, was one year earlier, in 1995. Until 1996 councillors shadowed the regional and district councils and planned for the transfer of powers and responsibilities. Elections to the council are normally on a four-year cycle, all wards being contestable at each election.
The 1995 election created a council of 72 members, each elected from a single-member
ward by the
first past the post system of election. Ward boundaries were redrawn for the next election, in 1999, to create 80 single-member wards and, again, election was by the first past the post system. The same wards and the same system of election were used for the
third election, in 2003. For the
fourth election, in 2007, ward boundaries were redrawn again to create 22 multi-member wards, each electing three or four councillors by the
single transferable vote system, which is designed to produce a form of
proportional representation.
The
2007 election of the council was on 3 May, and the first meeting of the new council, on 17 May, elected an
independent member as convener of the council and a
Scottish National Party member as vice-convener.
Independents and
parties now (October 2007) hold seats as follows:
» 34
independent councillors
21
Liberal Democrat councillors
» 17
Scottish National Party councillors
7
Labour Party councillors
» 1 non-aligned independent councillor
One of the Liberal Democrat members joined that party after his election to the council, on 3 May, as an independent, and another member left that party to sit as an independent. Another independent later joined the SNP and, later still, an SNP councillor was expelled from that party group and now sits as a non-aligned independent.
The meeting place of the full council and the main offices of the council are in
Inverness. Also, some powers are delegated to committees meeting in other places and designed to represented geographically defined subdivisions (management areas) of the council area. Until 2007 the management areas were the eight areas of the former districts, which were abolished in 1996 when the two-tier region became a unitary council area. In 2007 the council replaced the eight management areas with a system of three corporate management areas, consisting of groups of wards created under the
Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 and first used for electoral purposes in the same year. Also, each corporate management area is subdivided to create a total of 16 ward management areas. The number of ward management areas is less than the number of wards because some wards are grouped into larger areas for ward management purposes, and one ward is divided between two different ward management areas.
The eight older management areas created in 1996 were also groups of wards, and each management area had an
area committee of councillors elected from the wards in the area. When ward boundaries were redrawn in 1999, however, management area boundaries were not. Thus, from 1999 to 2007, area committees were not exactly representative of areas for which they were named and for which they took decisions.
Three of the older management areas,
Caithness,
Nairn and
Sutherland were very similar to earlier local government
counties (although the county of Nairn is often called
Nairnshire). Two others,
Inverness and
Ross and Cromarty, had the names of earlier counties (although the county of Inverness is often called
Inverness-shire) but have very different boundaries.
The new corporate management areas are named as (1) Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, (2) Inverness, Nairn, and Badenoch and Strathspey, and (3) Ross, Skye and Lochaber. Two of these names are also those of
Westminster Parliament (
House of Commons)
constituencies, and one name is very similar to the name of another Westminster constituency, but constituency and corporate management area boundaries are different.
Like the older management areas, the new corporate management areas are represented, for some purposes, by their own committees. Also, there's an Inverness city management area covering seven of the nine wards (and thus four of the six ward management areas) of the Inverness, Nairn, and Badenoch and Strathspey corporate management area, with the city area being represented by a city committee.
At ward level, ward forums are being held.
Management areas, 1996 to 2007
For lists of wards see
Highland Council wards 1995 to 1999 and
Highland Council wards 1999 to 2007.
The management areas were:
Corporate management areas, created in 2007
For lists of wards and details of how they're grouped into corporate and ward management areas, see
Highland Council wards created in 2007.
The corporate management areas are:
| Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross |
7 wards electing 23 councillors |
| Inverness, Nairn and Badenoch and Strathspey |
9 wards electing 34 councillors |
| Ross, Skye and Lochaber |
6 wards electing 23 councillors |
Westminster and Holyrood
The council area is covered by three
constituencies of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster) and three constituencies of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). The Scottish Parliament constituencies are also components of that parliament's
Highlands and Islands electoral region.
All the constituencies are entirely within the council area, but the Highlands and Islands electoral region includes also five other constituencies, covering the
Orkney,
Shetland and
Western Isles (Na h-Eileanan Siar) council areas and most of the
Argyll and Bute and
Moray council areas.
Since the creation of the unitary Highland council area, in 1996, the Westminster constituencies have been altered twice, in 1997 and 2005. Neither the Holyrood constituencies nor the Holyrood electoral region have not been altered since their creation in 1999.
Westminster
As a geographic area the Highland council area is the largest in
Scotland. Working solely on the basis of the size of its
electorate, however, it would qualify for just 2.3 Westminster seats.
Boundary reviews have considered ways of addressing the area's apparent over representation, by reducing the number of constituencies to two, or by creating constituencies straddling boundaries with other council areas, but to date, for various geographic and cultural reasons, none of these proposals has been reflected in actual boundary changes.
1996 to 1997
The boundaries of one constituency had been established since the
1918 general election, the other two since the
1983 general election. There were no parliamentary elections during the 1996 to 1997 period.
List of constituencies:
» Caithness and Sutherland
Ross, Cromarty and Skye » Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber
1997 to 2005
All of the council area's constituencies were altered for the
1997 general election. The same constituencies were used in the
2001 general election.
List of constituencies:
» Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
Ross, Skye and Inverness West » Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber
2005 to present
All of the council area's constituencies were altered for the
2005 general election. One, Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, carries forward the name of a constituency created in 1997. This new constituency is slightly larger than the earlier constituency.
List of constituencies and current
MPs (members of parliament):
As a whole, including MSPs elected by constituencies in the Highland council area, the
Highlands and Islands electoral region is represented by:
» 6
Scottish National Party MSPs (four constituency MSPs and two additional members)
4
Liberal Democrat MSPs (all constituency MSPs)
» 3
Labour MSPs (all additional members)
2
Conservative MSPs (both additional members)
Notes and references
Further Information
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