Central Scotland

Regional Council

Central was a local government region of Scotland from 1974 to 1995. It is now divided into the council areas of Falkirk, Stirling, and Clackmannanshire, which had previously been distiricts under Central.

Scottish Parliament

Central Scotland is also the name of one of the eight electoral areas for the Scottish Parliament from which the 56 Additional Members System MSPs are elected. It covers a different geographical area from the former Central Region though, stretching from Kilmarnock, through most of Lanarkshire up to Falkirk.

The seven currently sitting MSPs to be elected through the AMS electoral method in Central Scotland are:

• Alex Neil (Scottish National Party)
• Michael Matheson (SNP)
• Linda Fabiani (SNP)
• Margaret Mitchell (Tory)
• Donald Gorrie (Lib-Dem)
• Carolyn Leckie (Scottish Socialist Party)
• John Swinburne (Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party)

Scottish Parliament Vote, 1999

Political Party	Votes	Share of Vote (%)	% Change	List Seats Won
Labour	129,822	39.28	N/A	0
SNP	91,802	27.78	N/A	5
Tories	30,243	9.15	N/A	1
D Canavan (Independent)	27,700	8.38	N/A	0
Lib-Dems	20,505	6.20	N/A	1
SLP	10,956	3.32	N/A	0
Greens	5,926	1.79	N/A	0
SSP	5,739	1.74	N/A	0
SUP	2,888	0.87	N/A	0
Prolife Alliance	2,567	0.78	N/A	0
Scottish Families and Pensioners Party	1,373	0.42	N/A	0
NLP	719	0.22	N/A	0
Independent Progressive	248	0.08	N/A	0

MSPs Elected:

• SNP - Alex Neil, Andrew Wilson, Michael Matheson, Gil Paterson, Linda Fabiani
• Tory - Lyndsay McIntosh
• Lib-Dem - Donald Gorrie

Scottish Parliament Vote, 2003

Political Party	Votes	Share of Vote (%)	% Change	List Seats Won
Labour	106,318	40.41	+1.13	0
SNP	59,274	22.53	-5.25	3
Tories	24,121	9.17	+0.02	1
SSP	19,016	7.23	+5.49	1
SSCUP	17,146	6.52	N/A	1
Lib-Dems	15,494	5.89	-0.31	1
Greens	12,248	4.66	+2.87	0
SLP	3,855	1.47	-1.85	0
SUP	2,147	0.82	-0.05	0
M Lynch Anderson (Independent)	1,265	0.48	N/A	0
SPA	1,192	0.45	N/A	0
UKIP	1,009	0.38	N/A	0