Region Overview

The North East covers four Council Areas in full – Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Angus and Dundee City. It also includes a very small chunk of Moray around Buckie and Cullen. The original version didn’t have that bit of Moray but did include the area around Keith, and was also lacking the northern chunk of Angus including Forfar. Formal administrative boundaries aside, you could think of this region as consisting of three very distinct areas.

There’s the big cities, with Aberdeen the 3rd largest in Scotland and Dundee the 4th. As major industrial centres, both cities experienced substantial growth through the early 20th century, but have very individual stories. Dundee has followed the Glasgow route of industrial decline followed by cultural revival, whilst Aberdeen is more akin to Edinburgh in terms of affluence, having been the centre of Scotland’s oil boom. Both have had areas of strength for Labour, though Dundee has a long history of SNP success whereas Aberdeen saw stronger Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

Then there are the coastal burghs, stretching up from the likes of Arbroath and Montrose in Angus through Stonehaven, Peterhead, Fraserburgh and Banff in Aberdeenshire, and terminating in that Moray chunk at Buckie. All of these have strong ties to Scotland’s fisheries, and have been SNP-Conservative battlegrounds for decades.

The third and final area would be the rural farming inland. More than almost any other part of Scotland, rural Aberdeenshire is extremely well and densely populated. These are the areas that by the latter part of the 20th century were driving Conservative-Lib Dem contests.

By the 1997 election which eliminated the Conservatives across all of Scotland, the SNP had settled into dominance of Angus and the Banff and Buchan area, Labour commanded the big cities, and the Lib Dems held sway over rural Aberdeenshire.

This region saw one of the changes from the 1997 UK Election in terms of constituencies, as the Lib Dems also picked up Aberdeen South to give them three constituencies. Labour won four, and the SNP the remaining two. Despite the constituency distribution, the SNP had a clear lead in terms of the list vote, landing them four regional seats, whilst the other three went Conservative.


6 SNP (4 Regional, 2 Constituency)
4 Labour (all Constituency)
3 Conservative (all Regional)
3 Liberal Democrat (all Constituency)

One of the regions the Rainbow Parliament was more muted, 2003 saw the SNP gain Aberdeen North and Dundee East from Labour, reversing their constituency totals. Whilst Labour picked up two regional seats to balance them out, the SNP’s loss of support saw them only win a single list seat this time. The space vacated by the SNP went to the Greens, which was the requisite Rainbow diversity, whilst the Conservatives held steady on three.


5 SNP (4 Constituency, 1 Regional)
4 Labour (2 Constituency, 2 Regional)
3 Conservative (all Regional)
3 Liberal Democrat (all Constituency)
1 Green (Regional)

2007 brought further constituency success for the SNP, winning Gordon from the Liberal Democrats and Dundee West from Labour, giving them six constituencies to two and one, respectively. Though the Lib Dems made up their loss on the regional list, Labour didn’t. The Conservatives lost one of their seats and the Greens dropped out, whilst the SNP picked up a second list seat.


8 SNP (6 Constituency, 2 Regional)
3 Labour (2 Regional, 1 Constituency)
3 Liberal Democrat (2 Constituency, 1 Regional)
2 Conservative (all Regional)

In their already remarkable 2011 majority, the SNP really swept the board in the redrawn North East region. Not only did they will all ten constituencies, but such was their strength they won a list seat as well. With Labour on three regional seats and the Conservatives on two, it was effectively the Lib Dems who lost out, winning only a single list seat whilst being wiped out of the constituencies.


11 SNP (10 Constituency, 1 Regional)
3 Labour (all Regional)
2 Conservative (all Regional)
1 Liberal Democrat (Regional)

What goes up must come down, the saying goes, and that proved true for the SNP in the North East at the last election. Facing somewhat resurgent Conservatives, though the SNP maintained their clear lead in the region, they lost Aberdeenshire West to their foes, as well as too many list votes to keep that seat. The Conservatives also managed to win four of the regional seats, with Labour dropping to two and the Lib Dems remaining on one, whilst the Greens had a narrow miss.


9 SNP (all Constituency)
5 Conservative (4 Regional, 1 Constituency)
2 Labour (all Regional)
1 Liberal Democrat (Regional)

Although the North East followed most other regions’ in not having any seats change hands, it did continue to evidence a leakage of SNP support away from their historic stronghold. Every Aberdeenshire seat is now a marginal against the Conservatives, who came within a few hundred votes of winning Banffshire and Buchan Coast. Modest vote share losses for Labour saw them secure in their two regional seats, whereas the Lib Dems feel far enough backwards to lose their regional list seat. In their place came the Greens, who experienced solid growth here.

9 SNP (all Constituency)
5 Conservative (4 Regional, 1 Constituency)
2 Labour (all Regional)
1 Green (Regional)

Region Map

Overall Regional Result 2021

Regional List Vote and MSPs Elected


#1: Conservative - Liam Kerr
#2: Labour - Michael Marra
#3: Conservative - Douglas Lumsden
#4: Conservative - Maurice Golden
#5: Green - Maggie Chapman
#6: Conservative - Tess White
#7: Labour - Mercedes Villalba

Constituency Vote

Total MSPs Elected

9 SNP (all Constituency)
5 Conservative (4 Regional, 1 Constituency)
2 Labour (all Regional)
1 Green (Regional)

Aberdeen Central

2021 Results

2021 MSP & Majority


SNP - Kevin Stewart
Majority: 6594 (20.8%)
Turnout: 55.7%

2021 Candidates

SNP: Kevin Stewart
Conservative: Douglas Lumsden
Labour: Barry Black
Green: Guy Ingerson
Liberal Democrat: Desmond Bouse

Aberdeen Donside

2021 Results

2021 MSP & Majority


SNP - Jackie Dunbar
Majority: 9026 (25.1%)
Turnout: 57.9%

2021 Candidates

SNP: Jackie Dunbar
Conservative: Harriet Cross
Labour: Heather Herbert
Liberal Democrat: Isobel Davidson
TUSC: Lucas Grant

Aberdeen South and North Kincardine

2021 Results

2021 MSP & Majority


SNP - Audrey Nicoll
Majority: 1671 (4.3%)
Turnout: 64.3%

2021 Candidates

SNP: Audrey Nicoll
Conservative: Liam Kerr
Labour: Lynn Thomson
Liberal Democrat: Ian Yuill
Libertarian: Stephen Jamieson

Aberdeenshire East

2021 Results

2021 MSP & Majority


SNP - Gillian Martin
Majority: 1889 (4.6%)
Turnout: 64.1%

2021 Candidates

SNP: Gillian Martin
Conservative: Stewart Whyte
Liberal Democrat: Conrad Wood
Labour: Graeme Downie

Aberdeenshire West

2021 Results

2021 MSP & Majority


Conservative - Alexander Burnett
Majority: 3390 (8.1%)
Turnout: 69.6%

2021 Candidates

Conservative: Alexander Burnett
SNP: Fergus Mutch
Liberal Democrat: Rosemary Bruce
Labour: Andrew Brown

Angus North and Mearns

2021 Results

2021 MSP & Majority


SNP - Mairi Gougeon
Majority: 3509 (9.9%)
Turnout: 64.2%

2021 Candidates

SNP: Mairi Gougeon
Conservative: Braden Davy
Labour: Cindy Douglas
Liberal Democrat: Michael Turvey

Angus South

2021 Results

2021 MSP & Majority


SNP - Graeme Dey
Majority: 6117 (15.8%)
Turnout: 65.1%

2021 Candidates

SNP: Graeme Dey
Conservative: Maurice Golden
Labour: Graeme McKenzie
Liberal Democrat: Ben Lawrie

Banffshire and Buchan Coast

2021 Results

2021 MSP & Majority


SNP - Karen Adam
Majority: 772 (2.3%)
Turnout: 56.1%

2021 Candidates

SNP: Karen Adam
Conservative: Mark Findlater
Labour: Georgia Strachan
Liberal Democrat: Alison Simpson
Freedom Alliance: Jason Duncan
Restore Scotland: David McHutchon

Dundee City East

2021 Results

2021 MSP & Majority


SNP - Shona Robison
Majority: 13337 (41.1%)
Turnout: 58.5%

2021 Candidates

SNP: Shona Robison
Labour: Owen Wright
Conservative: Philip Scott
Liberal Democrat: Michael Crichton
TUSC: Wayne Scott

Dundee City West

2021 Results

2021 MSP & Majority


SNP - Joe Fitzpatrick
Majority: 12919 (40.2%)
Turnout: 56.6%

2021 Candidates

SNP: Joe FitzPatrick
Labour: Mercedes Villalba
Conservative: Tess White
Liberal Democrat: Daniel Coleman
Restore Scotland: Ewan Gurr
TUSC: Jim McFarlane

List Seat Allocation Process

To allocate list seats using the D’Hondt method, each party’s share of the vote is divided by one more than the number of seats they’ve won so far in the process. This is an important part of how the list seats then more fairly represent the diversity of views amongst voters. List votes cast for a party that has won lots of constituency seats are not “wasted”, they just aren’t needed to give their voters fair representation.

When allocating the first list seat, this starts with the number of constituencies won by each party:

  • The SNP won 9 constituencies, so their vote is divided by 10.
  • The Conservatives won 1 constituency, so their vote is divided by 2.
  • No one else won any constituencies, so their votes aren’t divided.

That then gives us this (removing the parties that clearly don’t have enough votes for clarity):

Since the Conservatives have the highest total here, they receive the first regional list seat. We add that to their total, giving them 2 seat overall so far, and therefore for the next round of allocation their share is divided by 3.

Labour have the highest total, so they receive the second regional list seat. That gives them 1 seat overall so far, and therefore for the next round of allocation their share is divided by 2.

The Conservatives have the highest total, so they receive the third regional list seat. That gives them 3 seats overall so far, and therefore for the next round of allocation their share is divided by 4.

The Conservatives have the highest total, so they receive the fourth regional list seat. We add that to their total, giving them 4 seats overall so far, and therefore for the next round of allocation their share is divided by 5.

The Greens have the highest total, so they receive the fifth regional list seat. That gives them 1 seat overall so far, and therefore for the next round of allocation their share is divided by 2.

The Conservatives have the highest total, so they receive the sixth regional list seat. We add that to their total, giving them 5 seats overall so far, and therefore for the next round of allocation their share is divided by 6.

Labour have the highest total, so they receive the seventh and final regional list seat. We add that to their total, giving them 2 seats overall. Therefore, the final distribution of seats across the North East Scotland region is:

9 SNP (all Constituency)
5 Conservative (4 Regional, 1 Constituency)
2 Labour (all Regional)
1 Green (Regional)

Regional List Candidates 2021

  1. Fatima Joji
  2. Christian Allard
  3. Fergus Mutch
  4. William Duff
  5. Nadia El-Nakla
  6. John Cooke
  7. Lynne Short
  8. Gillian Al-Samarai
  9. Josh Mennie
  1. Liam Kerr
  2. Alexander Burnett
  3. Douglas Lumsden
  4. Maurice Golden
  5. Tess White
  6. Gillian Tebberen
  7. Stewart Whyte
  8. Mark Findlater
  9. Harriet Cross
  10. Philip Scott
  11. Eleanor Price
  12. Mason Mcilreavy
  1. Michael Marra
  2. Mercedes Villalba
  3. Barry Black
  4. Lynn Thomson
  5. Richard McCready
  6. Georgia Strachan
  7. Kaamal Bola
  8. Heather Herbert
  9. Owen Wright
  1. Maggie Chapman
  2. Guy Ingerson
  3. Rachel Shanks
  4. Leòdhas Massie
  5. Sylvia Hardie
  6. Peter Kennedy
  7. Bradley Booth
  1. Rosemary Bruce
  2. John Waddell
  3. Ben Lawrie
  4. Ian Yuill
  5. Conrad Wood
  6. Isobel Davidson
  7. Alison Simpson
  8. Michael Crichton
  1. Alex Salmond
  2. Heather McLean
  3. Brian Topping
  4. Dot Jessiman
  1. Arthur Keith
  2. Scott Fenwick
  3. Bobby Ferguson
  4. Danielle Millar
  5. Richard Kelbie
  6. Ben Stones
  7. John McPhee
  1. Kirsty Miller
  2. Jason Duncan
  3. Diane Mathieson
  4. Sadie Cubitt
  1. John Cox
  2. James Whitelaw
  3. Greig Mair
  4. Samantha Evans
  5. Carol MacDonald
  1. David Bestwick
  2. John Donaldson
  3. William Strachan
  4. George Arthur
  5. Shehla Arthur
  1. Duncan Odgers
  2. David Mackay
  3. William Morren
  4. Gerald Haddrell
  5. Albert Emery
  6. Kathleen Rowham
  1. Richard Tallach
  1. David McHutchon
  2. Ewan Gurr
  1. Colin McFadyen
  • Geoffrey Farquharson
  • Laura Marshall

Minor Party Results