Candidates and Constituency Assessments

'George Lyon Lib Dem, Argyll and Bute: Former farmers' leader, now ambitious Lib Dem group convener, not noted for hiding his light under a bushel. Seamless transition from hammering Labour to supporting the coalition made easier by his genuine fear and loathing of Nats.' Murray Ritchie, Robbie Dinwoodie and Frances Horsburgh in the Herald, 15 th December 1999.

Argyll & Bute (Highlands & Islands Region)

Candidates

	Mary Galbraith (Not standing on Highlands & Islands list)
	Labour
	Mary Galbraith is from Kintyre. She is a management consultant and a member of the Office of Manpower Economics. She was a Labour list candidate in 1999 and is Women's Officer in Paisley and Renfrewshire North Constituency Labour Party. She is also a Director of St Francis Nursing Home in Glasgow, Campbeltown & Kintyre Enterprise, a local economic development body and An Lochran, an Arts and Culture Centre project in Glasgow. Recent electoral experience 1999 Scottish Parliament election, Fourth on Labour Highlands & Islands list, 51,371 votes (25.47 %)
	George Lyon MSP (Not standing on Highlands & Islands list)
	Liberal Democrat
	George Lyon was born on the 16 th July 1956 in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute and was educated at Rothesay Academy. Since 1994 he has been a self employed farmer and is a member and ex President of the Scottish branch of the NFU. He is separated. Once a sworn enemy of the Labour party, when Lyon was leader of the Lib Dem parliamentary group, he became one of the most sycophantic of Labour's Little Helpers and many complained that he was a lickspittle who was far more interested in his own career than in his constituents. This appeared to be confirmed in March 2001 when Lyon was accused of trying to curry favour with the Executive after attempting to cause splits between east and west coast fishermen. In an astonishing attack Lyon said 'If the fishermen fail to use these technical measures then their credibility with the public will be completely undermined. They will be seen to be more interested in playing politics than saving their industry.' Mike Park, chairman of the Scottish white fish producers' association, said 'A lot of the men came down from Peterhead today to see democracy in action and they are disgusted and disappointed. We always thought that politics was a mire. This has confirmed it.'. Mr Park said that while Lyon was Scottish President of the National Farmers Union, he had been happy to take hundreds of millions of pounds in subsidies and set-aside payments, but when fishermen sought one-off, short-term aid of less than £5 million to aid conservation, Lyon had accused them of playing politics. Lyon, a member of the Parliamentary Bureau, was also responsible for a 'petty minded' attempt to block a motion of condolence to the late Margaret Ewing SNP MSP for Moray in the Scottish Parliament. When that failed, Lyon attempted to set a strict time limit on the condolences. In 2007 he made the highest expense claim (excluding staff costs) of any MSP, claiming £67,356. This was more than £10,000 in excess of the second highest spending MSP, Jamie Stone the Lib Dem MSP for Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross. Ministerial Posts: June 2005 - Deputy Minister for Finance & Parliamentary Business Recent electoral experience 2003 Scottish Parliamentary election, Argyll & Bute, 9,817 votes (35.1 %) (elected) 1999 Scottish Parliamentary election, Argyll & Bute, 11,226 votes (34.9 %) (elected)
	Jim Mather MSP (Also number 2 on Highlands & Islands list)
	Scottish National Party
	Jim Mather was born on the 6 th of March 1947 in Lochwinnoch and educated at Paisley Grammar, Greenock High School and Glasgow University where he studied accountancy, law and economics and graduated as a chartered accountant. From 1964 - 1970 he worked as an Apprentice Chartered Accountant at Welsh Walker Ritchie & Co, from 1970 - 1973 an Accountant at Chivas Brothers Ltd, from 1973 - 1983 Marketing Manager at IBM UK Ltd, from 1983 -1996 Director of Computers for Business (Scotland) Ltd and from 1997 - 1999 Director of Startech Partners Limited. He was an Executive Director of Business for Scotland. He is a Member of the Finance Committee and a Substitute Member of the Environment & Rural Development Committee Shadow Ministerial Posts: September 2005 - Shadow Minister for Enterprise May 2003 - September 2005 - Shadow Minister for Enterprise & the Economy Recent electoral experience 2003 Scottish Parliamentary election, Argyll & Bute, 5,485 votes (19.6 %) 2003 Scottish Parliamentary election, First on SNP Highlands & Islands list, 39,497 votes (23.43 %) (elected) 2000 Scottish Parliamentary by-election, Ayr, 9,236 votes (29.0 %) 1999 Scottish Parliamentary election, Ross, Skye & Inverness West, 7,997 votes (22.58 %) 1999 Scottish Parliamentary election, Fifth on SNP Highlands & Islands list, 55,933 votes (27.73 %)
	Jamie McGrigor MSP (Also number 2 on Highlands & Islands list)
	Conservative & Unionist
	Jamie McGrigor was born on the 19 th October 1949 in London and educated at Eton and at Neuchatel University, Switzerland. He is a farmer and is the Deputy Convener of the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link Bill Committee and Deputy Convenor of the Cross Party Groups on Children & Young People and Sports. At the 2005 Westminster election, while still an MSP, he contested Argyll & Bute. He is married with five children. Party Positions May 1999 - May 2003 - Deputy Tory Spokesman on Rural Affairs (Fishing) May 2003 - February 2007 - Tory spokesman on Culture, Sport & Tourism February 2007 - Tory spokesman on Rural Affairs Recent electoral experience. 2005 Westminster Parliamentary election, Argyll & Bute, 10,150 votes (23.48 %) 2003 Scottish Parliamentary election, Ross, Skye & Inverness West, 3,772 votes (13.02 %) 2003 Scottish Parliamentary election, First on Tory Highlands & Islands list, 26,989 votes (16.01 %) (elected) 1999 Scottish Parliamentary election, Western Isles, 1,095 votes (7.85 %) 1999 Scottish Parliamentary election, First on Tory Highlands & Islands list, 30,122 votes (14.94 %) (elected) 1997 Westminster election, Western Isles, 1,071 votes (6.65 %)

Constituency profile

Assessment:

This assessment is based on the 2003 election results

Rank on Conservative hit list: 10 (18 in 2003)
Swing required for Conservative gain: 7.51 % from Liberal Democrat to Conservative

Rank on SNP hit list: 17 (4 in 2003)
Swing required for SNP gain: 7.75% from Liberal Democrat to Scottish National Party

Rank on Labour hit list: 12 (7 in 2003)
Swing required for Labour gain: 8.43 % from Liberal Democrat to Labour

Correlation to the new Westminster constituencies

The electorate of 49,839 was split between the new Westminster constituencies of:
Argyll & Bute: 49,839 (100.0 %)

Local Government wards in the constituency

Previous results

1 st May 2003 Holyrood Election - Constituency result

Electorate 48,330. Turnout 27,948, 57.83 % (- 7.04 %)
Logo	Party	Candidate	Votes	%	% change
	Liberal Democrat	George Lyon MSP	9,817	35.13 %	+ 0.24 %
	Conservative & Unionist	David Petrie	5,621	20.11 %	+ 4.01 %
	Scottish National Party	Jim Mather	5,485	19.63 %	- 8.87 %
	Labour	Hugh Raven	5,107	18.27 %	- 1.84 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	Des Divers	1,667	5.96 %	(+ 5.96 %)
	Scottish Peoples Alliance	David Walker	251	0.90 %	(+ 0.90 %)
	Liberal Democrat hold	Liberal Democrat majority	4,196	15.01 %	+ 8.62 %

1 st May 2003 Holyrood Election - Regional list result

Electorate 48,330. Turnout 28,130, 58.20 % 233 rejected ballot papers
Logo	Party	Votes	%	% change
	Scottish National Party	6,096	21.85 %	- 7.30 %
	Labour	5,705	20.45 %	- 1.57 %
	Conservative & Unionist Party	5,547	19.88 %	- 0.23 %
	Liberal Democrats	5,286	18.95 %	- 2.05 %
	Scottish Green Party	2,044	7.33 %	3.31 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	1,715	6.15 %	+ 4.91 %
	UK Independence Party	316	1.13 %	(+ 1.13 %)
	Socialist Labour Party	299	1.07 %	- 0.14 %
	The Countryside Party	229	0.82 %	(+ 0.82 %)
	Protect Rural Scotland	222	0.80 %	(+ 0.80 %)
	Scottish Peoples Alliance	203	0.73 %	(+ 0.73 %)
	Robbie the Pict	133	0.48 %	+ 0.27 %
	Arthur Robertson	56	0.20 %	- 0.05 %
	The Rural Party	46	0.16 %	(+ 0.16 %)
	Scottish National Party majority	391	1.40 %	- 6.04 %

6 th May 1999 Holyrood Election - Constituency result

Logo	Party	Candidate	Votes	%	% change
	Liberal Democrat	George Lyon	11,226	34.89 %	- 5.31 %
	Scottish National Party	Duncan Hamilton	9,169	28.50 %	+ 5.33 %
	Labour	Hugh Raven	6,470	20.11 %	+ 4.44 %
	Conservative & Unionist	David Petrie	5,312	16.51 %	- 2.45 %
	Liberal Democrat win	Liberal Democrat majority	2,057	6.39 %	- 10.64 %

6 th May 1999 Holyrood Election - Regional list result

Logo	Party	Votes	%
	Scottish National Party	9,376	29.15 %
	Labour	7,081	22.02 %
	Liberal Democrats	6,755	21.00 %
	Conservative & Unionist Party	5,556	17.28 %
	Scottish Green Party	1,294	4.02 %
	Sir Iain Noble	743	2.31 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	398	1.24 %
	Socialist Labour Party	389	1.21 %
	Highlands & Islands Alliance	316	0.98 %
	International Independent	72	0.22 %
	Scottish People's Mission	67	0.21 %
	Natural Law Party	64	0.20 %
	Arthur Robertson	49	0.15 %
	Scottish National Party majority	2,295	7.14 %

1 st May 1997 Westminster Election

Logo	Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrat	Ray Michie	14,359	40.20 %
	Scottish National Party	Professor Neil MacCormick	8,278	23.17 %
	Conservative & Unionist	Ralph Leishman	6,774	18.96 %
	Labour	Ali Syed	5,596	15.67 %
	Referendum	Michael Stewart	713	2.00%
	Liberal Democrat hold	Liberal Democrat majority	6,081	17.03 %

Links

• Argyll & Bute SNP