Aberdeen South is an affluent suburban constituency located along the south of the
Aberdeen City council area. The seat covers most of Aberdeen's affluent
West End and the outer villages of
Bieldside,
Cults,
Milltimber and
Peterculter. Situated within the constituency are some of Scotland's most affluent neighbourhoods, including
Broomhill,
Rubislaw and
Queen's Cross, which was named the wealthiest part of Scotland in 2003.[2][3] The seat also extends south-east across the River Dee to cover the suburb of
Cove Bay and the more deprived neighbourhoods of
Torry and
Kincorth.
In full: the Aberdeen Council wards of George St/Harbour, Lower Deeside, Hazlehead/Queens Cross/Countesswells, Airyhall/Broomhill/Garthdee, Torry/Ferryhill, Kincorth/Nigg/Cove;
In part: the Aberdeen Council ward of Midstocket/Rosemount[4]
Location of the constituency after boundaries review
To the south and west of Aberdeen South there is
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, which is entirely within the Aberdeenshire area. To the north there is
Aberdeen North which, like Aberdeen South is entirely within the Aberdeen City area. Further north there is
Gordon, which covers part of the Aberdeen City council area and part of the Aberdeenshire council area. To the north of Gordon there is
Banff and Buchan which, like West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, is entirely within the Aberdeenshire area.
Historic
1885 to 1918
From 1832 to 1885 there was a single
Aberdeen constituency. Prior to 1832, the
burgh of Aberdeen had been represented as a component of the
Aberdeen Burghs constituency.
For the
1950 general election boundaries were redefined again, by the
House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949. A new list of wards defined Aberdeen South – Ferryhill, Holburn, Rosemount, Rubislaw, Ruthrieston and Torry[7] – but the county of city of Aberdeen remained a two-constituency city, divided between Aberdeen South and Aberdeen North, with both constituencies entirely within the city.
The
1979 general election was held before a review of constituency boundaries took account of new local government boundaries.
1983 to 1997
For the 1983 election, the electoral wards used to create this seat were Rosemount,
Rubislaw, St Clements, St Nicholas, Hazlehead, Holburn, Ferryhill,
Torry, Nigg.[8]
The
1983 general election, the
1987 general election and the
1992 general election took place during this period. At the 1992 general election the constituency was the only seat which Labour had won at the 1987 election to be gained by the Conservatives.
As redefined for the
1997 general election, Aberdeen South was one of three constituencies covering and entirely within the Aberdeen City area, the other two being Aberdeen North and
Aberdeen Central. Aberdeen South shared boundaries with both of the other two constituencies.
Throughout the 2000s, the
Liberal Democrats emerged as the main challenger to Labour in Aberdeen South, taking second place in
2005 behind Labour by just 3.2% of the vote. In the
Scottish Parliament the equivalent
Aberdeen South constituency was represented by the Liberal Democrats from 1999 until
2011, when the constituency of
Aberdeen South and North Kincardine was gained by the SNP. Recently the Conservatives have made a set of substantial advances in Aberdeen South, making gains in the constituency at the 2015 UK general election despite seeing a drop in their national vote share across Scotland. At the
2016 Scottish Parliament election the Conservatives finished in second place in the Aberdeen South and North Kincardine constituency, more than doubling their vote share in the constituency and coming behind the SNP by 8.5% of the vote.
In 2019, the seat went back to the SNP when Thomson declined to stand again after controversy.
Stephen Flynn became the MP with a majority of 3,990 votes with 44.7% of the vote. This means that in the 10 years between 2010 and 2019, four MPs from three different parties had represented the seat. Notably, since 1964 no candidate has ever managed to secure an absolute majority - 50% of the vote or more.