BBC NEWS | VOTE 2003


CANDIDATE	PARTY	VOTES	%	+/-%
Roseanna Cunningham	SNP	10717	33.9	-2.4
Alexander Stewart	CON	9990	31.6	+0.7
Rob Ball	LAB	5629	17.8	-5.5
Gordon Campbell	LD	3530	11.2	+1.7
Philip Stott	SSP	982	3.1	+3.1
Thomas Burns	IND	509	1.6	+1.6
Kenneth Buchanan	SPA	257	0.8	+0.8

	MAJORITY	727	2.3
	TURNOUT	31614	51


ELECTORATE	61957

DESCRIPTION: Perth

This is a relatively prosperous, largely rural, lowland seat on the fringe of the Highlands with successful livestock, fruit-growing and tourism. There is relatively low unemployment and half the electorate lives in the town of Perth itself. This combination of small prosperous towns and rich agricultural land meant in the past this was natural Conservative territory. The Tories held the predecessor seats at Westminster for most of the post-war. The SNP tradition is also strong - it is the only seat the Nationalists have contested at every election since the war.

The SNP's Roseanna Cunningham won it at a 1995 by-election with an 11.5% swing from the Tories. She held the seat in 1997, went on to be elected to Holyrood in 1999 and she is now the party's deputy leader. In 2001, she stood down from Westminster and the Conservatives came within an ace of recapturing it. It is a prime target for them. Rural issues such as the handling of the BSE crisis will figure in the campaign, as will hospital provision and the state of the Scotch whisky industry.

PREVIOUS RESULTS