# Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles (UK Parliament constituency)

Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster) from 1955 to 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system.

## Boundaries

The constituency was first defined by the First Periodical Review of the Boundary Commission, and first used in the 1955 general election, to cover the counties of Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles.
The counties of Roxburgh and Selkirk were previously covered by the Roxburgh and Selkirk constituency, and the county of Peebles was previously covered by the Midlothian and Peebles constituency.
The boundaries of the Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles constituency were unaltered when the results of the Second Periodical Review were implemented for the February 1974 general election.
In 1975, Scottish counties were abolished under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.
The Third Periodical Review took account of new local government boundaries, and results were implemented for the 1983 general election. The Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles constituency was abolished. The Roxburgh and Berwickshire constituency, related to the Roxburgh and Berwickshire districts of the Borders region, and the Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale constituency, related to the Tweeddale and Ettrick and Lauderdale districts of the same region, were created. The Tweedale district had been created with the boundaries of the former county of Peebles.

## Members of Parliament

| Election | Election | Member | Party | Notes |
| | 1955 | Charles Donaldson | Unionist | Previously MP for Roxburgh and Selkirk from 1951; died December 1964 |
| | 1965 | David Steel | Liberal | Leader of the Liberal Party 1976–1988; subsequently MP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale from 1983 |
| 1983 | 1983 | constituency abolished | constituency abolished | constituency abolished |

## Election results
### Elections in the 1950s

General election 1955: Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Unionist | Charles Donaldson | 21,925 | 47.69 | |
| | Liberal | Stanley E. Graham | 14,755 | 32.09 | |
| | Labour | Lawrence A. Morrison | 9,296 | 20.22 | |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 7,170 | 15.60 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 45,976 | 80.79 | |
| | Unionist win (new seat) | Unionist win (new seat) | Unionist win (new seat) | Unionist win (new seat) | Unionist win (new seat) |
General election 1959: Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Unionist | Charles Donaldson | 22,275 | 50.20 |
| | Liberal | John MacCormick | 12,762 | 28.76 |
| | Labour | Tam Dalyell | 9,336 | 21.04 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 9,513 | 21.44 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 44,373 | 80.01 |
| | Unionist hold | Unionist hold | Swing | |

### Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Unionist | Charles Donaldson | 18,924 | 42.81 | −7.39 |
| | Liberal | David Steel | 17,185 | 38.87 | +10.11 |
| | Labour | Ronald Murray | 7,007 | 15.85 | −5.19 |
| | SNP | Anthony J. C. Kerr | 1,093 | 2.47 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,739 | 3.94 | −17.50 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 44,209 | 82.24 | +2.23 |
| | Unionist hold | Unionist hold | Swing | -8.75 | |
1965 Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles by-election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | David Steel | 21,549 | 49.2 | +10.4 |
| | Conservative | Sir Robert Lindley McEwen, 3rd Baronet | 16,942 | 38.6 | −4.2 |
| | Labour | Ronald Murray | 4,936 | 11.2 | −4.6 |
| | Independent Nationalist | Anthony J. C. Kerr | 411 | 0.9 | −1.6 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 4,607 | 10.6 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 43,838 | 81.5 | −0.7 |
| | Liberal gain from Conservative | Liberal gain from Conservative | Swing | +7.3 | |
General election 1966: Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | David Steel | 20,607 | 45.66 | −3.5 |
| | Conservative | Ian McIntyre | 18,396 | 40.76 | +2.2 |
| | Labour | Colin Lindsay | 6,131 | 13.58 | +2.4 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 2,211 | 4.90 | −5.7 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 45,134 | 84.80 | +3.3 |
| | Liberal hold | Liberal hold | Swing | -2.9 | |

### Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | David Steel | 19,524 | 42.26 | −3.40 |
| | Conservative | Russell Fairgrieve | 18,974 | 41.07 | +0.31 |
| | Labour | Lionel Griffiths | 4,454 | 9.64 | −3.95 |
| | SNP | Hamish Hastie | 3,147 | 6.81 | New |
| | Anti-Abortion | William R. Cassell | 103 | 0.22 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 550 | 1.19 | −2.71 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 46,202 | 80.70 | −4.10 |
| | Liberal hold | Liberal hold | Swing | -1.86 | |
General election February 1974: Roxburgh, Selkirk & Peebles :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | David Steel | 25,707 | 52.0 | +9.7 |
| | Conservative | J. Stuart Thom | 16,690 | 33.8 | −7.3 |
| | SNP | David Purves | 3,953 | 8.0 | +1.2 |
| | Labour | David Allan Graham | 3,089 | 6.2 | −3.4 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 9,017 | 18.2 | +17.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 49,439 | 86.0 | +5.3 |
| | Liberal hold | Liberal hold | Swing | | |
General election October 1974: Roxburgh, Selkirk & Peebles :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | David Steel | 20,006 | 43.6 | −8.4 |
| | Conservative | Christine M. Anderson | 12,573 | 27.4 | −6.4 |
| | SNP | Angus Edmonds | 9,178 | 20.0 | +12.0 |
| | Labour | David Allan Graham | 4,076 | 8.9 | +2.7 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 7,433 | 16.2 | −2.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 45,833 | 79.3 | −6.7 |
| | Liberal hold | Liberal hold | Swing | | |
General election 1979: Roxburgh, Selkirk & Peebles :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | David Steel | 25,993 | 53.1 | +9.5 |
| | Conservative | Gerry Malone | 15,303 | 31.3 | +3.9 |
| | Labour | David Albert Heald | 4,150 | 8.5 | −0.4 |
| | SNP | Angus Stewart | 3,502 | 7.2 | −12.8 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 10,690 | 21.8 | +5.6 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 48,948 | 82.0 | +2.7 |
| | Liberal hold | Liberal hold | Swing | +6.7 | |