Constituency profile

Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey

Scotland · County constituency · Moray borough

Graham Leadbitter MP
Sitting MP

Graham Leadbitter

Scottish National Party

First elected July 2024

Current PollCheck projection

Region & type
Scotland
County constituency, Moray council
Last 5 GE winners
LDSSSS
SNP 4/5, Liberal Democrats 1/5
EU referendum 2016
45.0% Leave
UK average 51.9%; -6.9pp below mean
Current outlook
SNP +3.1pp
vs Conservative 30.7%
ScottishRemain-leaningGraduate-heavy

About the Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey constituency

Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey is a county constituency in Scotland. The sitting MP is Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party), first elected in July 2024. At the 2024 general election, the SNP won with 32.1% to 30.0% for the Conservatives, a majority of 1,001 votes on a 60.3% turnout. PollCheck's current projection, at the seven-poll average, has the SNP on 33.8% and the Conservatives on 30.7%, a margin of 3.1 points.

Who lives in Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey? Constituency demographics

From the 2021 Census and 2016 EU referendum estimates. Constituency-level data on 2024 boundaries.

Leave vote 2016
45.0%
UK average ~52%
Degree or above
43.6%
UK average ~34%
No qualifications
15.3%
UK average ~18%
Owner-occupied
67.2%
UK average ~63%
Renting (social + private)
30.8%
UK average ~36%
Median age
47.1
UK median ~40
Age 65+
27.4%
UK average ~19%
Age 18-34
24.2%
UK average ~28%

How did Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey vote in 2024 and how would it vote now?

2024 vote shares from the HoC Library. Current projection is at the 7-poll average.

2024 general election

SNP hold · majority 1,001 votes (2.1pp) · turnout 60.3%

Current projection

If a general election were held today, at current poll average

Map of Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey

Switch between GE2024 ward winners (modelled estimates, ~4pp average error) and a demographic view from Scotland's 2022 Census. Hover any area for detail. How the map is built ›

Holyrood 2026 layer

How Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey voted at the Scottish Parliament election (7 May 2026)

Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey crosses multiple Holyrood boundaries: Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch (49%), Moray (39%), Inverness and Nairn (11%). Scotland uses the Additional Member System: voters cast one ballot for a constituency MSP and a second for a regional list. The figures below are the constituency vote.

Holyrood constituencyShare of Moray West, Nairn and StrathspeyWinnerRunner-upElected MSP
Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch49%Liberal Democrats 38.9%SNP 36.5%Andrew Baxter
Moray39%SNP 38.6%Conservative 30.4%Laura Mitchell
Inverness and Nairn11%SNP 30.4%Liberal Democrats 29.2%Emma Roddick

Holyrood 2026 constituency results from official declarations. Overlap percentages are area-based using the post-2024 Westminster boundary against the new Holyrood second-review boundary (in force from 7 May 2026).

Council layer (not Westminster)

Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey within Moray

Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey sits entirely within Moray Council. Moray was not due to vote in 2026, so the figures below are the most recent ward results available. About this layer ›

Council overlap

CouncilShare of seat
Moray
1 LSOAs
100%

Recent council by-elections

Council ward by-elections held inside this seat, most recent first. The result column shows which party won; the share column shows the top three parties’ vote shares on the day.

DateWardResultTop 3 vote shares
9 Nov 2024Elgin City South
Moray
Con GAIN from SNP

Most recent council ward results

Latest council winner per ward - May 2026 results where the council voted, otherwise the most recent available result. How this table is sourced ›

Ward GE2024 winner Latest council winner Shift since GE2024 Turnout
Badenoch and StrathspeySNP 36.0%vs Conservative 28.8%2022 Independent 38.4%vs SNP 22.7%-35.6%
Culloden and ArdersierSNP 37.1%vs Lib Dem 30.3%2022 SNP 37.6%vs Conservative 17.9%-45.0%
Elgin City NorthSNP 32.6%vs Conservative 27.8%2022 SNP 32.6%vs Labour 28.5%-39.9%
Elgin City SouthSNP 33.7%vs Conservative 28.0%2022 SNP 35.5%vs Labour 28.1%-39.0%
Fochabers LhanbrydeSNP 38.2%vs Conservative 35.9%2022 SNP 43.0%vs Conservative 39.8%-48.4%
ForresConservative 36.8%vs SNP 32.2%2022 Conservative 40.9%vs SNP 34.3%-36.3%
Heldon and LaichConservative 40.1%vs SNP 32.9%2022 Conservative 39.7%vs SNP 29.5%-33.4%
NairnSNP 32.1%vs Labour 24.5%2015 SNP 41.0%vs Independent 28.0%--
Speyside GlenlivetSNP 32.3%vs Conservative 31.4%2022 SNP 36.8%vs Conservative 33.8%-45.2%

Projection trajectory

PollCheck's projection for Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey at each of the last 60 GB polls. Hover the chart for the underlying poll details.

Who has won Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey at past general elections?

2024 and notional 2019 rows are on current boundaries; 2010-2017 rows are on the boundaries in force at the time. More on boundaries ›

Year Result MP Lab Con LD Right (Ref/UKIP) Green Other Majority Turnout
2010predecessorLD holdDanny Alexander Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey MP22.1%13.3%40.7%1.2% UKIP1.7%2.3%8,76564.9%
2015predecessorSNP gain from LDDrew Hendry Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey MP7.5%5.9%31.3%2.1% UKIP2.4%0.7%10,80974.2%+9.3
2017predecessorSNP holdDrew Hendry Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey MP16.2%30.5%12.3%--1.2%4,92468.7%-5.5
2019notionalScottish National Party winnerDrew Hendry Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey MP, pre-review boundary4.6%40.9%5.9%0.7% Brx-47.9%2,90673.8%
2024SNP holdGraham Leadbitter17.7%30.0%8.1%7.5% Ref3.6%0.9%1,00160.3%-13.5

Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey was created or substantially redrawn by the 2023 boundary review. Pre-2024 rows below are for the predecessor seat Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (the seat that covered most of this area), so vote shares and majorities aren’t directly comparable to the post-2024 figures.

Constituencies most like Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey

Five seats with similar demographic profiles to Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey. Politics shown for context.

What would change this seat?

Move the sliders to set national vote shares. The per-seat projection updates live. Reset returns to the current 7-poll average.

Related

Sources

Every figure on this page is computed from the sources below. Read the full methodology ›

Show full source list
  • 2024 general election results · UK Parliament Election Results portal and House of Commons Library briefing CBP-10009.
  • Notional 2019 results on 2024 boundaries · UK Parliament Election Results portal. Recalculated by Parliament; carries assumptions about how 2019 voters would have distributed across the redrawn boundaries.
  • Historic general election results (2010-2017) · House of Commons Library historic results files (on the boundaries in force at the time).
  • Ward-level GE2024 estimates · Britain Elects / New Statesman - article by Ben Walker, underlying spreadsheet. Modelled from constituency totals; average ~4pp per-ward MoE.
  • May 2026 council ward results · Democracy Club via PollCheck's locals 2026 dataset.
  • Earlier council ward results (2014-2024) · DCLEAPIL v1.0 (Jason Leman, drawing on Andrew Teale's LEAP dataset and Democracy Club).
  • Demographics · ONS Census 2021 (England and Wales), aggregated to constituency level using the ONS LSOA21 -> PCON24 best-fit lookup.
  • EU referendum 2016 estimates · Constituency-level Leave vote estimates (Hanretty 2017 method).
  • MP details and Cabinet roles · UK Parliament Members API. MP photos are fetched live from the same source.
  • Boundary geometry and lookups · ONS Open Geography Portal (PCON24 boundaries, LSOA21 boundaries, LSOA21-WD24-LAD24 best-fit lookup).
  • Current projection and trajectory · PollCheck's demographic swingometer applied to the rolling 7-poll average from aggregated GB polls. Not a true MRP - vote-share movements are applied through per-constituency sensitivity multipliers derived from demographic regressions.

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