Scottish constituency of Banff and Buchan '˜voted for Brexit'

At least one Scottish constituency voted to leave the European Union in June's referendum, according to new research.
Scotland voted to remain based on council data but it was a different story using constituency statistics. Picture: John DevlinScotland voted to remain based on council data but it was a different story using constituency statistics. Picture: John Devlin
Scotland voted to remain based on council data but it was a different story using constituency statistics. Picture: John Devlin

Despite Scotland voting as a whole to remain in the EU, one of Britain’s leading election analysts has revealed that Banff and Buchan voted for Brexit, with around 54 per cent voting Leave according to a national newspaper.

The constituency, represented by SNP MP Eilidh Whiteford, is home to the fishing ports of both Fraserburgh and Peterhead.

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Previous statistics - based on council area figures - suggested that Moray recorded the largest Scottish Leave vote with 49.9 per cent.

But University of East Anglia politics reader Dr Chris Hanretty has unearthed stats that show several constituencies were finely poised.

Using census data, Dr Hanretty found that Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross saw a 49.4 per cent backing for Brexit while there was also support for leaving the EU in Angus (48 per cent), Glenrothes (47 per cent), Gordon (45 per cent) and Glasgow East (44 per cent).

Dr Hanretty told the Sunday Express: “For constituencies where the Leave vote was 49 per cent or above, you wouldn’t want to say they were definitely Remain.

“In Caithness it was very, very close and you wouldn’t want to express a firm judgement either way.”

Dr Hanretty, who admitted that there was still an ‘element of doubt’ in constituencies with a 51 per cent leave vote, added: “In the case of Banff and Buchan, it’s 54 per cent. It makes sense to me, especially as it’s home of the fishing industry.”

The UK voted to leave the EU by 51.89 per cent to 48.11 per cent, but Scotland bucked the trend by voting 62 per cent Remain versus 38 per cent Leave - based on council area results.