The Westminster UK Parliament has agreed to hold a General Election on Thursday June 8th .  The election takes place at a time when Brexit negotiations had only just started and with several conservative MPs under investigation for irregularities in their election expenses for the General Election of 2015.

In Scotland in 2015 the SNP won 56 out of 59 seats leaving 1 Conservative, David Mundell, 1 Labour, Ian Murray and 1 Liberal Democrat Alistair Carmichael.

In Orkney and Shetland in 2015 the result was:

• Alistair Carmichael, LibDem: 9,407  (41.4%)
• Danus Skene, SNP: 8,590 (37.8%)
• Donald Cameron, Conservative: 2,025 (8.9%)
• Gerry McGarvey, Labour: 1,624 (7.1%)
• Robert Smith, UKIP: 1,082 (4.8%)

The election saw Alistair Carmichael the sitting MP’s majority cut from 9,928 to 817 down by 20.6%. The SNP had a huge increase in their vote from 2,042 to 8,590 up 27.2%.  The turnout was also up from 58.5% to 65.8%.

With Alistair Carmichael expected to stand again no other candidates have yet been announced but it is expected that all 4 main parties will contest the constituency.

Unlike the Council Elections which take place on Thursday May 4th and which use the Single Transferable Vote System (STV), the UK General Election uses First Past the Post.

Reporter: Fiona Grahame