In the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, 65.4% of the constituency's electors voted for Scotland to stay part of the United Kingdom.

However, before 1918 the town of Kirkwall (the capital of Orkney) formed part of the Northern Burghs constituency.

This was due to the land tenure and valuation structures used in Shetland, which meant no-one could show that they met the property qualification to be eligible to vote.

This was a source of resentment in Shetland; its residents made several attempts to argue that some different form of valuation should be acceptable to show eligibility, but they were unsuccessful until the wider reforms of 1832.

The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;