Dumfries and Galloway (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 55°04′08″N 3°36′29″W / 55.069°N 3.608°W / 55.069; -3.608

Dumfries and Galloway
County constituency
for the House of Commons

Outline map

Boundary of Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland.
Current constituency
Created 2005
Member of parliament Richard Arkless (SNP)
Created from Galloway and Upper Nithsdale and Dumfries
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency Scotland

Dumfries and Galloway is a county constituency in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was first used in the 2005 general election, and replaced Galloway and Upper Nithsdale and part of Dumfries. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Boundaries

Council areas
grouped by the Fifth Review
Dumfries and Galloway, Scottish Borders and South Lanarkshire

As created by the Fifth Review of the Boundary Commission for Scotland the constituency is one of six covering the Dumfries and Galloway council area, the Scottish Borders council area and the South Lanarkshire council area. The other five constituencies are: Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow, Lanark and Hamilton East and Rutherglen and Hamilton West.

The Dumfries and Galloway constituency covers part of the Dumfries and Galloway council area. The rest of the council area is covered by the Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale constituency, which also covers part of the Scottish Borders council area and part of the South Lanarkshire council area.

The Dumfries and Galloway constituency includes Stranraer, Newton Stewart, The Machars, Kirkcudbright and a major part of the town of Dumfries. Although within the town of Dumfries, the Nithsdale East and Caerlaverock wards, as they were when the constituency was created, were excluded from the constituency. Ward boundaries changed in 2007.

Politics

Dumfries and Galloway's predecessor seats, Galloway and Upper Nithsdale (1983-2005) and Galloway (1918–83), had been represented by Conservative MPs in all but two parliaments since 1931. Galloway and Upper Nithsdale was won by the Scottish National Party in 1997[1] but became the only Scottish seat to return a Conservative MP at the 2001 general election.[1]

Boundary changes for the 2005 election saw the new seat have a very slim Labour majority over the Conservatives, and the SNP were in close third place. Russell Brown was the Labour candidate, who had been the MP for the neighbouring seat of Dumfriesshire since 1997, and Peter Duncan, the sitting MP for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale, stood as the Conservative candidate. Although the seat was the Conservatives' second target seat across Britain,[2] Labour increased its vote share and Russell Brown was elected as the constituency's MP.[3]

In 2010, Duncan attempted once again to become Dumfries and Galloway's MP. However the election produced a swing against the Conservatives in the seat, and it was held by Labour's Russell Brown with a majority of 7,449 votes.[4] The SNP's share of the vote in the constituency collapsed at the 2005 general election, and remained static in 2010. In 2015 the seat was won by the SNP's Richard Arkless with a 6,514 vote majority. The Conservative share of the vote stayed similar to the 2010 election, whereas Labour polled third, receiving 24.7% of the vote compared to 45.9% in 2010.[5][4]

Members of Parliament

ElectionMember Party
2005 Russell Brown Labour
2015 Richard Arkless Scottish National Party

Elections

General Election 2015: Dumfries and Galloway[6][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Richard Arkless 23,440 41.4 +29.1
Conservative Finlay Carson 16,926 29.9 -1.7
Labour Russell Brown 13,982 24.7 -21.2
UKIP Geoffrey Siddall 1,301 2.3 +1.0
Liberal Democrats Andrew Metcalf 953 1.7 -7.1
Majority 6,514 11.5 n/a
Turnout 56,602 75.2 +5.2
SNP gain from Labour Swing +25.2
General Election 2010: Dumfries and Galloway[7][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Russell Brown 23,950 45.9 +4.8
Conservative Peter Duncan 16,501 31.6 -3.7
SNP Andrew Wood 6,419 12.3 +0.2
Liberal Democrats Richard Brodie 4,608 8.8 +0.5
UKIP Bill Wright 695 1.3 n/a
Majority 7,449 14.3
Turnout 52,173 70.0 +0.4
Labour hold Swing +4.3
General Election 2005: Dumfries and Galloway[8][3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Russell Brown 20,924 41.1
Conservative Peter Duncan 18,002 35.4
SNP Douglas Henderson 6,182 12.1
Liberal Democrats Keith Legg 4,259 8.4
Scottish Green John Schofield 745 1.5
Scottish Socialist John Dennis 497 1.0
Christian Vote Mark Smith 282 0.6
Majority 2,922 5.7
Turnout 50,891 68.5
Labour win (new seat)

External links

References

  1. 1 2 "Vote 2001: Results & Constituencies: Galloway & Upper Nithsdale". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2014-10-15. Retrieved 2015-05-09.
  2. ↑ "Election 2005: Result: Dumfries and Galloway". 2005-05-06. Archived from the original on 2014-10-12. Retrieved 2015-05-09.
  3. 1 2 Jones, Philip N. (2005-05-05). "General Election - Dumfries and Galloway County Constituency - May 2005". dumgal.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2015-05-09. Retrieved 2015-05-09.
  4. 1 2 3 Haswell, Alex (2010-05-07). "General Election - Dumfries and Galloway Constituency - May 2010". dumgal.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2015-05-09. Retrieved 2015-05-09.
  5. 1 2 Haswell, Alex (2015-05-08). "UK Parliamentary Elections Results 2015 for the Dumfries and Galloway County". dumgal.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2015-05-09. Retrieved 2015-05-09.
  6. ↑ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  7. ↑ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  8. ↑ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
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