Dumfries and Galloway (UK Parliament constituency)

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.

Dumfries and Galloway
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland
Major settlementsDumfries, Stranraer
Current constituency
Created2005
Member of ParliamentAlister Jack (Conservative)
Created fromGalloway and Upper Nithsdale and Dumfries

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 consists of the electoral wards of:

  • In whole: Stranraer and The Rhins, Mid Galloway and Wigtown West, Dee and Glenkins, Castle Douglas and Crocketford, Abbey, North West Dumfries
  • In part: Mid and Upper Nithsdale, Lochar, Nith

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] In 2017, Alister Jack gained the seat for the Conservatives,[6] making him one of a dozen new Scottish Conservative MPs.[7] Jack held the seat in 2019 with a reduced majority despite increasing his vote share.

Members of Parliament
ElectionMember Party
2005 Russell Brown Labour
2015 Richard Arkless Scottish National Party
2017 Alister Jack Conservative

Election results
Galloway constituencies election results

Elections in the 2010s
2019 general election: Dumfries and Galloway[8][9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Alister Jack 22,678 44.1 +0.8
SNP Richard Arkless 20,873 40.6 +8.2
Labour Ted Thompson 4,745 9.2 -11.7
Liberal Democrats McNabb Laurie 3,133 6.1 +3.7
Majority 1,805 3.5 -7.6
Turnout 51,429 68.7 -0.9
Conservative hold Swing -3.7
2017 general election: Dumfries and Galloway[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Alister Jack[11] 22,344 43.3 13.4
SNP Richard Arkless 16,701 32.4 9.0
Labour Daniel Goodare[12] 10,775 20.9 3.8
Liberal Democrats Joan Mitchell 1,241 2.4 0.7
Independent Yen Hongmei Jin[13] 538 1.0 New
Majority 5,643 10.9 N/A
Turnout 51,644 69.6 5.6
Conservative gain from SNP Swing 11.2
2015 general election: Dumfries and Galloway[14][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
2010 general election: Dumfries and Galloway[15][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Russell Brown 23,950 45.9 +4.8
Conservative Peter Duncan 16,501 31.6 -3.8
SNP Andrew Wood 6,419 12.3 +0.2
Liberal Democrats Richard Brodie 4,608 8.8 +0.4
UKIP Bill Wright 695 1.3 New
Majority 7,449 14.3 +8.6
Turnout 52,173 70.0 +1.5
Labour hold Swing +4.3

Elections in the 2000s
2005 general election: Dumfries and Galloway[16][3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Russell Brown 20,924 41.1 +8.7
Conservative Peter Duncan 18,002 35.4 +3.3
SNP Douglas Henderson 6,182 12.1 -13.0
Liberal Democrats Keith Legg 4,259 8.4 -0.5
Scottish Green John Schofield 745 1.5 N/A
Scottish Socialist John Dennis 497 1.0 -0.5
Christian Vote Mark Smith 282 0.6 N/A
Majority 2,922 5.7 +5.4
Turnout 50,891 68.5
Labour win (new seat)
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  • The boundaries of the constituency, and its predecessors, can be viewed at Scottish Boundaries Commission's Map Browser.
  • The boundaries of the constituency can also be viewed at the Ordnance Survey's Election Maps site.

References
  1. "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". BBC News. 2005-05-06. Archived from the original on 2014-10-12. Retrieved 2015-05-09.
  3. 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. 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. 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. "Conservatives take Dumfries and Galloway seat from SNP". www.gallowaygazette.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-09-14.
  7. "Scottish Tory MP has over £70,000 of shares in firm in world's 'worst' tax haven". HeraldScotland.
  8. "UK Parliamentary General Election - December 2019" (PDF). Dumfries and Galloway Council. Dumfries and Galloway Council. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  9. "Dumfries & Galloway parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". Retrieved 2019-12-13.
  10. "Dumfries and Galloway - 2017 Election Results - General Elections Online". electionresults.parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 11 February 2018. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
  11. "Conservatives select local farmer to fight Galloway seat". www.gallowaygazette.co.uk.
  12. "Scottish Labour chief named in new wave of parliamentary candidates - LabourList". 28 April 2017.
  13. "South of Scotland constituency candidate lists revealed". 12 May 2017 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  14. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  15. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  16. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
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