Dumfries and Galloway (UK Parliament constituency)

Dumfries and Galloway
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Map
Interactive map of boundaries from 2024
Location within Scotland
Major settlementsDumfries, Stranraer
Current constituency
Created2005
Member of ParliamentJohn Cooper (Conservative)
Created fromGalloway and Upper Nithsdale and Dumfries

Dumfries and Galloway is a constituency in Scotland represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by John Cooper of the Scottish Conservatives since the 2024 general election. It was first contested in the 2005 general election, replacing Galloway and Upper Nithsdale and part of Dumfries. Like all British constituencies, it elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election. Despite its name, it does not cover the whole of the Dumfries and Galloway council area.

Constituency profile

Located in the southwest of Scotland, this is a large and rural seat with significant farming and forestry sectors, including the Galloway Forest Park. Dumfries is an economic hub for south Scotland and is also Dumfries and Galloway's largest town. The seat also contains many other small towns and villages such as Castle Douglas, Dalbeattie, Auchincairn, Kirkcudbright, Gatehouse of Fleet, Creetown, Glenluce, and Stranraer. Stranraer, which is the area's second-largest town, was formerly a port town where ferries to Northern Ireland departed from, but they have since moved to Cairnryan, six miles north of Stranraer. The seat has had a mixed electoral history. In 2005, the Labour Party won the seat and held it again in 2010, but lost the seat to the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 2015. The SNP held the seat from 2015 until 2017 before losing the seat to the Conservative Party in the 2017 general election, who held it in 2019.

Boundaries

The Dumfries and Galloway constituency was created by the Fifth Review of the Boundary Commission for Scotland, and 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.

2005-2024: The Dumfries and Galloway Council wards of Stranraer and the Rhins, Abbey, Castle Douglas & Crocketford, Dee and Glenkens, Lochar (part), Mid Galloway and Wigtown West, Mid & Upper Nithsdale (part), Nith (part), and North West Dumfries.

2024-present: As above with some boundary changes within the Lochar and Nith wards.

Political history

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

Election Member Party
2005 Russell Brown Labour
2015 Richard Arkless SNP
2017 Alister Jack Conservative
2024 John Cooper Conservative

Election results

Elections in the 2020s

2024 general election: Dumfries and Galloway [8] [9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Cooper 13,527 29.6 −14.2
SNP Tracey Little 12,597 27.5 −13.3
Labour James Wallace 11,767 25.7 +16.3
Reform UK Charles Keal 4,313 9.4 N/A
Liberal Democrats Iain McDonald 2,092 4.6 −1.4
Scottish Green Laura Moodie 1,249 2.7 N/A
Heritage David Griffiths 230 0.5 N/A
Majority 930 2.1 −0.9
Turnout 45,937 58.5
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 2010s

2019 general election: Dumfries and Galloway[10][11]
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[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Alister Jack 22,344 43.3 +13.4
SNP Richard Arkless 16,701 32.4 –9.0
Labour Daniel Goodare 10,775 20.9 –3.8
Liberal Democrats Joan Mitchell 1,241 2.4 +0.7
Independent Yen Hongmei Jin 538 1.0 N/A
Majority 5,643 10.9 N/A
Turnout 51,644 69.6 –5.6
Conservative gain from SNP Swing +11.2
See also: Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies, 2010–15 § Dumfries and Galloway
2015 general election: Dumfries and Galloway[13][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[14][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 N/A
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[15][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)

References

  1. ^ a b "Vote 2001: Results & Constituencies: Galloway & Upper Nithsdale". BBC News. Archived from the original on 15 October 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  2. ^ "Election 2005: Result: Dumfries and Galloway". BBC News. 6 May 2005. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  3. ^ a b Jones, Philip N. (5 May 2005). "General Election - Dumfries and Galloway County Constituency - May 2005". dumgal.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  4. ^ a b c Haswell, Alex (7 May 2010). "General Election - Dumfries and Galloway Constituency - May 2010". dumgal.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  5. ^ a b Haswell, Alex (8 May 2015). "UK Parliamentary Elections Results 2015 for the Dumfries and Galloway County". dumgal.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  6. ^ "Conservatives take Dumfries and Galloway seat from SNP". www.gallowaygazette.co.uk. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  7. ^ "Scottish Tory MP has over £70,000 of shares in firm in world's 'worst' tax haven". HeraldScotland. 13 August 2017.
  8. ^ "UK Parliamentary General Election - July 2024 Dumfries and Galloway County Constituency results". Dumfries and Galloway Council. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  9. ^ "Dumfries and Galloway results". BBC News. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  10. ^ "UK Parliamentary General Election - December 2019" (PDF). Dumfries and Galloway Council. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  11. ^ "Dumfries & Galloway parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  12. ^ "Dumfries and Galloway - 2017 Election Results - General Elections Online". electionresults.parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 11 February 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  13. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  14. ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  15. ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

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