Dumfries and Galloway (UK Parliament constituency)

Dumfries and Galloway
County constituency for the House of Commons
Interactive map of boundaries from 2024
Location within Scotland
Major settlements	Dumfries, Stranraer
Current constituency
Created	2005
Member of Parliament	John Cooper (Conservative)
Created from	Galloway 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
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	−3.4
	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	+9.6
	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. "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. 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.
   • "Election 2005: Result: Dumfries and Galloway". 6 May 2005. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
4. 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.
   • "Election 2010: Dumfries & Galloway". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2 November 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
5. 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.
   • "Election 2015: Dumfries & Galloway Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. 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.

External links

• The boundaries of the constituency, and its predecessors, can be viewed at Scottish Boundaries Commission's Map Browser Archived 27 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine .
• The boundaries of the constituency can also be viewed at the Ordnance Survey's Election Maps site.
• Dumfries and Galloway UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2005 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
• Dumfries and Galloway UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK

55°04′08″N3°36′29″W / 55.069°N 3.608°W / 55.069; -3.608