The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy which,by legislation and convention,operates as a unitary parliamentary democracy. A hereditary monarch,currently King Charles III,serves as head of state while the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,currently Sir Keir Starmer since 2024,serves as the head of the elected government.
Russell Leslie Brown is a Scottish Labour Party politician. He is a former Member of Parliament (MP) for Dumfriesshire (1997–2005) and Dumfries and Galloway (2005–2015). He lost his seat at the 2015 general election to Richard Arkless of the Scottish National Party.
Peter John Duncan is a Scottish Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale from 2001 to 2005.
Douglas Henderson was a Scottish politician. He was Depute Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 1971 to 1973 and from 1979 to 1981. He served as a Scottish National Party Member of Parliament (MP) for East Aberdeenshire from 1974 to 1979,and held virtually every national office in the SNP,short of party leader. His political style has been described as "no-nonsense" and "very blunt and forthright". He was also known for his forceful public speaking,which former SNP leader Alex Salmond described as "messianic".
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.
Berwickshire,Roxburgh and Selkirk is a constituency of the British House of Commons,located in the south of Scotland within the Scottish Borders council area. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) at least once every five years using the first-past-the-post system of voting. Since 2017 the MP has been John Lamont of the Conservative Party.
Dumfriesshire,Clydesdale and Tweeddale is a constituency of the UK House of Commons,located in the South of Scotland,within the Dumfries and Galloway,South Lanarkshire and Scottish Borders council areas. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) at least once every five years using the First-past-the-post system of voting. It is currently represented in Westminster by the former Secretary of State for Scotland,David Mundell,a Conservative,who has been the MP since 2005.
Lanark and Hamilton East was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom,which was first used at the 2005 general election. It covered parts of the former Clydesdale,Hamilton North and Bellshill and Hamilton South constituencies,and it elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system.
David Gordon Mundell,is a Scottish Conservative Party politician and solicitor who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dumfriesshire,Clydesdale and Tweeddale since 2005. He previously served as Secretary of State for Scotland from 2015 to 2019. Mundell was the first openly gay Conservative cabinet minister,coming out in 2016.
Elaine Kildare Murray is a retired Scottish Labour politician. She was leader of Dumfries and Galloway Council for the 2017–2022 term. She was also the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Dumfries from 1999 to 2011,and then for Dumfriesshire from 2011 to 2016. At the 1999,2003 and 2007 elections,Murray increased her percentage share of the vote. She was Shadow Minister for the Environment in the Scottish Parliament. She lost her seat in 2016.
Fiona O'Donnell is a Scottish Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Lothian from 2010 to 2015.
Galloway and West Dumfries is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. It is also one of nine constituencies in the South Scotland electoral region,which elects seven additional members,in addition to the nine constituency MSPs,to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
The 2012 Dumfries and Galloway Council election took place on 3 May 2012 to elect members of Dumfries and Galloway Council. The election used the thirteen wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004,with each ward electing three or four councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation,with 47 councillors being elected.
Lisa Cameron is a Scottish politician and former consultant clinical psychologist who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Kilbride,Strathaven and Lesmahagow from winning the seat at the 2015 general election until standing down at the 2024 general election. First elected for the Scottish National Party (SNP),she was re-elected for that party in 2017 and 2019,before she crossed the floor to the Scottish Conservatives in October 2023.
Richard Lambert Thomas Arkless is a Scottish National Party politician,who was elected as MP for Dumfries and Galloway at the 2015 UK general election. He lost his seat at the following election in 2017.
Finlay Hamilton Carson is a Scottish Conservative Party politician serving as Convener of the Rural Affairs,Islands and Natural Environment Committee since 2021. He has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Galloway and West Dumfries since 2016.
Colin Smyth is a Scottish Labour and Co-operative politician who has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the South Scotland region since 2016. A member of Scottish Labour,he served as its general secretary from 2008 to 2012.
David James Duguid is a Scottish Conservative politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Banff and Buchan from June 2017 to May 2024. Duguid's victory ended thirty years of Scottish National Party control of the seat.
Sir Alister William Jack is a Scottish politician who served as Secretary of State for Scotland from 2019 to 2024. A member of the Scottish Conservatives,he served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dumfries and Galloway from 2017 to 2024.
Elections to Dumfries and Galloway Council took place on 5 May 2022 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. As with other Scottish council elections,it was held using single transferable vote (STV) –a form of proportional representation –in which multiple candidates are elected in each ward and voters rank candidates in order of preference.
