Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (UK Parliament constituency)

Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Map
Interactive map of boundaries from 2024
Location within Scotland
Major settlementsDumfries, Annan, Gretna, Gretna Green, Kirkconnel, Lockerbie, Sanquhar
Current constituency
Created2005
Member of ParliamentDavid Mundell (Conservative)
Created fromDumfries, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale

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.

The seat has a diverse electoral history, with the Dumfriesshire area being a longtime Conservative seat, the Clydesdale area being formerly safe Labour territory, and Tweeddale had been part of Liberal Democrat-voting constituencies since the 1980s. Former Scottish Secretary, David Mundell[1] has held the seat since 2005, and from 2005 to 2017 was the only Conservative MP in Scotland.[2]

Constituency profile

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One of the largest seats in terms of area, the constituency is predominantly rural and is very sparsely populated. It stretches from 10 miles outside of Edinburgh in the northeast all the way down to Gretna at the border with England. It is also the only seat in Scotland that has been held by the Conservatives in every election since its creation. It contains some very affluent areas as well as some more working-class areas; however, it is a large rural seat where farming is a big source of employment. The M74, which is the main road between Scotland and England, runs through the constituency as do the West Coast Mainline and Glasgow South Western railway lines. Its largest towns are Dumfries (Most of which is within the neighbouring seat of Dumfries and Galloway), Annan, Biggar, Gretna/Gretna Green, Langholm, Lockerbie, Moffat and Peebles. The seat also contains the Southern Upland Way, a popular walk for tourists in the south of Scotland. David Mundell has held the seat since its creation in 2005; however, it has been challenged by both the Labour Party and now the SNP. In the 2015 election, Mundell only retained the seat by a very slim majority of 798 with the SNP close behind. In the 2017 election, Mundell increased his majority to over 9000; however, by 2019 his majority had been reduced to 3800.

Boundaries

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The Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale constituency was created by the Fifth Review of the Boundary Commission for Scotland, and covers parts of the Dumfries and Galloway, South Lanarkshire and Scottish Borders council areas.

2005-2024: The Dumfries and Galloway Council wards of Annandale East and Eskdale, Annandale North, Annandale South, Lochar (part), Mid and Upper Nithsdale, and Nith (part), the Scottish Borders Council wards of Tweeddale East and Tweeddale West (part), and the South Lanarkshire Council wards of Clydesdale East and Clydesdale South (part).

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

Political history

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The seat's main predecessor seats, Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lauderdale, all had distinct political influences. Dumfriesshire had been a Conservative/National Liberal seat from 1931 to 1997, but was lost to Labour's Russell Brown at the 1997 general election, in which the Conservatives lost all their Scottish seats.

Clydesdale had been a safe Labour seat since the 1980s, and Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale had been a Liberal/Liberal Democrat seat since 1983.

Following the boundary review for the 2005 general election, Labour held a clear majority of 12% over the Conservatives, according to calculations of notional results (an estimate of how the seat would have voted if it had existed at the previous election) and the seat was 96th[3] on the Conservatives' target list. The Liberal Democrats finished in a close third place at the election. However, former Conservative MSP David Mundell was successful in gaining the seat from Labour, with a swing of 8.0%. This left him as the sole Conservative MP representing a Scottish constituency at the 2005 general election,[4] after the Conservative MP for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale, Peter Duncan was defeated when standing at the new Dumfries and Galloway constituency,[5] and Conservative attempts to gain Angus from the SNP ended in failure.

In 2010, Mundell was re-elected, with an increased majority. In 2015, after the SNP landslide victory in Scotland, he narrowly defeated the SNP candidate, Emma Harper by 798 votes, and was the only Scottish Conservative MP elected.[6] However, following the SNP's losses at the 2017 snap general election, the Conservatives gained 12 seats in Scotland, with Mundell increasing his majority to 9,441 votes. Mundell was re-elected at the 2019 general election, but with a reduced majority, in an election where the SNP made gains across Scotland at the expense of Labour and the Conservatives.

Members of Parliament

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Election Member Party
2005 David Mundell Conservative

Election results

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Dumfriesshire Clydesdale and Tweeddale election results

Elections in the 2020s

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2024 general election: Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale[7] [8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Mundell 14,999 33.9 −12.6
SNP Kim Marshall 10,757 24.3 −13.6
Labour Daniel Coleman 10,140 22.9 +14.6
Reform UK David Kirkwood 3,822 8.6 N/A
Liberal Democrats Drummond Begg 2,800 6.3 −1.0
Scottish Green Dominic Ashmole 1,448 3.4 N/A
Scottish Family Gareth Kirk 208 0.5 N/A
Majority 4,242 9.6 +1.9
Turnout 44,347 61.7 –10.5
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 2010s

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2019 general election: Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale[9][10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Mundell 22,611 46.0 −3.4
SNP Amanda Burgauer 18,830 38.3 +8.2
Labour Nick Chisholm 4,172 8.5 −8.0
Liberal Democrats John Ferry 3,540 7.2 +3.2
Majority 3,781 7.7 −11.6
Turnout 49,153 71.9 −0.5
Conservative hold Swing −5.8
2017 general election: Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Mundell 24,177 49.4 +9.6
SNP Màiri McAllan 14,736 30.1 −8.2
Labour Douglas Beattie 8,102 16.5 +1.7
Liberal Democrats John Ferry 1,949 4.0 +1.3
Majority 9,441 19.3 +17.8
Turnout 48,964 72.4 −3.7
Conservative hold Swing +8.9
See also: Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies, 2010–15 § Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale
2015 general election: Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale[12][13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Mundell 20,759 39.8 +1.8
SNP Emma Harper 19,961 38.3 +27.5
Labour Archie Dryburgh 7,711 14.8 −14.1
UKIP Kevin Newton 1,472 2.8 +1.4
Liberal Democrats Amanda Kubie 1,392 2.7 −17.1
Scottish Green Jody Jamieson 839 1.6 +0.5
Majority 798 1.5 −7.6
Turnout 52,134 76.1 +7.2
Conservative hold Swing -12.9
2010 general election: Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale[14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Mundell 17,457 38.0 +1.8
Labour Claudia Beamish 13,263 28.9 −3.4
Liberal Democrats Catriona Bhatia 9,080 19.8 −0.5
SNP Aileen Orr 4,945 10.8 +1.7
UKIP Douglas Watters 637 1.4 +0.4
Scottish Green Alis Ballance 510 1.1 N/A
Majority 4,194 9.1 +5.2
Turnout 45,892 68.9 +1.3
Conservative hold Swing +2.6

Elections in the 2000s

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2005 general election: Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale
Party Candidate Votes %
Conservative David Mundell 16,141 36.2
Labour Sean Marshall 14,403 32.3
Liberal Democrats Patsy Kenton 9,046 20.3
SNP Andrew Wood 4,075 9.1
Scottish Socialist Sarah MacTavish 521 1.2
UKIP Tony Lee 430 1.0
Majority 1,738 3.9
Turnout 44,616 67.6
Conservative win (new seat)

References

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  1. ^ "Election 2015: David Mundell named new secretary of state for Scotland". BBC News. Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  2. ^ "Election 2005: Conservatives hail lone success". BBC News. 6 May 2005. Archived from the original on 21 April 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  3. ^ "BBC NEWS – Election 2005 – Key Seats – Conservative". news.bbc.co.uk.
  4. ^ "Election 2005: Results: Scotland". BBC News. 23 May 2005. Archived from the original on 11 October 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ "Election 2015: Election results: Mapping Scotland's dramatic change". BBC News. 8 May 2015. Archived from the original on 10 May 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  7. ^ "Results of Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale". BBC News. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  8. ^ "Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale, and Tweeddale County Constituency results". Dumfries and Galloway Council. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  9. ^ "UK Parliamentary General Election – December 2019" (PDF). Dumfries and Galloway Council. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  10. ^ "Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  11. ^ "Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale – 2017 Election Results – General Elections Online". electionresults.parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 11 February 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  12. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  13. ^ Haswell, Alex (8 May 2015). "UK Parliamentary Elections Results 2015 for the Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and". dumgal.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  14. ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
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55°12′N 3°30′W / 55.2°N 3.5°W / 55.2; -3.5

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