Galloway and West Dumfries (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Galloway and West Dumfries
County constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Galloway and West Dumfries shown within the South Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Population	72,941 (2019)[1]
Current constituency
Created	2011
Party	Conservative
MSP	Finlay Carson
Council area	Dumfries and Galloway
Created from	Dumfries, Galloway and Upper Nithsdale

Galloway and West Dumfries (Gaelic: Gall-Ghaidhealaibh agus Dùn Phrìs an Iar) 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 (first past the post) 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.

Created for the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, it comprises areas that were previously part of the old Dumfries and Galloway and Upper Nithsdale constituencies, which were abolished.

The seat has been held by Finlay Carson of the Conservatives since the 2016 Scottish Parliament election.

Electoral region

The other eight constituencies of the South Scotland region are: Ayr, Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Clydesdale, Dumfriesshire, East Lothian, Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley and Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale.

The region covers the Dumfries and Galloway council area, part of the East Ayrshire council area, part of the East Lothian council area, part of the Midlothian council area, the Scottish Borders council area, the South Ayrshire council area and part of the South Lanarkshire council area.

Constituency boundaries and council area

Dumfries and Galloway is represented in the Scottish Parliament by two constituencies: Dumfriesshire and Galloway and West Dumfries. Galloway and West Dumfries covers the western part of the council area. The town of Dumfries is divided between the two constituencies.

The electoral wards forming the Galloway and West Dumfries constituency are listed below. All of these wards are part of Dumfries and Galloway:^[2]

• Stranraer and the Rhins
• Mid Galloway and Wigtown West
• Dee and Glenkens
• Castle Douglas and Crocketford
• Abbey
• North West Dumfries

Constituency profile and voting patterns

Constituency profile

The Galloway and West Dumfries constituency covers a large, diverse stretch of land between the Rhins of Galloway in the extreme south-west of Scotland and the River Nith and Cluden Water in eastern Dumfries and Galloway. It covers a set of rugged pastoral plains and forests across the region of Galloway, taking in rural towns such as Castle Douglas, Newton Stewart, Kirkcudbright and St John's Town of Dalry. To the west of the constituency is the portly town of Stranraer, situated at the base of Loch Ryan, whilst in the east the constituency takes in patches of Dumfries, administrative centre of the Dumfries and Galloway Council area.

Voting patterns

Galloway and West Dumfries has a dynamic mix of political traditions. It covers most of the former Galloway and Upper Nithsdale constituency, a seat which has a long-standing tradition of being marginally contested between the Conservatives and the Scottish National Party, in addition to patches of the former safe Labour constituency of Dumfries. This dynamic was represented within local council politics with Wigtownshire traditionally voting SNP, Kirkcudbrightshire voting Conservative and Dumfries voting Labour.

At Westminster the Galloway and Upper Nithsdale constituency was represented by Conservative Ian Lang from its creation at the 1983 UK general election until 1997. It became the only Conservative constituency in the UK Parliament in Scotland in 2001. The Conservatives have represented the area in the Scottish Parliament since 2003.

In the 2022 council election, 5 out of 6 wards in Galloway and West Dumfries voted Conservative - with Galloway wards voting Conservative and North West Dumfries voting SNP.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election results

2020s

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Galloway and West Dumfries^[3][4]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Finlay Carson[a]	17,486	47.0	3.5	15,610	42.01	2.63
	SNP	Emma Harper[b]	14,851	39.9	0.9	13,683	36.82	0.82
	Labour	Archie Dryburgh	2,932	7.9	6.7	3,483	9.37	4.95
	Scottish Green	Laura Moodie	970	2.6	New	1,583	4.26	0.02
	Liberal Democrats	Iain McDonald	948	2.5	0.3	985	2.65	0.19
	All for Unity					725	1.95	New
	Alba					259	0.70	New
	Scottish Family					202	0.54	New
	Abolish the Scottish Parliament					165	0.44	New
	Independent Green Voice					138	0.37	New
	UKIP					91	0.24	2.30
	Reform UK					83	0.22	New
	Freedom Alliance (UK)					73	0.20	New
	Libertarian					51	0.14	New
	Scotia Future					21	0.06	New
	Vanguard					9	0.02	New
Majority			2,635	7.1	2.6
Valid Votes			37,187			37,161
Invalid Votes			81
Turnout			37,268	64.9	5.5
	Conservative hold		Swing		2.3
Notes ^ Incumbent member for this constituency ^ Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency

2010s

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Galloway and West Dumfries^[5]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Finlay Carson	14,527	43.5	6.6	13,162	39.4	12.5
	SNP	Aileen McLeod[a]	13,013	39.0	5.0	12,033	36.0	2.3
	Labour	Fiona O'Donnell	4,876	14.6	11.9	4,789	14.3	8.1
	Scottish Green					1,431	4.3	1.3
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Metcalf	947	2.8	0.3	824	2.4	0.4
	UKIP					852	2.5	0.7
	RISE					91	0.3	New
	Clydesdale and South Scotland Independent					133	0.4	New
	Solidarity					112	0.3	0.3
Majority			1,514	4.5	1.7
Valid Votes			33,363			33,427
Invalid Votes			95			57
Turnout			33,458	59.4	6.2	33,484	59.5	6.4
	Conservative hold		Swing		0.8
Notes ^ Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency

References

External links

• "Galloway and West Dumfries constituency map" (PDF). Boundaries Scotland. Retrieved 9 August 2021.