West Dunbartonshire (UK Parliament constituency)
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| West Dunbartonshire County constituency |
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| West Dunbartonshire shown within Scotland | |
| Created: | 1950, 2005 |
| MP: | John McFall |
| Party: | Labour Co-operative |
| Type: | House of Commons |
| Council areas: | West Dunbartonshire |
| EP constituency: | Scotland |
West Dunbartonshire is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster). It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
The current constituency was first used in the 2005 general election. There was also an earlier West Dunbartonshire constituency, from 1950 to 1983.
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[edit] Boundaries
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| West Dunbartonshire as one of the council areas of Scotland |
[edit] Current
The existing constituency was created as a result of the Fifth Periodical Review of the Boundary Commission for Scotland, It covers and is entirely within the West Dunbartonshire council area.[1]
The area of the constituency was previously divided between the Dumbarton and Clydebank and Milngavie constituencies.[1] It includes the population centres of Clydebank, Dumbarton and Alexandria.
The Fifth Periodical Review did not affect the boundaries of Scottish Parliament constituencies, which retain the boundaries of Westminster constituencies prior to implementation of the results of the review.
[edit] Historic
The historic constituency was created under the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949, and first used in the 1950 general election.[2]
As created in 1950, the constituency was one of two covering the county of Dunbarton. The other was East Dunbartonshire. The two new constituencies replaced the earlier constituencies of Dunbartonshire and Dumbarton Burghs.[2]
West Dunbartonshire covered the Helensburgh, Old Kilpatrick, and Vale of Leven districts of the county and the burghs of Cove and Kilcreggan, Dumbarton, and Helensburgh.[2]
For the 1951 general election the constituency boundaries were adjusted to take account of a change to the boundaries of the Old Kilpatrick district.[2]
The results of the First Periodical Review of the Boundary Commission were implemented for the 1955 general election, but there was no change to the boundaries of West Dunbartonshire, and the boundaries of 1951 and 1955 were used also in the general elections of 1959, 1964, 1966 and 1970.[2]
The results of the Second Periodical Review were implemented for the February 1974 general election. The review took account of population growth in the county of Dunbarton, caused by overspill from the city of Glasgow into the new town of Cumbernauld and elsewhere,[citation needed] and West Dunbartonshire became one of three constituencies covering the county. The other two were East Dunbartonshire and Central Dunbartonshire. West Dunbartonshire now covered the Helensburgh and Vale of Leven districts and the burghs of Cove and Kilcreggan, Dumbarton, and Helensburgh.[2]
February 1974 boundaries were used also for the general elections of October 1974 and 1979.[citation needed]
In 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, Scottish counties were abolished in favour of regions and districts and islands council areas, and the county of Dunbarton was divided between several districts of the new region of Strathclyde. The Third Periodical Review took account of new local government boundaries, and the results were implemented for the 1983 general election.[citation needed]
[edit] Member of Parliament, 2005 to present
- 2005 – present: John McFall, Labour Co-operative, previously MP for Dumbarton, since 1987
[edit] Election results, 2005 to present
| General Election 2005: West Dunbartonshire | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour Co-op | John McFall | 21,600 | 51.9% | -11.6 | |
| Scottish National Party | Tom Chalmers | 9,047 | 21.8% | -2.2 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Niall Walker | 5,999 | 14.4% | +12.0 | |
| Conservative | Campbell Murdoch | 2,679 | 6.4% | +1.4 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Les Robertson | 1,708 | 4.1% | -0.9 | |
| UK Independence | Bryan Maher | 354 | 0.9% | +0.9 | |
| Christian Vote | Marlon Dawson | 202 | 0.5% | +0.5 | |
| Majority | 12,553 | 30.2% | |||
| Turnout | 41,589 | 61.3 | -2.9 | ||
| Labour Co-op hold | Swing | -4.7 | |||
The current West Dunbartonshire constituency was formed in 2005 from parts of the earlier Dumbarton, and Clydebank and Milngavie constituencies. 2001 general election results for the earlier constituencies are listed below.
| General Election 2001: Dumbarton | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour Co-op | John McFall | 16,151 | 47.5 | -2.1 | |
| Scottish National Party | Iain Robertson | 6,576 | 19.3 | -3.9 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Eric Thompson | 5,265 | 15.5 | +7.9 | |
| Conservative | Peter Ramsay | 4,648 | 13.7 | -4.0 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Les Robertson | 1,354 | 4.0 | N/A | |
| Majority | 9,575 | 28.2 | |||
| Turnout | 33,994 | 61.1 | -12.3 | ||
| Labour Co-op hold | Swing | ||||
| General Election 2001: Clydebank and Milngavie | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Tony Worthington | 17,249 | 53.1 | -2.1 | |
| Scottish National Party | Jim Yuill | 6,525 | 20.1 | -1.1 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Rodney Ackland | 3,909 | 12.0 | +1.6 | |
| Conservative | Kate Pickering Jardine | 3,514 | 10.8 | -1.7 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Dawn Brennan | 1,294 | 4.0 | N/A | |
| Majority | 10,724 | 33.0 | |||
| Turnout | 32,491 | 62.5 | -12.5 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
[edit] Members of Parliament, 1950 to 1983
- 1950 Adam McKinlay
- 1951 Tom Steele
- 1970 Ian Campbell
[edit] Election results, 1950 to 1983
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ a b Boundary Commission for Scotland website
- ^ a b c d e f Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972 (ISBN 0-900178-09-4), F. W. S. Craig, 1972
