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
Current constituency
Created 2011
Party Conservative
MSP Alex Fergusson
Council area Dumfries and Galloway

Galloway and West Dumfries is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. Also, however, it is one of nine constituencies in the South Scotland electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Created in 2011, it comprises areas that were previously part of the old Dumfries and Galloway and Upper Nithsdale constituencies, which were abolished for the 2011 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 is formed from the following electoral wards:

Member of the Scottish Parliament

As Galloway and Upper Nithsdale

Election Member Party
1999 Alasdair Morgan SNP
2003 Alex Fergusson Conservative
2007 Presiding Officer (elected as a Conservative)

As Galloway and West Dumfries

Election Member Party
2011 Alex Fergusson Conservative

Election results

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Galloway and West Dumfries
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Alex Fergusson 11,071 36.9 -2.2
SNP Aileen McLeod 10,209 34.0 +2.6
Labour Willie Scobie 7,954 26.5 +2.6
Liberal Democrats Joe Rosiejak 763 2.5 -2.3
Majority 862 2.9
Turnout 29,997 52.6
Conservative hold Swing -2.4%
Scottish Parliament election, 2007 Notional Result: Galloway and West Dumfries
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative 12,756 39.1
SNP 10,252 31.4
Labour 7,797 23.9
Liberal Democrats 1,569 4.8
Others 261 0.8
Majority 2,504 7.7
Conservative hold Swing
2007 Scottish Parliament election: Galloway and Upper Nithsdale[1]

Notes: Green background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list.
Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member.
A Green tick or Red X denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

Party Candidate Votes % ±% Party Votes % ±%
Conservative Green tick Alex Fergusson 13,387 44.16 +5.64 10,550 34.62
SNP Alasdair Morgan 10,054 33.16 -5.02 9,163 30.07
Labour Stephen Hodgson 4,935 16.28 +1.66 6,078 19.95
Liberal Democrats Alastair Cooper 1,631 5.38 -0.90 1,672 5.49
style="background-color: style="background:#DDDDDD; width:{{{2}}}px"| Independent Sandy Richardson 311 1.03 +1.03
Scottish Green   1,106 3.63
Scottish Senior Citizens   513 1.68
BNP   261 0.86
Scottish Christian   233 0.76
UKIP   233 0.76
Solidarity   192 0.63
Socialist Labour   172 0.56
Independent - Paddy Scott Hogg 97 0.32
Scottish Socialist   88 0.29
Christian Peoples   69 0.23
Scottish Voice   45 0.15
Informal votes 977 823
Total Valid votes 30,318 30,472
Turnout 31,295
Conservative hold Majority 3,333 10.99 +10.66
2003 Scottish Parliament election: Galloway and Upper Nithsdale
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Alex Fergusson 11,332 38.2 +8.0
SNP Alasdair Morgan 11,233 37.9 −1.4
Labour Norma Harte 4,299 14.5 −5.9
Liberal Democrats Neil Wallace 1,847 6.2 −3.9
Scottish Socialist Joy Cherkaoui 709 2.4 +2.3
New Party Graham Brockhouse 215 0.7 n/a
Majority 99 0.3
Turnout 29,635 51.8
Conservative gain from SNP Swing 4.6
1999 Scottish Parliament election: Galloway and Upper Nithsdale
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Alasdair Morgan 13,873 39.3 n/a
Conservative Alex Fergusson 10,672 30.2 n/a
Labour Jim Stevens 7,209 20.4 n/a
Liberal Democrats Joan Mitchell 3,562 10.1 n/a
Majority 3,201 9.1 n/a
Turnout 35,316 65.9
SNP win (new seat)
Preceded by
Ochil		 Constituency represented by the Presiding Officer
2007 – 2011 		Succeeded by
Mid Fife and Glenrothes

References

  1. ↑ Sub-constituency election results for the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections - data- Scotland Office; 30 April 2008 (retrieved 5 April 2011)