Politics of Dundee

Dundee Dùn Dèagh
Logo
Admin HQ	Dundee
Government
• Body	Dundee City Council
• Control	Scottish National Party
• MPs	Stewart Hosie Chris Law
• MSPs	Shona Robison Joe Fitzpatrick
Area
• Total	20 sq mi (60 km2)
Area rank	Ranked 32nd
Population (2010 est.)
• Total	147,000
• Rank	Ranked 14th
• Density	6,250/sq mi (2,414/km2)
ONS code	00QJ
ISO 3166 code	GB-DND
Website	www.dundeecity.gov.uk

Politics in the Dundee City (Mòr-bhaile Dhùn Dèagh in Gaelic) council area are evident in the deliberations and decisions of Dundee City Council, in elections to the council, and in elections to the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) and the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster).

In the European Parliament, the city area is within the Scotland constituency, which covers all of the 32 council areas of Scotland.

Dundee City became a single-tier council in 1996, under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994,^[1] with the boundaries of the City of Dundee district of the Tayside region, minus a Monifieth area and part of a Sidlaw area, which were transferred from the city area to the new council area of Angus. The city district was also the administrative centre for the region.

The new city council area was named The City of Dundee in the legislation of 1994, but this was changed to Dundee City by a council resolution on 29 June 1995, under section 23 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c. 65).^[2] In terms of area, it is the smallest of Scotland's council areas.

The district had been created in 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, to include: the former county of city of Dundee; a Monifieth area, including the burgh of Monifieth (but not Newtyle and Kettins areas), previously within the county of Angus; and a Longforgan area previously within the county of Perth.

The county of city was created in 1894, and the city area has included the burgh of Broughty Ferry since 1913. Dundee has been a royal burgh since 1191.

City council

Council meetings take place in the City Chambers, located in City Square. They were opened in 1933.

The council executive is based in Dundee House on North Lindsay Street, but the council previously being based in Tayside House, which is scheduled for demolition as part of the Waterfront project.

Composition and control

The council consists of 29 councillors:

• Scottish National Party - 16 councillors
• Labour - 10 councillors
• Conservative - 1 councillor
• Liberal Democrat - 1 councillor
• Independent - 1 councillor

The SNP has the majority on the council after the 2012 elections, although in the previous council, they had the largest number of seats, the council was initially controlled by a Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition, with the support of the Conservatives. This changed after a March 2009 By Election result which tipped the balance further in the SNPs direction.^[3][4]

The council has a history of Labour Party domination. George Galloway was leader for a time, and was responsible for organising Dundee's twinning with the Palestinian city of Nablus.^[5]

Positions

The civic head and chair of the council is known as the Lord Provost. Bob Duncan, an SNP Councillor was made Lord Provost in 2012. A number of councillors are appointed as ceremonial bailies.

The Leader of the Council, as head of the largest political grouping, is Cllr Ken Guild (SNP).

Elections

Tayside House
Former home of Dundee City Council, May 2004

General elections to the council are held on a four-year cycle, with the last on Thursday 3 May 2007.

Councillors are elected from subdivisions of the city area called wards. At present they are elected form 29 single-member wards. by the plurality (first past the post) system of election. As a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004,^[6] eight new wards are to be introduced for the 2007 election, each electing three or four members by the single transferable vote system of election, to produce a form of proportional representation. The total number of councillors will remain the same. A By-Election was held on 12 March 2009 due to the resignation of Councillor Joe Morrow who was a councillor for Labour. The SNP’s Craig Melville took the seat.

Wards

1999 to 2007

Existing wards, listed below, were first used for elections in 1999. The names and parties of current councillors are also listed:^[3]

Dundee City Square
Caird Hall is the building at the back of the square
The building on the right is Dundee City Chambers, where the city council meets

Created in 2007

The first elections using the new boundaries and using the STV system to vote were held on 3 May 2007. The results were

2012 Results

Independence referendum

Pro-independence demonstrators in Dundee

Dundee returned the highest proportion of Yes votes of any area in Scotland in the 2014 independence referendum, with 53,620 Yes votes to 39,880 No votes. It was among only four local authority areas that backed independence. In Summer 2014, First Minister Alex Salmond said Dundee was moving "towards being Scotland's Yes city",^[11] and it retained that designation in the run-up to the referendum.^[12] Housing schemes in Dundee canvassed by Yes activists indicated levels of support of up to 80 per cent in favour of independence.^[13]

Headlines were made in the final week of the campaign when a Better Together event in Dundee was crashed by a demonstration involving Yes activists and members of the Scottish Socialist Party, who marched from the event they were having in Albert Square to sing protest songs at Labour party representatives.^[14]

Scottish Parliament

For elections to the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) the city area is divided between two constituencies. The Dundee City East (Holyrood) constituency and the Dundee City West (Holyrood) constituency are entirely within the city area.

Both constituencies are within the North East Scotland electoral region. The region elects a total of tenfirst past the post constituency Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) and seven additional members, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Boundaries date from 1999, when the parliament itself was created.

Currently, Shona Robison (SNP) is MSP for the Dundee City East constituency and, Joe FitzPatrick (SNP) is MSP for the Dundee City West constituency.

Parliament of the United Kingdom

For elections to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster), the city area is divided between the Dundee East (Westminster) constituency and the Dundee West (Westminster) constituency. These constituencies also include portions of the Angus council area.^[15]

Current boundaries date from 2005. Prior to the 2005 general election, the constituencies had the boundaries of now existing Scottish Parliament constituencies, with north-eastern and north-western portions of the city area being covered by the Angus (Westminster) constituency.

Currently, Stewart Hosie (Scottish National Party) is Member of Parliament (MP) for the Dundee East constituency, and Chris Law (Scottish National Party) is MP for the Dundee West constituency.

Historic constituencies

As a royal burgh, Dundee was represented as a component of the Perth Burghs constituency from 1708 to 1832, when the Dundee burgh constituency was created. In 1868 the burgh constituency became a two-member constituency.

East and West single-member constituencies have existed, with varying boundaries, since 1950.

Notes and references

1. ↑ Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, full text, Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website
   OPSI home page
2. ↑ Edinburgh Gazette, 7 July 1995
3. 1 2 Dundee City Council Political Make-up, Dundee City Council website
4. ↑ Dundee Tory leader hits out at critic, Evening Telegraph (publisher DC Thomson), 28 February 2005
5. ↑ As council leader, he flew the Palestinian flag over Dundee, according to Torcuil Crichton in Kebabs Over Baghdad?, Sunday Herald, 25 April 2004
6. ↑ Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, full text, Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website
7. ↑ Nigel Don was originally elected; however he was also elected as an MSP for North-East Scotland. A by-election in late 2007 elected Alan Ross to replace him.
8. ↑ John Letford resigned from the Labour group on 24th March 2009 and now sits as an independent councillor
9. ↑ Won the March 2009 By Election. Replaced Joe Morrow (Labour)
10. ↑ http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/output/2009/03/13/story12769982t0.shtm
11. ↑ "Alex Salmond: ‘Dundee is Scotland’s Yes city’". The Courier. 4 June 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2014. 
12. ↑ "Referendum fever takes hold in Dundee, dubbed Yes City". The Herald. 12 September 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2014. 
13. ↑ "Canvass blitz through Dundee, ‘Yes capital’ of Scotland". 18 September 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2014. 
14. ↑ "VIDEO: Yes and No campaigners in Dundee city centre stand-off". 13 September 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2014. 
15. ↑ Fifth Periodical Review of Constituencies, Boundary Commission for Scotland, in which review-period boundaries for Westminster constituencies are those of now existing Holyrood constituencies

See also

• List of places in Dundee
• List of places in Angus
• List of places in Fife
• List of places in Perth and Kinross

External links

Local political parties:

• Dundee Liberal Democrats
• Dundee Scottish National Party