Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 55°12′N 3°30′W / 55.2°N 3.5°W / 55.2; -3.5

Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale is a constituency of the British 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.

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. Current Scottish Secretary David Mundell^[1] has held the seat since 2005 and since then has been the only Conservative MP representing a Scottish constituency.^[2]

A mostly rural constituency, it takes in the towns of Annan, Biggar, Gretna, Langholm, Lockerbie, Moffat and Peebles.

Boundaries

As created by the Fifth Review of the Boundary Commission for Scotland the constituency is one of six covering the Dumfries and Galloway council area, the Scottish Borders council area and the South Lanarkshire council area. The other five constituencies are: Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, Dumfries and Galloway, East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow, Lanark and Hamilton East and Rutherglen and Hamilton West.

The Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale constituency covers parts of all three council areas. The rest of the Dumfries and Galloway council area is covered by the Dumfries and Galloway constituency; the rest of the Scottish Borders council area is covered by the Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk constituency; and the rest of the South Lanarkshire council area is covered by the East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow constituency, the Lanark and Hamilton East constituency, and the Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency.

The Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale constituency is predominantly rural, and the terms of the name refer to the former local government county of Dumfries, the Clydesdale area of the South Lanarkshire council area and the Tweeddale area of the Scottish Borders council area. The Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale constituency excludes, however, most of the town of Dumfries, which is within the Dumfries and Galloway constituency.

Politics

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 in 1997. 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] in the Conservative's target list. The Liberal Democrats were in a close third place in the seat. However, former Conservative MSP David Mundell was successful in taking the seat from Labour, with a swing of 8.0%. This left him as the only 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 in the new Dumfries and Galloway constituency,^[5] and Tory attempts to gain Angus from the SNP ended in failure.

In 2010, Mundell was returned as the constituency's MP, with an increased majority. In 2015, after the SNP landslide, he narrowly defeated his SNP rival^[6] to remain as the only Scottish Conservative MP elected.^[7]

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

External links

• The boundaries of the constituency, and its predecessors, can be viewed at Scottish Boundaries Commission's Map Browser.
• The boundaries of the constituency can also be viewed at the Ordnance Survey's Election Maps site.

References

Westminster constituencies of Scotland
1708 to 1832 1832 to 1868 1868 to 1885 1885 to 1918 1918 to 1950 1950 to 1955 1955 to 1974 1974 to 1983 1983 to 1997 1997 to 2005
Current constituencies (2005 to present)
Aberdeen North Aberdeen South Airdrie & Shotts Angus Argyll & Bute Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock Banff & Buchan Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross Central Ayrshire Coatbridge, Chryston & Bellshill Cumbernauld, Kilsyth & Kirkintilloch East Dumfries & Galloway Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale Dundee East Dundee West Dunfermline & West Fife East Dunbartonshire East Kilbride, Strathaven & Lesmahagow East Lothian East Renfrewshire Edinburgh East Edinburgh North & Leith Edinburgh South Edinburgh South West Edinburgh West Falkirk Glasgow Central Glasgow East Glasgow North Glasgow North East Glasgow North West Glasgow South Glasgow South West Glenrothes Gordon Inverclyde Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey Kilmarnock & Loudoun Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath Lanark & Hamilton East Linlithgow & East Falkirk Livingston Midlothian Moray Motherwell & Wishaw Na h-Eileanan an Iar North Ayrshire & Arran North East Fife Ochil & South Perthshire Orkney & Shetland Paisley & Renfrewshire North Paisley & Renfrewshire South Perth & North Perthshire Ross, Skye & Lochaber Rutherglen & Hamilton West Stirling West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine West Dunbartonshire