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
Population72,941 (2019)[1]
Current constituency
Created2011
PartyConservative
MSPFinlay Carson
Council areaDumfries and Galloway
Created fromDumfries,
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

Wards of the Galloway and West Dumfries Scottish Parliament constituency as of 2011.

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]

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

ElectionMemberParty
2011 Alex Fergusson Conservative
2016 Finlay Carson

Election results

2020s

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Galloway and West Dumfries[3][4]
Party Candidate Constituency Regional
Votes % ±% Votes % ±%
Conservative Finlay Carson[lower-alpha 1] 17,486 47.0 Increase3.5 15,610 42.01 Increase2.63
SNP Emma Harper[lower-alpha 2] 14,851 39.9 Increase0.9 13,683 36.82 Increase0.82
Labour Archie Dryburgh 2,932 7.9 Decrease6.7 3,483 9.37 Decrease4.95
Scottish Green Laura Moodie 970 2.6 New 1,583 4.26 Decrease0.02
Liberal Democrats Iain McDonald 948 2.5 Decrease0.3 985 2.65 Increase0.19
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 Decrease2.30
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 Increase2.6
Valid Votes 37,187 37,161
Invalid Votes 81
Turnout 37,268 64.9 Increase5.5
Conservative hold Swing Increase2.3
Notes
  1. ↑ Incumbent member for this constituency
  2. ↑ 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 Increase6.6 13,162 39.4 Increase12.5
SNP Aileen McLeod[lower-alpha 1] 13,013 39.0 Increase5.0 12,033 36.0 Decrease2.3
Labour Fiona O'Donnell 4,876 14.6 Decrease11.9 4,789 14.3 Decrease8.1
Scottish Green 1,431 4.3 Increase1.3
Liberal Democrats Andrew Metcalf 947 2.8 Increase0.3 824 2.4 Decrease0.4
UKIP 852 2.5 Increase0.7
RISE 91 0.3 New
Clydesdale and South Scotland Independent 133 0.4 New
Solidarity 112 0.3 Increase0.3
Majority 1,514 4.5 Increase1.7
Valid Votes 33,363 33,427
Invalid Votes 95 57
Turnout 33,458 59.4 Increase6.2 33,484 59.5 Increase6.4
Conservative hold Swing Increase0.8
Notes
  1. ↑ Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency
2011 Scottish Parliament election: Galloway and West Dumfries[6]
Party Candidate Constituency Regional
Votes % ±% Votes % ±%
Conservative Alex Fergusson[lower-alpha 1] 11,071 36.9 N/A 8,049 26.9 N/A
SNP Aileen McLeod[lower-alpha 2] 10,209 34.0 N/A 11,470 38.3 N/A
Labour Willie Scobie 7,954 26.5 N/A 6,711 22.4 N/A
Scottish Green 897 3.0 N/A
Liberal Democrats Joe Rosiejak 763 2.5 N/A 844 2.8 N/A
UKIP 550 1.8 N/A
All-Scotland Pensioners Party 509 1.7 N/A
Socialist Labour 402 1.3 N/A
BNP 241 0.8 N/A
Scottish Christian 218 0.7 N/A
Scottish Socialist 57 0.2 N/A
Solidarity 25 0.1 N/A
Majority 862 2.9 N/A
Valid Votes 29,997 29,973
Invalid Votes 123 88
Turnout 30,120 53.2 N/A 30,061 53.1 N/A
Conservative win (new seat)
Notes
  1. ↑ Incumbent member for the Galloway and Upper Nithsdale constituency
  2. ↑ Elected on the party list

References

  1. ↑ Scottish Parliamentary Constituency (SPC) Population Estimates (2011 Data Zone based), National Records of Scotland; retrieved 6 May 2021 (accompanying summary notes)
  2. ↑ "First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries Final Report" (PDF). Boundaries Scotland. May 2010. p. 99. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  3. ↑ "Constituencies A-Z: Galloway & West Dumfries". BBC News. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  4. ↑ "Scottish Parliamentary Election results 2021". Dumfries and Galloway Council. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  5. ↑ "Results and turnout at the 2016 Scottish Parliament election". The Electoral Commission. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  6. ↑ "Results and turnout at the 2011 Scottish Parliament election". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
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