Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (UK Parliament constituency)

Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale is a constituency

United Kingdom constituencies

In the United Kingdom , each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly.Within the United Kingdom there are now five bodies with members elected by constituencies:...

of the British House of Commons, located in the south of Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, within the Dumfries and Galloway

Dumfries and Galloway

Dumfries and Galloway is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland. It was one of the nine administrative 'regions' of mainland Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government etc. Act 1973...

, South Lanarkshire

South Lanarkshire

South Lanarkshire is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of the former county of Lanarkshire. It borders the south-east of the city of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns and smaller villages....

and Scottish Borders

Scottish Borders

The Scottish Borders is one of 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by Dumfries and Galloway in the west, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian in the north west, City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian to the north; and the non-metropolitan counties of Northumberland...

council areas. It elects one Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

(MP) at least once every five years using the First-past-the-post

First-past-the-post

First-past-the-post voting refers to an election won by the candidate with the most votes. The winning potato candidate does not necessarily receive an absolute majority of all votes cast.-Overview:...

system of voting.

The seat has a diverse electoral history, with the Dumfriesshire

Dumfriesshire

Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries is a registration county of Scotland. The lieutenancy area of Dumfries has similar boundaries.Until 1975 it was a county. Its county town was Dumfries...

area being a longtime Conservative

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

seat, the Clydesdale

Clydesdale

Clydesdale was formerly one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland.The district was formed by the Local Government Act 1973 from part of the former county of Lanarkshire: namely the burghs of Biggar and Lanark and the First, Second and Third Districts...

area being formerly safe

Safe seat

A safe seat is a seat in a legislative body which is regarded as fully secured, either by a certain political party, the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both...

Labour

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

territory, and Tweeddale

Tweeddale

Tweeddale is a committee area and lieutenancy area in the Scottish Borders with a population of 17,394 at the latest census in 2001 it is the second smallest of the 5 committee areas in the Borders. It is the traditional name for the area drained by the upper reaches of the River Tweed...

had been part of Liberal Democrat

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...

voting constituencies since the 1980s. Current Scotland Office

Scotland Office

The Scotland Office is a United Kingdom government department headed by the Secretary of State for Scotland and responsible for Scottish affairs...

minister David Mundell

David Mundell

David Gordon Mundell is a British Conservative politician and, since 2005, he has been the only Conservative Member of Parliament representing a Scottish Westminster constituency...

, has held the seat since 2005, and since then has been the only Conservative MP representing a Scottish constituency.

A mostly rural constituency, it takes in the towns of Annan

Annan, Dumfries and Galloway

The royal burgh of Annan is a well-built town, red sandstone being the material mainly used. Each year in July, Annan celebrates the Royal Charter and the boundaries of the Royal Burgh are confirmed when a mounted cavalcade undertakes the Riding of the Marches. Entertainment includes a...

, Biggar

Biggar, South Lanarkshire

Biggar is a town and former burgh in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is situated in the Southern Uplands, near the River Clyde, around 30 miles from Edinburgh along the A702. The closest towns are Lanark and Peebles, and as such Biggar serves a wide rural area...

, Gretna, Langholm

Langholm

Langholm , also known colloquially as the "Muckle Toon", is a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on the River Esk and the A7 road.- History:...

, Lockerbie

Lockerbie

Lockerbie is a town in the Dumfries and Galloway region of south-western Scotland. It lies approximately from Glasgow, and from the English border. It had a population of 4,009 at the 2001 census...

and Moffat

Moffat

Moffat is a former burgh and spa town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, lying on the River Annan, with a population of around 2,500. The most notable building in the town is the Moffat House Hotel, designed by John Adam...

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

Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (UK Parliament constituency)

Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk is a constituency of the British House of Commons, located in the south of Scotland within the Scottish Borders council area...

, Dumfries and Galloway

Dumfries and Galloway (UK Parliament constituency)

Dumfries and Galloway is a county constituency of in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was first used in the 2005 general election, and replaced Galloway and Upper Nithsdale and part of Dumfries, and it elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post...

, East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow

East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (UK Parliament constituency)

East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which was first used in the general election of 2005...

, Lanark and Hamilton East

Lanark and Hamilton East (UK Parliament constituency)

Lanark and Hamilton East is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which was first used in the general election of 2005...

and Rutherglen and Hamilton West

Rutherglen and Hamilton West (UK Parliament constituency)

Rutherglen and Hamilton West is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which was first used in the general election of 2005...

.

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

Clydesdale

area of the South Lanarkshire council area and the Tweeddale

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

Dumfriesshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Dumfriesshire was a county constituency represented in the of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 until 2005. It was known as Dumfries from 1950...

, Clydesdale

Clydesdale (UK Parliament constituency)

Clydesdale was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1983 until 2005, when it was redistributed to Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale, Lanark & Hamilton East and East Kilbride, Strathaven & Lesmahagow as part of a major...

and Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lauderdale

Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale (UK Parliament constituency)

Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1983...

, all had distinct political influences. Dumfriesshire had been a Conservative

Conservative Party (UK)

/National Liberal

National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)

The National Liberal Party, known until 1948 as the Liberal National Party, was a liberal political party in the United Kingdom from 1931 to 1968...

seat from 1931 to 1997, however was lost to Labour

Labour Party (UK)

's Russell Brown

Russell Brown

Russell Leslie Brown is a Scottish Labour Party politician. He is Member of Parliament for Dumfries and Galloway.-Early years :Russell Brown was born in Annan, Scotland, and attended the local Annan Academy...

in 1997. Clydesdale had been a safe Labour seat since the 1980s, and Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lauderdale had been a Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

/Liberal Democrat

Liberal Democrats

seat since 1983.

Following the boundary review for the 2005 General Election, Labour held a clear majority of 12% over the Conservatives and the seat was 96th in the Conservative's target list. The Liberal Democrats were in a close third place in the seat. However former Conservative MSP David Mundell

David Mundell

David Gordon Mundell is a British Conservative politician and, since 2005, he has been the only Conservative Member of Parliament representing a Scottish Westminster constituency...

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, with other Conservative targets in Scotland such as Dumfries & Galloway

Dumfries and Galloway (UK Parliament constituency)

and Angus

Angus (UK Parliament constituency)

Angus is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post voting system....

ending in failure.

In 2010, Mundell was returned as the constituency's MP, with an increased majority however was once again the only Scottish Conservative MP elected.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	2005 United Kingdom general election, 2005 The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....	David Mundell David Mundell David Gordon Mundell is a British Conservative politician and, since 2005, he has been the only Conservative Member of Parliament representing a Scottish Westminster constituency...	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

Elections

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