South Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

South Scotland
electoral region
for the Scottish Parliament
South Scotland shown within Scotland
Population682,329 (2019)[1]
Current electoral region
Created2011
MSPsScottish National Party 7
Scottish Conservative Party 6
Labour 3
Council areasDumfries and Galloway
East Ayrshire
East Lothian (part)
Midlothian (part)
Scottish Borders
South Ayrshire
South Lanarkshire (part)
ConstituenciesAyr
Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley
Clydesdale
Dumfriesshire
East Lothian
Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire
Galloway and West Dumfries
Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley
Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale

South Scotland is one of the eight electoral regions of the Scottish Parliament. Nine of the parliament's 73 first past the post constituencies are sub-divisions of the region and it elects seven of the 56 additional-member Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). Thus it elects a total of 16 MSPs.

The South Scotland region was created as a result of the First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries and largely replaced the South of Scotland region.[2]

Constituencies and local government areas

Map
Map of boundaries from 2011

2011–present

As a result of the First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries the boundaries for the region and constituencies were redrawn for the 2011 Scottish Parliament election.

Region Constituencies
  1. Ayr
  2. Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley
  3. Clydesdale
  4. Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley
  5. Dumfriesshire
  6. East Lothian
  7. Galloway and West Dumfries
  8. Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire
  9. Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale

1999–2011

Prior to the First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries, the area which previously encompassed much of the South Scotland electoral region was known as the 'South of Scotland' electoral region. The constituencies were created in 1999 with the names and boundaries of Westminster constituencies, as existing in at that time.[3]

The First Past the Post constituencies can be found below:

Region Constituencies
  1. Ayr
  2. Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley
  3. Clydesdale
  4. Cunninghame South
  5. Dumfries
  6. East Lothian
  7. Galloway and Upper Nithsdale
  8. Roxburgh and Berwickshire
  9. Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale

The region covered the following local government areas: In full:

  • Scottish Borders
  • South Ayrshire
  • Dumfries and Galloway

In part:

  • East Ayrshire
  • East Lothian
  • Midlothian
  • North Ayrshire
  • South Lanarkshire

Members of the Scottish Parliament

Constituency MSPs

as South of Scotland
Term Election Ayr Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley Clydesdale Galloway and Upper Nithsdale Dumfries Roxburgh and Berwickshire Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale East Lothian area formerly within the Central Scotland Region prior to 2011 Cunninghame South
1st 1999 Ian Welsh
(Labour) 		Cathy Jamieson
(Labour) 		Karen Gillon
(Labour) 		Alasdair Morgan
(SNP) 		Elaine Murray
(Labour) 		Euan Robson
(LD) 		Ian Jenkins
(LD) 		John Home Robertson
(Labour) 		Irene Oldfather
(Labour)
2000 by John Scott
(Conservative)
2nd 2003 Alex Fergusson
(Conservative) 		Jeremy Purvis
(LD)
3rd 2007 John Lamont
(Conservative) 		Iain Gray
(Labour)
as South Scotland
Term Election Ayr Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley Clydesdale Galloway and West Dumfries Dumfriesshire Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale East Lothian Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley area covered by former constituency moved to the West Scotland Region from 2011
4th 2011 John Scott
(Conservative) 		Adam Ingram
(SNP) 		Aileen Campbell
(SNP) 		Alex Fergusson
(Conservative) 		Elaine Murray
(Labour) 		John Lamont
(Conservative) 		Christine Grahame
(SNP) 		Iain Gray
(Labour) 		Willie Coffey
(SNP)
5th 2016 Jeane Freeman
(SNP) 		Finlay Carson
(Conservative) 		Oliver Mundell
(Conservative)
2017 by Rachael Hamilton
(Conservative)
6th 2021 Siobhian Brown
(SNP) 		Elena Whitham
(SNP) 		Màiri McAllan
(SNP) 		Paul McLennan
(SNP)

Regional List MSPs

N.B. This table is for presentation purposes only

Parliament MSP MSP MSP MSP MSP MSP MSP
as South of Scotland
1st
(1999–2003) 		Phil Gallie
(Conservative) 		Alex Fergusson
(Conservative) 		Christine Grahame
(SNP) 		Michael Russell
(SNP) 		Adam Ingram
(SNP) 		Murray Tosh
(Conservative) 		David Mundell
(Conservative)
2nd
(2003–07) 		Rosemary Byrne
(Socialist) 		Alasdair Morgan
(SNP) 		Chris Ballance
(Green)
Derek Brownlee
(Conservative)
3rd
(2007–11) 		Michael Russell
(SNP) 		Jim Hume
(Lib Dem) 		Aileen Campbell
(SNP)
as South Scotland
4th
(2011–16) 		Chic Brodie
(SNP) 		Jim Hume
(Lib Dem) 		Joan McAlpine
(SNP) 		Aileen McLeod
(SNP) 		Paul Wheelhouse
(SNP) 		Claudia Beamish
(Labour) 		Graeme Pearson
(Labour)
5th
(2016–2021) 		Rachael Hamilton
(Conservative) 		Brian Whittle
(Conservative) 		Emma Harper
(SNP) 		Colin Smyth
(Labour)
Michelle Ballantyne
(Conservative,
then Reform UK)
6th
(2021–) 		Craig Hoy
(Conservative) 		Sharon Dowey
(Conservative) 		Carol Mochan
(Labour) 		Martin Whitfield
(Labour)

Election results

2021 Scottish Parliament election

In the 2021 Scottish Parliament election the region elected MSPs as follows:

Constituency results

2021 Scottish Parliament election: South Scotland
Constituency Elected member Result
Ayr Siobhian Brown SNP gain from Conservative
Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley Elena Whitham SNP hold
Clydesdale Màiri McAllan SNP hold
Dumfriesshire Oliver Mundell Conservative hold
East Lothian Paul McLennan SNP gain from Labour
Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire Rachael Hamilton Conservative hold
Galloway and West Dumfries Finlay Carson Conservative hold
Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley Willie Coffey SNP hold
Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale Christine Grahame SNP hold

Additional Member results

2021 Scottish Parliament election: South Scotland[4][5]
List Candidates Votes Of total (%) ± from prev.
SNP Emma Harper, Joan McAlpine, Paul Wheelhouse, Màiri McAllan, Richard Walker, Heather Anderson, Siobhian Brown, Stacy Bradley, Paul McLennan, Ali Salamati, Stephen Thompson, Laura Brennan-Whitefield 136,741 37.6 Decrease0.7
Conservative Oliver Mundell, Rachael Hamilton, Craig Hoy, Brian Whittle, Sharon Dowey, Shona Haslam, Finlay Carson, Scott Hamilton, Alex Allison, Eric Holford, Alexandra Herdman, John Denerley 121,730 33.5 Increase1.4
Labour Colin Smyth, Carol Mochan, Martin Whitfield, Claudia Beamish, Kevin McGregor, Katherine Sangster, Ian Davidson 57,236 15.7 Decrease2.1
Scottish Green Laura Moodie, Barbra Harvie, Dominic Ashmole, Katherine Malone, Charles Strang, Ciara Campbell, Peter Barlow, James Puchowski, Tristan Gray 18,964 5.2 Increase0.5
Liberal Democrats Catriona Bhatia, Jenny Marr 12,422 3.4 Decrease0.3
All for Unity George Galloway, Jamie Blackett, Dr Bruce Halliday, Jim Grindlay, Kirsteen Michell, Elspeth Grindlay, Malcolm MacDonald 5,521 1.5 Increase1.5
Alba Cynthia Guthrie, Corri Wilson, Suzanne Blackley, Laurie Flynn 3,896 1.1 Increase1.1
Independent Green Voice Maxwell Dunbar 1,690 0.5 Increase0.5
Scottish Family Charles McEwan, Dorothy Yost, Sophie Hendry, Theresa Gavin, Elizabeth Fabisiak 1,659 0.5 Increase0.5
Abolish the Scottish Parliament John Ferguson, Simon Bellord 1,126 0.3 Increase0.3
Reform UK Michelle Ballantyne, David Kirkwood, James Corbett, William Luke 779 0.2 Increase0.2
Freedom Alliance Mandy Blackman, Amanda McConechy, Gillian Jamieson, Joy Rivett-Gill 686 0.2 Increase0.2
UKIP Richard Elvin, Julia Searle, Patricia Mountain, Patricia Bryant, Nick Hollis, David Blaymires 578 0.2 Decrease2.0
Scottish Libertarian Stef Johnstone 534 0.1 Increase0.1
Scotia Future Chic Brodie 194 0.1 Increase0.1
Vanguard Michael Banks 92 0.0 Steady0.0

2016 Scottish Parliament election

In the 2016 Scottish Parliament election the region elected MSPs as follows:

  • 7 Scottish National Party MSPs (four constituency members and three additional members)
  • 6 Conservative MSPs (four constituency members and two additional members)
  • 3 Labour MSPs (one constituency member and two additional members)

Constituency results

2016 Scottish Parliament election: South Scotland
Constituency Elected member Result
Ayr John Scott Conservative hold
Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley Jeane Freeman SNP hold
Clydesdale Aileen Campbell SNP hold
Dumfriesshire Oliver Mundell Conservative gain from Labour
East Lothian Iain Gray Labour hold
Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire John Lamont Conservative hold
Galloway and West Dumfries Finlay Carson Conservative hold
Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley Willie Coffey SNP hold
Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale Christine Grahame SNP hold

Additional member results

2016 Scottish Parliament election: South Scotland
Party Elected candidates Seats +/− Votes % +/−%
SNP Joan McAlpine
Paul Wheelhouse
Emma Harper 		3 -1 120,217 38.3 -2.7
Conservative Rachael Hamilton
Brian Whittle 		2 +2 100,753 32.1 +12.6
Labour Claudia Beamish
Colin Smyth 		2 ±0 56,072 17.8 -7.5
Scottish Green 0 ±0 14,773 4.7 +1.6
Liberal Democrats 0 -1 11,775 3.7 -1.7
UKIP 0 ±0 6,726 2.1 +1.0
Clydesdale and South Scotland Independent 0 ±0 1,485 0.5 N/A
Solidarity 0 ±0 1,294 0.4 +0.1
RISE 0 ±0 1,097 0.3 N/A

2011 Scottish Parliament election

In the 2011 Scottish Parliament election the region elected MSPs as follows:

Constituency results

2011 Scottish Parliament election: South Scotland
Constituency Elected member Result
Ayr John Scott Conservative hold
Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley Adam Ingram SNP gain from Labour
Clydesdale Aileen Campbell SNP gain from Labour
Dumfriesshire Elaine Murray Labour gain from Conservative
East Lothian Iain Gray Labour hold
Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire John Lamont Conservative hold
Galloway and West Dumfries Alex Fergusson Conservative hold
Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley Willie Coffey SNP hold
Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale Christine Grahame SNP hold

Additional member results

2011 Scottish Parliament election: South Scotland
Party Elected candidates Seats +/− Votes % +/−%
SNP Joan McAlpine
Aileen McLeod
Paul Wheelhouse
Chic Brodie 		4 -1 114,270 41.0 +12.4
Labour Claudia Beamish
Graeme Pearson 		2 +2 70,596 25.3 -3.5
Conservative 0 -1 54,352 19.5 -2.8
Liberal Democrats Jim Hume 1 ±0 15,096 5.4 -4.5
Scottish Green 0 ±0 8,656 3.1 -0.3
Scottish Senior Citizens 0 ±0 4,418 1.6 -0.4
UKIP 0 ±0 3,343 1.2 +0.6
Socialist Labour 0 ±0 2,906 1.0 +0.5
BNP 0 ±0 2,017 0.7 -0.4
Scottish Christian 0 ±0 1,924 0.7 -0.1
Solidarity 0 ±0 813 0.3 -0.7
Scottish Socialist 0 ±0 697 0.2 -0.2

Footnotes

  1. ^ Scottish Parliamentary Constituency (SPC) Population Estimates (2011 Data Zone based), National Records of Scotland; retrieved 6 May 2021 (accompanying summary notes)
  2. ^ "Boundary Commission for Scotland - First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries". Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  3. ^ Scottish Westminster constituencies were mostly replaced with new constituencies in 2005. See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland Archived 21 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ^ South of Scotland [region] [sic], BBC News; retrieved 8 May 2021
  5. ^ Scottish Parliamentary Election results 2021 [region] [sic], Dumfries & Galloway; retrieved 9 May 2021