West Dunbartonshire (UK Parliament constituency)

West Dunbartonshire
County constituency for the House of Commons
120px Boundary of West Dunbartonshire in Scotland.
Subdivisions of Scotland	Scotland
Major settlements	West Dunbartonshire
Current constituency
Created	2005
Member of parliament	Martin Docherty (SNP)
Number of members	One
Created from	Dumbarton Clydebank & Milngavie
1950–1983
Number of members	One
Created from	Dunbartonshire Dumbarton Burghs
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	Scotland

West Dunbartonshire is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster). It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election and covers the same area as the county of West Dunbartonshire.

The current constituency was first used in the 2005 general election. There was also an earlier West Dunbartonshire constituency, from 1950 to 1983.

The current MP is Martin Docherty of the Scottish National Party, who was elected at the 2015 general election.

Boundaries

Historic

The historic constituency was created under the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949 and first used in the 1950 general election.

As created in 1950, the constituency was one of two covering the county of Dunbarton. The other was East Dunbartonshire. The two new constituencies replaced the earlier constituencies of Dunbartonshire and Dumbarton Burghs.

West Dunbartonshire covered the Helensburgh, Old Kilpatrick, and Vale of Leven districts of the county and the burghs of Cove and Kilcreggan, Dumbarton and Helensburgh.

For the 1951 general election the constituency boundaries were adjusted to take account of a change to the boundaries of the Old Kilpatrick district.

The results of the First Periodical Review of the Boundary Commission were implemented for the 1955 general election, but there was no change to the boundaries of West Dunbartonshire, and the boundaries of 1951 and 1955 were used also in the general elections of 1959, 1964, 1966 and 1970.

The results of the Second Periodical Review were implemented for the February 1974 general election. The review took account of population growth in the county of Dunbarton, caused by overspill from the city of Glasgow into the new town of Cumbernauld and elsewhere, and West Dunbartonshire became one of three constituencies covering the county. The other two were East Dunbartonshire and Central Dunbartonshire. West Dunbartonshire now covered the Helensburgh and Vale of Leven districts and the burghs of Cove and Kilcreggan, Dumbarton and Helensburgh.

February 1974 boundaries were used also for the general elections of October 1974 and 1979.

In 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, Scottish counties were abolished in favour of regions and districts and islands council areas, and the county of Dunbarton was divided between several districts of the new region of Strathclyde. The Third Periodical Review took account of new local government boundaries and the results were implemented for the 1983 general election.

Current

180px

West Dunbartonshire as one of the council areas of Scotland

The existing constituency was created as a result of the Fifth Periodical Review of the Boundary Commission for Scotland, It covers and is entirely within the West Dunbartonshire council area.

The area of the constituency was previously divided between the Dumbarton and Clydebank and Milngavie constituencies. It includes the population centres of Clydebank, Dumbarton and Alexandria.

The Fifth Periodical Review did not affect the boundaries of Scottish Parliament constituencies, which retain the boundaries of Westminster constituencies prior to implementation of the results of the review.

Members of Parliament

Members of Parliament, 1950 to 1983

Election		Member	Party
	1950	Adam McKinlay	Labour
	1950	Tom Steele	Labour
	1970	Ian Campbell	Labour
	1983	constituency abolished

Members of Parliament, 2005 to present

Election		Member	Party
2005		constituency recreated
	2005	John McFall	Labour Co-operative
	2010	Gemma Doyle	Labour Co-operative
	2015	Martin Docherty	Scottish National Party

Election results

Since 2005

See also: Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies, 2010–15 § West Dunbartonshire

General Election 2015: West Dunbartonshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Martin Docherty	30,198	59.0	+38.9
	Labour Co-op	Gemma Doyle	16,027	31.3	-30.0
	Conservative	Maurice Corry	3,597	7.0	-0.6
	Liberal Democrats	Aileen Morton	816	1.6	-6.5
	Independent	Claire Muir	503	1.0	N/A
Majority			14,171	27.7	n/a 1
Turnout			51,141	73.9	+9.9
	SNP gain from Labour Co-op		Swing	+34.5

¹ Change to majority not meaningful as seat changed hands.

General Election 2010: West Dunbartonshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Gemma Doyle	25,905	61.3	+9.4
	SNP	Graeme McCormick	8,497	20.1	−1.6
	Liberal Democrat	Helen Watt	3,434	8.1	−6.3
	Conservative	Martyn McIntyre	3,242	7.7	+1.2
	UKIP	Mitch Sorbie	683	1.6	+0.8
	Socialist Labour	Katharine McGavigan	505	1.2	N/A
Majority			17,408	41.2	+11.0
Turnout			42,266	64.0	+2.6
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	+5.5

General Election 2005: West Dunbartonshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	John McFall	21,600	51.9%	-11.6
	SNP	Tom Chalmers	9,047	21.8%	-2.2
	Liberal Democrat	Niall Walker	5,999	14.4%	+12.0
	Conservative	Campbell Murdoch	2,679	6.4%	+1.4
	Scottish Socialist	Les Robertson	1,708	4.1%	-0.9
	UKIP	Bryan Maher	354	0.9%	+0.9
	Christian Vote	Marlon Dawson	202	0.5%	+0.5
Majority			12,553	30.2%
Turnout			41,589	61.3	-2.9
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	-4.7

The current West Dunbartonshire constituency was formed in 2005 from parts of the earlier Dumbarton, and Clydebank and Milngavie constituencies.

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: West Dunbartonshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ian Campbell	21,166	48.42
	Conservative	J Cameron Munro	14,709	33.65
	SNP	Stan Stratton	7,835	17.92
Majority			6,457	14.77
Turnout				80.19
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election Oct 1974: West Dunbartonshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ian Campbell	15,511	38.15
	SNP	A. Murray	13,697	33.69
	Conservative	R.R. MacDonald	9,421	23.17
	Liberal	J.D. Murricane	2,029	4.99
Majority			1,814	4.46
Turnout				78.27
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: West Dunbartonshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ian Campbell	16,247	39.60
	Conservative	Moira Carse	13,638	33.24
	SNP	A Murray	11,144	27.16
Majority			2,609	6.36
Turnout				79.57
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1970: West Dunbartonshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ian Campbell	23,009	50.90
	Conservative	W Adams	16,783	37.13
	SNP	R O Campbell	5,414	11.98
Majority			6,226	13.77
Turnout				77.93
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: West Dunbartonshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom Steele	21,636	52.26
	Conservative	W Adams	13,724	33.15
	SNP	RO Campbell	6,042	14.59
Majority			7,912	19.11
Turnout				81.95
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1964: West Dunbartonshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom Steele	21,079	50.75
	Conservative	PT Smollett	15,448	37.20
	SNP	A Gray	5,004	12.05
Majority			5,631	13.56
Turnout				82.06
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: West Dunbartonshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom Steele	22,105	52.54
	Conservative	N.M. Glen	19,964	47.46
Majority			2,141	5.09
Turnout				83.67
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1955: West Dunbartonshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom Steele	21,854	52.34
	Conservative	Lady Huggins	19,902	47.66
Majority			1,952	4.67
Turnout				84.84
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: West Dunbartonshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom Steele	21,799	51.28
	Conservative	PWN Fraser	19,292	45.39
	Liberal	Lawrence Lauderdale Maitland	1,415	3.33
Majority			2,507	5.90
Turnout				86.56
	Labour hold		Swing

By-election 1950: Dunbartonshire West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom Steele	20,367	50.4	+1.1
	Conservative	R.A. Allan	20,074	49.6	+1.8
Majority			293
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1950: West Dunbartonshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Adam Storey McKinlay	20,398	49.29
	Conservative	R.A. Allan	19,785	47.81
	Communist	F. Hart	1,198	2.90
Majority			613	1.48
Turnout				85.46
	Labour hold		Swing

Notes and references

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 4)