South of Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

South of Scotland is one of the eight electoral regions of the Scottish Parliament which were created in 1999. 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 region has boundaries with the West of Scotland, Central Scotland and Lothians regions.

Constituencies and council areas

The constituencies were created in 1999 with the names and boundaries of Westminster constituencies, as existing in at that time. They cover all of three council areas, the Scottish Borders council area, the Dumfries and Galloway council area and the South Ayrshire council area, and parts of five others, the East Ayrshire council area, the East Lothian council area, the Midlothian council area, the North Ayrshire council area and the South Lanarkshire council area:

Constituency	Map
Ayr Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley Clydesdale Cunninghame South Dumfries East Lothian Galloway and Upper Nithsdale Roxburgh and Berwickshire Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale	300px

The rest of the East Ayrshire council area is within the Central Scotland electoral region, the rest of the East Lothian and Midlothian council areas are within the Lothians region, the rest of the North Ayrshire council area is within the West of Scotland region and the rest of the South Lanarkshire council area is divided between the Central Scotland and Glasgow regions.

Members of the Scottish Parliament

Constituency MSPs

Term	Election	Ayr		Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley		Clydesdale		Galloway and Upper Nithsdale		Dumfries		Roxburgh and Berwickshire		Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale		East Lothian		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)

Regional List MSPs

N.B. This table is for presentation purposes only

Parliament	MSP		MSP		MSP		MSP		MSP		MSP		MSP
1st (1999–2003)		Christine Grahame (SNP)		Adam Ingram (SNP)		Michael Russell (SNP)		Alex Fergusson (Conservative)		Murray Tosh (Conservative)		David Mundell (Conservative)		Phil Gallie (Conservative)
2nd (2003–07)						Alasdair Morgan (SNP)		Rosemary Byrne (Socialist)		Chris Ballance (Green)
												Derek Brownlee (Conservative)
3rd (2007–11)								Michael Russell (SNP)		Aileen Campbell (SNP)				Jim Hume (Lib Dem)

Election results

2007 Scottish Parliament election

In the 2007 Scottish Parliament election the region elected MSPs as follows:

• 5 Labour MSPs (all constituency members)
• 5 Scottish National Party MSPs (all additional members)
• 4 Conservative MSP (three constituency members and one additional member)
• 2 Liberal Democrat MSP (one constituency member and one additional member)

Constituency results

Scottish Parliament election, 2007: South of Scotland
Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Ayr	John Scott	Conservative hold
	Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley	Cathy Jamieson	Labour hold
	Clydesdale	Karen Gillon	Labour hold
	Cunninghame South	Irene Oldfather	Labour hold
	Dumfries	Elaine Murray	Labour hold
	East Lothian	Iain Gray	Labour hold
	Galloway and Upper Nithsdale	Alex Fergusson	Conservative hold
	Roxburgh and Berwickshire	John Lamont	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats
	Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale	Jeremy Purvis	Liberal Democrats hold

Additional member results

Scottish Parliament election, 2007: South of Scotland
Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	Labour		0	0	79,762	28.8%	-1.2%
	SNP	Christine Grahame Michael Russell Adam Ingram Alasdair Morgan Aileen Campbell	5	+2	77,053	27.8%	+9.4%
	Conservative	Derek Brownlee	1	-1	62,475	22.6%	-1.7%
	Liberal Democrats	Jim Hume	1	+1	28,040	10.1%	-0.1%
	Scottish Green		0	-1	9,254	3.3%	-2.4%
	Scottish Senior Citizens		0	0	5,335	1.9%	N/A
	Solidarity		0	0	3,433	1.2%	N/A
	BNP		0	0	3,212	1.2%	N/A
	Scottish Christian		0	0	2,353	0.8%	N/A
	Socialist Labour		0	0	1,633	0.6%	-0.6%
	UKIP		0	0	1,429	0.5%	-0.2%
	Scottish Socialist		0	-1	1,114	0.4%	-5.0%
	Christian Peoples		0	0	839	0.3%	N/A
	Scottish Voice		0	0	490	0.2%	N/A
	Independent		0	0	488	0.2%	N/A

2003 Scottish Parliament election

In the 2003 Scottish Parliament election the region elected MSPs as follows:

• 5 Labour MSPs (all constituency members)
• 4 Conservative MSP (two constituency members and two additional members)
• 3 Scottish National Party MSPs (all additional members)
• 2 Liberal Democrat MSPs (both constituency members)
• 1 Scottish Green Party MSP (additional member)
• 1 Scottish Socialist Party MSP (additional member)

Constituency results

Scottish Parliament election, 2003: South of Scotland
Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Ayr	John Scott	Conservative
	Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley	Cathy Jamieson	Labour
	Clydesdale	Karen Gillon	Labour
	Cunninghame South	Irene Oldfather	Labour
	Dumfries	Elaine Murray	Labour
	East Lothian	John Home Robertson	Labour
	Galloway and Upper Nithsdale	Alex Fergusson	Conservative
	Roxburgh and Berwickshire	Euan Robson	Liberal Democrats
	Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale	Jeremy Purvis	Liberal Democrats

Additional member results

Scottish Parliament election, 2003: South of Scotland
Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	Labour		0	0	78,955	30.0%	-1.0%
	Conservative	Phil Gallie David Mundell	2	−1	63,827	24.2%	+2.6%
	SNP	Christine Grahame Adam Ingram Alasdair Morgan	3	±0	48,371	18.4%	-6.7%
	Liberal Democrats		0	0	27,026	10.3%	-1.7%
	Scottish Green	Chris Ballance	1	+1	15,062	5.7%	+2.7%
	Scottish Socialist	Rosemary Byrne	1	+1	14,228	5.4%	+4.4%
	Scottish Pensioners		0	0	9,082	3.4%	N/A
	Socialist Labour		0	0	3,054	1.2%	-3.2%
	UKIP		0	0	1,889	0.7%	+0.2%
	Scottish People's		0	0	1,436	0.5%	N/A
	Rural Party		0	0	355	0.1%	N/A

Changes

• Derek Brownlee replaced David Mundell. Mundell resigned as an MSP in June 2005 following his election to Westminster in the 2005 general election. Brownlee was next on the Conservative list.

• Rosemary Byrne resigned from the Scottish Socialist Party in September 2006 and now sits as a member of Solidarity.

1999 Scottish Parliament election

In the 1999 Scottish Parliament election the region elected MSPs as follows:

• 6 Labour MSPs (all constituency members)
• 4 Scottish National Party MSPs (one constituency member and three additional members)
• 4 Conservative MSPs (all additional members)
• 2 Liberal Democrat MSPs (both constituency members)

Constituency results

Scottish Parliament election, 1999: South of Scotland
Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Ayr	Ian Welsh	Labour win (new seat)
	Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley	Cathy Jamieson	Labour win (new seat)
	Clydesdale	Karen Turnbull	Labour win (new seat)
	Cunninghame South	Irene Oldfather	Labour win (new seat)
	Dumfries	Elaine Murray	Labour win (new seat)
	East Lothian	John Home Robertson	Labour win (new seat)
	Galloway and Upper Nithsdale	Alasdair Morgan	SNP win (new seat)
	Roxburgh and Berwickshire	Euan Robson	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)
	Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale	Ian Jenkins	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Changes:

• On 21 December 1999 Ian Welsh resigned, citing family reasons. He was the first MSP to resign, and as of 2005 remains the shortest serving MSP serving 230 days. At the subsequent Ayr by-election in 2000, John Scott won the seat for the Conservatives.

Additional member results

Scottish Parliament election, 1999: South of Scotland
Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	Labour		0	N/A	98,836	31.0%	N/A
	SNP	Michael Russell Adam Ingram Christine Creech	3	N/A	80,059	25.1%	N/A
	Conservative	Phil Gallie Alex Fergusson Murray Tosh David Mundell	4	N/A	68,904	21.6%	N/A
	Liberal Democrats		0	N/A	38,157	12.0%	N/A
	Socialist Labour		0	N/A	13,887	4.4%	N/A
	Scottish Green		0	N/A	9,467	3.0%	N/A
	Liberal		0	N/A	3,478	1.1%	N/A
	Scottish Socialist		0	N/A	3,304	1.0%	N/A
	UKIP		0	N/A	1,502	0.5%	N/A
	Natural Law		0	N/A	755	0.2%	N/A