South Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

South Scotland
electoral region for the Scottish Parliament
South Scotland shown within Scotland
Population	682,329 (2019)[1]
Current electoral region
Created	2011
MSPs	Scottish National Party 7 Scottish Conservative Party 6 Labour 3
Council areas	Dumfries and Galloway East Ayrshire East Lothian (part) Midlothian (part) Scottish Borders South Ayrshire South Lanarkshire (part)
Constituencies	Ayr 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]

Map of boundaries from 2011

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
		Ayr Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley Clydesdale Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley Dumfriesshire East Lothian Galloway and West Dumfries Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale

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
		Ayr Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley Clydesdale Cunninghame South Dumfries East Lothian Galloway and Upper Nithsdale Roxburgh and Berwickshire 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

N.B. This table is for presentation purposes only

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

• 7 Scottish National Party MSPs (6 constituency members and 1 additional member)
• 3 Labour MSPs (additional members)
• 6 Conservative MSPs (3 constituency members and 3 additional member)

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	0.7
	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	1.4
	Labour	Colin Smyth, Carol Mochan, Martin Whitfield, Claudia Beamish, Kevin McGregor, Katherine Sangster, Ian Davidson	57,236	15.7	2.1
	Scottish Green	Laura Moodie, Barbra Harvie, Dominic Ashmole, Katherine Malone, Charles Strang, Ciara Campbell, Peter Barlow, James Puchowski, Tristan Gray	18,964	5.2	0.5
	Liberal Democrats	Catriona Bhatia, Jenny Marr	12,422	3.4	0.3
	All for Unity	George Galloway, Jamie Blackett, Dr Bruce Halliday, Jim Grindlay, Kirsteen Michell, Elspeth Grindlay, Malcolm MacDonald	5,521	1.5	1.5
	Alba	Cynthia Guthrie, Corri Wilson, Suzanne Blackley, Laurie Flynn	3,896	1.1	1.1
	Independent Green Voice	Maxwell Dunbar	1,690	0.5	0.5
	Scottish Family	Charles McEwan, Dorothy Yost, Sophie Hendry, Theresa Gavin, Elizabeth Fabisiak	1,659	0.5	0.5
	Abolish the Scottish Parliament	John Ferguson, Simon Bellord	1,126	0.3	0.3
	Reform UK	Michelle Ballantyne, David Kirkwood, James Corbett, William Luke	779	0.2	0.2
	Freedom Alliance	Mandy Blackman, Amanda McConechy, Gillian Jamieson, Joy Rivett-Gill	686	0.2	0.2
	UKIP	Richard Elvin, Julia Searle, Patricia Mountain, Patricia Bryant, Nick Hollis, David Blaymires	578	0.2	2.0
	Scottish Libertarian	Stef Johnstone	534	0.1	0.1
	Scotia Future	Chic Brodie	194	0.1	0.1
	Vanguard	Michael Banks	92	0.0	0.0

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)

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

• 8 Scottish National Party MSPs (four constituency members and four additional members)
• 4 Labour MSPs (two constituency members and two additional members)
• 3 Conservative MSPs (all constituency members)
• 1 Liberal Democrat MSP (additional member)