Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk is a
constituency
An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...
of the
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...
, located in the south of
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
within the
Scottish Borders
The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...
council area. It elects one
Member of Parliament (MP) at least once every five years using the
first-past-the-post
First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...
system of voting. Since
2017
2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly.
Events January
* January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...
the MP has been
John Lamont of the
Conservative Party.
The constituency name comes from the three historic counties it covers:
Berwickshire
Berwickshire (; ) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. The county takes its name from Berwick-upon-Tweed, its original county town, which was part of Scotland at the ...
,
Roxburghshire
Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh () is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the northwest, and Berwickshire to the north. T ...
and
Selkirkshire
Selkirkshire or the County of Selkirk is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county of Scotland. It borders Peeblesshire to the west, Midlothian to the north, Roxburghshire to the east, and Dumfriesshire to the south. It de ...
.
A mostly rural constituency, it includes the towns of
Coldstream
Coldstream () is a town and civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. A former burgh, Coldstream was where the Coldstream Guards, a regiment in the British Army, originated.
Description
Coldstream li ...
,
Duns,
Eyemouth
Eyemouth is a town and civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is east of the main north–south A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road and north of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
The town's name ...
,
Galashiels
Galashiels (; , ) is a town in the Scottish Borders with a population of around 12,600. Its name is often colloquially shortened to "Gala". The town is a major commercial centre for the Borders region with extensive history in the textile in ...
,
Hawick
Hawick ( ; ; ) is a town in the Scottish Borders council areas of Scotland, council area and counties of Scotland, historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east o ...
,
Jedburgh
Jedburgh ( ; ; or ) is a town and former royal burgh in the Scottish Borders and the traditional county town of the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Roxburghshire.
History
Jedburgh began as ''Jedworð'', the "worth" or enclosed settlem ...
,
Kelso,
Melrose and
Selkirk.
Boundaries
As created by the
Fifth periodic review of Westminster constituencies for the
2005 general election, the Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk constituency covers the majority of the
Scottish Borders
The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...
council area. The rest of the council area is covered by the
Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale constituency, which also covers part of the Dumfries and Galloway council area and part of the South Lanarkshire council area.
Under the
2023 review of Westminster constituencies
The 2023 review of Westminster constituencies was the most recent cycle of the process to redraw the constituency map for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The new constituency boundaries were approved by the Privy Council on 15 Nov ...
which came into effect for the
2024 general election, the boundaries are unchanged and are defined as comprising the following wards of the Scottish Border Council:
*In full:
Hawick and Hermitage,
Selkirkshire
Selkirkshire or the County of Selkirk is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county of Scotland. It borders Peeblesshire to the west, Midlothian to the north, Roxburghshire to the east, and Dumfriesshire to the south. It de ...
,
Hawick and Denholm,
Jedburgh and District,
Kelso and District,
Mid Berwickshire,
East Berwickshire,
Leaderdale and Melrose,
Galashiels and District.
*In part:
Tweeddale East (small eastern area).
History
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Moore's work frequently addresses various Social issue, social, political, and economic topics. He first became publicly known for his award-winning debut ...
held the seat from its creation in 2005, and was MP for the predecessor seat of
Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lauderdale from 1997 to 2005. The seat and its predecessor seats (
Roxburgh and Berwickshire and
Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lauderdale) had a strong
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world.
The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...
presence since the 1960s, with former Liberal leader
David Steel
David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood (born 31 March 1938) is a retired Scottish politician. Elected as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament for Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles (UK Parliament constituency), Roxb ...
having represented the seat from 1965 to 1997. Historically, the
Conservative Party has been the main challenger to the seat, and they currently hold the
equivalent Holyrood seat. At the
2015 general election, Moore and the
Liberal Democrats were pushed into third place in the constituency, and the seat was narrowly won by
Calum Kerr of the
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...
over the Conservative candidate,
John Lamont, by 328 votes.
At the
2017 snap election, Lamont (who contested the seat for the fourth consecutive election) won the seat from Calum Kerr of the SNP by 11,060 votes - polling more votes than any other candidate in Scotland, and making it the safest Conservative seat in Scotland.
Two years later, at the
2019 general election, held in the wake of parliamentary deadlock and
Brexit negotiations
Between 2017 and 2019, representatives of the United Kingdom and the European Union negotiated the terms of Brexit, the UK's planned withdrawal from membership of the EU. These negotiations arose following the decision of the Parliament of th ...
, the Conservatives called another election and achieved their best national result since
1987
Events January
* January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency.
* January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade.
* January 3 – Afghan leader ...
, winning a comfortable majority of 80 seats at the election, with Lamont being re-elected as MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk. He held the seat with a reduced majority of 5,148 votes, due to a swing towards the SNP and Liberal Democrats.
The boundaries were unchanged by the
2023 review of Westminster constituencies
The 2023 review of Westminster constituencies was the most recent cycle of the process to redraw the constituency map for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The new constituency boundaries were approved by the Privy Council on 15 Nov ...
.
At the 2024 general election, despite a reduction in his vote, Lamont held on to the seat with an increased majority of 6,599 votes due to the SNP vote falling further.
Members of Parliament
Elections
Elections in the 2020s
Elections in the 2010s
Elections in the 2000s
References
External links
Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk UK Parliament constituency(boundaries April 2005 – May 2024) at ''MapIt UK''
(boundaries from June 2024) at ''MapIt UK''
{{Coord, 55.776, -2.411, display=title, region:GB_scale:200000
Westminster Parliamentary constituencies in Scotland
Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 2005
Politics of the Scottish Borders