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UK Parliament - Dundee West

RACE DETAILS

Parents

> United Kingdom > Scotland > Scotland > Dundee West

Office

Parliament

Type

General Election

Filing Deadline

00, 0000 - 06:00pm

Polls Open

May 06, 2010 - 01:00am

Polls Close

May 06, 2010 - 04:00pm

Term Start

May 17, 2010 - 12:00pm

Term End

May 17, 2015 - 12:00pm

Contributor

Ralphie

Last Modified

Ralphie May 06, 2010 07:56pm

Data Sources

[Link]

Description

BBC Profile:
Including 2005, the western Dundee seat returned a Labour member to Parliament at every election since World War II.

From 1979 to 2005 Ernie Ross had a majority peaking at almost 12,000 in 1997. This fell in 2001 to 7,000.

For the 2005 general election the two Dundee seats were extended north beyond the city boundaries into Angus. Dundee West gained Sidlaw West, a rural SNP stronghold. However, it also gained four city centre wards from the old eastern division. Ernie Ross's successor Jim McGovern won for Labour with a majority of 5,379.

Dundee was once known for "jute, jam and journalism": now the jute mills are long closed and Dundee is marketed as the "city of Discovery" in an attempt to increase tourism. The area remains a hive of industry, with food-processing and publishing still important and new high-tech firms establishing themselves.

There are no boundary changes affecting this seat.

More than half the population live in council or ex-council estates and the skyline is crowded with tower blocks. The cityscape is changing as high rises are demolished under the council's regeneration scheme and the large-scale development of private-sector homes continues. Residents are still by and large staunchly working-class, but there are some more middle-class areas around Dundee Law park.

The city centre, both universities and the airport are in this seat. The seat also contains both Dundee and Dundee United football clubs, whose stadiums are opposite each other.

Dundee's most famous former MP was Winston Churchill, who held one of the city's seats (which were then fought jointly) from 1908 until 1922.

Rallings & Thrasher Notional:
No Boundary Changes