Dundee West LAB Hold

Scottish Parliament election

constituency

	Dundee West	LAB Hold

	CANDIDATE	PARTY	VOTES	%	+/-%
	Kate Maclean	LAB	8234	32.9	-4.6
	Irene McGugan	SNP	7168	28.7	-8.5
	Ian Borthwick	IND	4715	18.9	+18.9
	Shona Ferrier	LD	1878	7.5	-2.8
	Jim McFarlane	SSP	1501	6.0	+2.5
	Victoria Roberts	CON	1376	5.5	-6.0
	Morag MacLachlan	SPA	131	0.5	+0.5
		MAJORITY	1066	4.3
		TURNOUT	25003	48.7

ELECTORATE	51387

Top-up region: North East Scotland

DESCRIPTION: Dundee West

Dundee was once famed as a city of jute, jam and journalism, but is being successfully remodelled as the city of discovery, increasing tourism and inward investment. The jute mills are gone but Dundee West remains a hive of industrial and academic activity with a mixture of light engineering and cutting-edge research technology. Residents are still largely working-class. West is still dominated by large housing estates but there are also middle-class areas around Dundee Law and the West End, for example. The seat also contains the bulk of the student quarter serving the city's two universities.

It has been held by Labour since 1950 but at the 1999 election the party came very close to losing what had been thought a safe seat. The SNP came within 121 votes of denying Labour’s Kate McLean, then leader of Dundee City Council, a Holyrood seat. This makes it number one on the SNP’s target list, although Labour seem hopeful that some of the local factors that contributed to the 1999 result, including dissatisfaction with the city council, are no longer important issues. Definitely one to watch.

PREVIOUS RESULTS

	1999 SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT ELECTION		LAB WIN
	PARTY	VOTES	%
	LAB	10925	37.6
	SNP	10804	37.2
	CON	3345	11.5
	LD	2998	10.3
	SSP	1010	3.5

	2001 GENERAL ELECTION		LAB WIN
	PARTY	VOTES	%
	LAB	14787	50.6
	SNP	7987	27.3
	CON	2656	9.1
	LD	2620	9
	SSP	1192	4.1