View source for Politics of Dundee

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2015}}
'''Politics''' in the '''[[Dundee|Dundee City]]''' (''Mòr-bhaile Dhùn Dèagh'' in [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]]) '''council area''' are evident in the deliberations and decisions of '''Dundee City Council''', in elections to the council, and in elections to the [[Scottish Parliament]] ([[Scottish Parliament Building|Holyrood]]) and  the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] ([[Palace of Westminster|Westminster]]).

In the [[European Parliament]], the [[City status in the United Kingdom|city]] area was within the [[Scotland (European Parliament constituency)|Scotland constituency]], which covered all of the 32 [[Council areas of Scotland|council areas]] of [[Scotland]].

Dundee City became a single-tier [[Councils of Scotland|council]] in 1996, under the [[Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994]],<ref>[http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1994/Ukpga_19940039_en_1.htm ''Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994'', full text, Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website]<br /> [http://www.opsi.gov.uk/about/index.htm OPSI home page]</ref> with the boundaries of the City of Dundee [[Regions and districts of Scotland|district]] of the [[Tayside]] [[Regions and districts of Scotland|region]], minus a [[Monifieth]] area and part of a Sidlaw area, which were transferred from the city area to the new council area of [[Angus, Scotland|Angus]]. The city district was also the administrative centre for the region.

The new city council area was named ''The City of Dundee'' in the legislation of 1994, but this was changed to ''Dundee City'' by a council resolution on 29 June 1995, under section 23 of the [[Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973]] (c. 65).<ref>''Edinburgh Gazette'', 7 July 1995</ref> In terms of area, it is the smallest of Scotland's council areas.

The district had been created in 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, to include: the former [[Counties of Scotland|county of city]] of Dundee; a Monifieth area, including the [[burgh]] of Monifieth (but not Newtyle and Kettins areas), previously within the [[county of Angus]]; and a Longforgan area previously within the [[county of Perth]].

The county of city was created in 1894, and the city area has included the [[burgh]] of [[Broughty Ferry]] since 1913. Dundee has been a [[royal burgh]] since 1191.

==City council==
{{main|Dundee City Council}}

Council meetings take place in the [[Dundee City Chambers|City Chambers]], located in City Square. They were opened in 1933. The council executive is based in Dundee House on North Lindsay Street. The civic head and chair of the council is known as the Lord Provost. In 2017, Scotland's longest serving councillor, Ian Borthwick MBE became the Lord Provost of Dundee. A number of councillors are appointed as ceremonial bailies.

The Leader of the Council, as head of the largest political grouping, is Councillor John Alexander (SNP).

===Composition and control===
The council consists of 29 [[councillor]]s:
{| class="wikitable"
!
!Party
!Current composition
|-
| style="background:{{party color|Scottish National Party}};" |
|[[Scottish National Party|SNP]]
|15
|-
| style="background:{{party color|Scottish Labour}};" |
|[[Scottish Labour|Labour]]
|9
|-
| style="background:{{party color|Scottish Liberal Democrats}};" |
|[[Scottish Liberal Democrats|Liberal Democrats]]
|4
|-
| style="background:{{party color|Scottish Conservatives}};" |
|[[Scottish Conservatives|Conservative]]
|1
|}
The SNP gained a majority on the council after the 2012 elections.  In the previous council, the SNP had the largest number of seats but the council was initially controlled by a Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition, with the support of the Conservatives. This changed after a March 2009 by-election result which tipped the balance further in the SNPs direction.<ref name="political map">[http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/elections/mappage.htm ''Dundee City Council Political Make-up''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070408034440/http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/elections/mappage.htm |date=8 April 2007 }}, Dundee City Council website</ref><ref>[http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/output/2005/02/28/story6861222t0.shtm ''Dundee Tory leader hits out at critic''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606133942/http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/output/2005/02/28/story6861222t0.shtm |date=6 June 2011 }}, [[Evening Telegraph (Dundee)|Evening Telegraph]] (publisher [[DC Thomson]]), 28 February 2005</ref> 

However [[2017 Dundee City Council election|the 2017 contest]] saw the SNP lose their majority, although they remained the largest party with 14 councillors. Labour also lost one seat, while the Conservatives gained two seats and Liberal Democrats gained an additional councillor.<ref name="2017election">{{cite news|last1=Lord|first1=Dave|title=Council elections: SNP lose majority in Dundee|url=https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/dundee/420153/council-elections-snp-lose-majority-dundee/|access-date=5 May 2017|work=The Courier|publisher=D C Thomson Co Ltd}}</ref>

Until 2019, the council was governed by an SNP-led minority administration, with the support of Ian Borthwick, the sole independent member. [[John Alexander (councillor)|John Alexander]]  SNP group leader was also the Leader of Dundee City Council.

In a 2019 by-election, the SNP won a seat from Labour, giving it an overall majority.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Brady |first1=Jon |title=BREAKING: SNP reclaims Dundee council majority as Steven Rome wins North East by-election |url=https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/breaking-snp-reclaims-dundee-council-majority-as-candidate-wins-north-east-by-election/ |access-date=3 May 2019 |work=[[Dundee Evening Telegraph]] |publisher=[[DC Thomson]] |date=3 May 2019 |ref=Yes}}</ref> The SNP lost its majority again a few weeks later when Councillor Gregor Murray quit the party after accusing it of being transphobic.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/dundee/891789/exclusive-dundee-councillor-gregor-murray-quits-snp-over-partys-institutional-transphobia/|title=EXCLUSIVE: Dundee councillor Gregor Murray quits SNP over party's 'institutional transphobia'|last=Morkis|first=Stefan|website=The Courier|date=15 May 2019 |language=en-GB|access-date=2019-05-16}}</ref> Shortly after this announcement, Councillor Murray was suspended from the council for two months by the [[Standards Commission for Scotland]] for using a "derogatory word" in an online forum which was judged to be "highly offensive and inappropriate".<ref name="BBCMurraysuspension">{{cite news |title=Councillor suspended over 'inappropriate' online comments |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-48295000 |access-date=16 May 2019 |work=BBC News |date=16 May 2019}}</ref> Murray, whose [[Preferred gender pronoun|preferred gender pronouns]] are they/them, complained to the [[The Scout Association|Scout Association]] of being misgendered by campaigner [[Maya Forstater]] during an online discussion about the Scouts' transgender policy. Although an initial investigation found against Forstater, the association subsequently apologised to Forstater, saying "it is clear you did not deliberately misgender the complainant".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Clark|first=Alasdair|date=21 December 2021|title=Scouts sorry for probe into campaigner who 'misgendered' Murray|page=9|work=[[The Courier (Dundee)]]|url=https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/dundee/2841291/scouts-apologise-maya-forstate-dundee-gregor-murray/|access-date=23 December 2021}}</ref>

At the 2022 election, the SNP regained their majority, gaining a seat in the West End ward which helped them reach the 15 seats needed to form a majority administration. The Liberal Democrats gained two seats whilst the Conservatives dropped to fourth, losing all but one of their seats on the council. The sole Alba representative, Alan Ross, who defected from the SNP was not returned.

The council has a history of Labour Party domination. [[George Galloway]] was leader for a time, and was responsible for organising Dundee's [[Town twinning|twinning]] with the [[Palestinian territories|Palestinian]] city of [[Nablus]].<ref>''As council leader, he flew the Palestinian flag over Dundee'', according to Torcuil Crichton in [http://www.sundayherald.com/41444 ''Kebabs Over Baghdad?''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925192555/http://www.sundayherald.com/41444 |date=25 September 2006 }}, [[Sunday Herald]], 25 April 2004</ref>

===Elections===
{{main|2022 Dundee City Council election}}

Elections to the council are held every five years where voters elect three or four councillors to the eight multi-member wards across the city. The last election was held on [[2022 Dundee City Council election|5 May 2022]].

==Independence referendum==
[[File:Dundee pro-indy demo.jpg|thumb|Pro-independence marchers in Dundee]]
Dundee returned the highest proportion of Yes votes of any area in Scotland in the [[2014 Scottish independence referendum|2014 independence referendum]], with 53,620 Yes votes to 39,880 No votes. It was among only four local authority areas that backed independence. In Summer 2014, First Minister [[Alex Salmond]] said Dundee was moving "towards being Scotland's Yes city",<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/politics/alex-salmond-dundee-is-scotland-s-yes-city-1.404331|title=Alex Salmond: 'Dundee is Scotland's Yes city'|date=4 June 2014|access-date=5 November 2014|publisher=The Courier}}</ref> and it retained that designation in the run-up to the referendum.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/referendum-news/referendum-fever-takes-hold-as-public-flock-to-city-centre-yes-hub.25312998|title=Referendum fever takes hold in Dundee, dubbed Yes City|date=12 September 2014|access-date=5 November 2014|publisher=The Herald}}</ref> Housing schemes in Dundee canvassed by Yes activists indicated levels of support of up to 80 per cent in favour of independence.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/uk/canvass-blitz-through-dundee-yes-capital-of-scotland-1.1932471|title=Canvass blitz through Dundee, 'Yes capital' of Scotland|date=18 September 2014|access-date=5 November 2014}}</ref>

Headlines were made in the final week of the campaign when a [[Better Together (campaign)|Better Together]] event in Dundee was crashed by a piper lead demonstration involving Yes activists and members of the [[Scottish Socialist Party]], who marched from the event they were having in Albert Square to sing protest songs at Labour party representatives at the foot of Reform Street.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/dundee/video-yes-and-no-campaigners-in-dundee-city-centre-stand-off-1.574511|title=VIDEO: Yes and No campaigners in Dundee city centre stand-off|date=13 September 2014|access-date=5 November 2014}}</ref>

==Scottish Parliament==
For elections to the [[Scottish Parliament]] ([[Scottish Parliament Building|Holyrood]]) the city area is divided between two constituencies. The [[Dundee City East (Scottish Parliament constituency)|Dundee City East (Holyrood) constituency]] and the [[Dundee City West (Scottish Parliament constituency)|Dundee City West (Holyrood) constituency]] are entirely within the city area.

Both constituencies are within the [[North East Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region)|North East Scotland electoral region]]. The region elects a total of ten [[first past the post]] constituency [[Member of the Scottish Parliament|Members of the Scottish Parliament]] (MSPs) and seven [[Additional member system|additional members]], to produce a form of [[proportional representation]] for the region as a whole.

Boundaries date from 1999, when the parliament itself was created.

Currently, [[Shona Robison]] (SNP) is MSP for the Dundee City East constituency and, [[Joe FitzPatrick]] (SNP) is MSP for the Dundee City West constituency.

==Parliament of the United Kingdom==
For elections to the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] ([[Palace of Westminster|Westminster]]), the city area is divided between the [[Dundee East (UK Parliament constituency)|Dundee East (Westminster) constituency]] and the [[Dundee West (UK Parliament constituency)|Dundee West (Westminster) constituency]]. These constituencies also include portions of the [[Angus, Scotland|Angus]] council area.<ref name="fifth review">[http://www.bcomm-scotland.gov.uk/ ''Fifth Periodical Review of Constituencies''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070921124603/http://www.bcomm-scotland.gov.uk/ |date=21 September 2007 }}, [[Boundary Commission for Scotland]], in which review-period boundaries for Westminster constituencies are those of now existing Holyrood constituencies</ref>

Current boundaries date from 2005. Prior to the [[2005 United Kingdom general election|2005 general election]], the constituencies had the boundaries of now existing [[Scottish Parliament constituencies]], with north-eastern and north-western portions of the city area being covered by the [[Angus (Westminster) constituency]].

Currently, [[Stewart Hosie]] ([[Scottish National Party]]) is [[Member of Parliament]] (MP) for the Dundee East constituency, and [[Chris Law]] ([[Scottish National Party]]) is MP for the Dundee Central constituency.

===Historic constituencies===
As a [[royal burgh]], Dundee was represented as a component of the [[Perth Burghs (UK Parliament constituency)|Perth Burghs constituency]] from 1708 to 1832, when the [[Dundee (UK Parliament constituency)|Dundee burgh constituency]] was created. In 1868 the burgh constituency became a two-member constituency.

East and West single-member constituencies have existed, with varying boundaries, since 1950.

==See also==
*[[Politics of Aberdeen]]
*[[Politics of Edinburgh]]
*[[Politics of Glasgow]]
*[[Politics of Scotland]]
*[[Politics of the Highland council area]]

==Notes and references==
<references/>

==External links==
'''Local political parties:'''
* [http://www.dundeelibdems.org.uk/ Dundee Liberal Democrats]
* [http://www.dundeesnp.org/ Dundee Scottish National Party]

{{Dundee elections}}
{{Dundee}}
{{Former local government regions of Scotland}}

[[Category:Politics of Dundee| ]]