The placeConstituency · Scotland · Electorate 76,438 · 2023 boundaries

Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk.

Conservative and Unionist Party MP John Lamont holds the seat on 40.5% of the vote.

Member of ParliamentJohn Lamont · Conservative and Unionist Party
CouncilScottish Borders
Boundary set2023
ONS codeS14000108
Electorate · 2024
76.4k
Registered to vote
2024 GE — winner
40.5%
Conservative and Unionist Party · +14.2pp over SNP
Settlements
0
Named built-up areas
Crime · per 1k pop · 3mo
data.police.uk · 12mo rolling
Dispatch
4 Jun 2026

Borders market towns, Conservative-leaning, locally fragmented

Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk is a large rural seat in the Scottish Borders, where a population of roughly 96,600 is spread across a network of small market towns rather than gathered in any single centre. Its median age of 50 sits well above the national figure, marking it as an older constituency than most. The ground is shared between communities around Hawick, Galashiels, Kelso, Jedburgh, Melrose and the Berwickshire coast, each anchoring its own ward rather than feeding one dominant town. A single local authority, Scottish Borders Council, runs services across the ten wards that fall within the seat, making this a tidy one-council constituency in administrative terms.

The local political picture is mixed rather than settled. Across the most recent round of ward contests the Conservatives took the largest share, ahead of a notably strong independent presence and the SNP, with the Liberal Democrats and Greens each holding a smaller footing; no party commands the field outright. At Westminster the seat returned the Conservatives in 2024 on around 40 per cent, with the SNP the runner-up some fourteen points behind. That margin had widened from 2019, when the Conservative lead over the SNP was closer. John Lamont, the Conservative member since 2017, holds the seat against this fragmented local backdrop.

On the figures available the constituency reads as Conservative-leaning at parliamentary level but contested ward by ward, where independents and the SNP both draw real support. Recent local coverage has had a steady, administrative character, weighted toward town-centre planning, civic investment and community events rather than controversy, giving the area a low national profile. The result is a seat that appears broadly secure for its incumbent on present margins, yet sits on a base of local politics too plural to be called fixed.

40.5%
Con vote · 2024 GE
1
Council overlapping the seat
10
Wards · 29 councillors
§ 01The local picture — wards.10 wards · 29 councillors

Ward-level direction-of-travel: who controls what, who flipped recently, who holds the line.

WardLatest winnerVotesCouncilLast cycle
East Berwickshire(3 seats)Orr · Hamilton · Anderson0Scottish Borders IndMay 2022
Galashiels and District(4 seats)Jardine · Sinclair · Steel · MacKinnon0Scottish Borders IndMay 2022
Hawick and Denholm(3 seats)Ramage · Richards · Marshall0Scottish Borders IndMay 2022
Hawick and Hermitage(3 seats)Smart · Cox · McAteer0Scottish Borders IndMay 2022
Jedburgh and District John Lawrence Bathgate0Scottish Borders IndFeb 2024
Kelso and District(3 seats)Robson · Mountford · Weatherston0Scottish Borders IndMay 2022
Leaderdale and Melrose(3 seats)Parker · Linehan · PatonDay0Scottish Borders IndMay 2022
Mid Berwickshire(3 seats)Moffat · Greenwell · Rowley0Scottish Borders IndMay 2022
Selkirkshire(3 seats)Cochrane · Thornton-Nicol · Douglas0Scottish Borders IndMay 2022
Tweeddale East(3 seats)Pirone · Douglas · Tatler0Scottish Borders IndMay 2022

Source · Democracy Club · DCLEAPIL v1.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

§ 03Demographics.Census 2021 · vs national avg

Headline indicators.

IndicatorLocalNationalΔ

Ethnicity.

Source · Census 2021

Population by age & sexCensus 2021 · 18 bands · click to expand
Male 48.7% Female 51.3% Median seat
MaleAgeFemale
85+
80-84
75-79
70-74
65-69
60-64
55-59
50-54
45-49
40-44
35-39
30-34
25-29
20-24
16-19
10-15
5-9
0-4

Source · Census 2021 (ONS) · % of usual residents; tick marks the median seat per band

§ 04Local economy.Income · tax · businesses · schools
Median income
£25,800
HMRC SPI · 2024
Mean income
£33,000
HMRC SPI · 2024
Businesses
4,165
VAT/PAYE-registered

Income tax contribution.

Total income tax£244m
Taxpayers51,000
Median per taxpayer£2,360
Mean per taxpayer£4,800

Source · HMRC SPI · ±8% confidence

Where the money flows back in.

For council finance & suppliers

This constituency is served by Scottish Borders. Each council’s service spend, peer rank and supplier list lives on its own page — open from the meta block above or the compass strip below.

For household tax breakdown

Move the income slider on My place to see income tax, NI, VAT and council tax against your earnings — the household lens.

§ 06Election history.5 contests · created on 2023 boundaries

2024 — full result.

CandidateVotes%
John LamontWONCon18,87240.5
David WilsonSNP12,27326.4
Caitlin StottLab6,31113.6
Ray GeorgesonLD3,6867.9
Carolyn GrantRef3,3407.2
Neil MacKinnonInd1,5263.3
Ellie MertonInd3290.7
Hamish Goldie-ScotInd2210.5

Turnout 46,558

Prior contests.

YearWinner%
2019John LamontCon48.5
2017John LamontCon53.9
2015Calum KerrSNP36.6
2010Moore, MichaelLD45.4
Sources, methods & last update
Method The dispatch paragraphs are AI-generated from the public sources listed below. Every figure links to its source. If we’re wrong, please tell us — corrections within 48 hours.
BoundariesONS Open Geography Portal
2023 boundary review
Wards & councilsLGBCE · Democracy Club
DCLEAPIL v1.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
SettlementsONS Built-Up Areas
Census 2021
DemographicsONS · Nomis · Census 2021
National avg over 575 seats
Income & taxHMRC SPI
±8% confidence
Crimedata.police.uk
LSOA-aggregated · rolling 12mo
ElectionsElectoral Commission