Dundee Central
Scotland · Burgh constituency · Dundee City borough
About the Dundee Central constituency
Dundee Central is a burgh constituency in Scotland, covering most or all of Dundee City. The sitting MP is Chris Law (Scottish National Party), first elected in May 2015.
At the 2024 general election, the SNP won Dundee Central with 40.0% of the vote, ahead of Labour on 38.3%, a majority of 675 votes. Turnout was 52.3%.
If a general election were held today, PollCheck's projection at the current seven-poll average has the SNP on 44.0% and Labour on 22.7% in Dundee Central, a margin of 21.3 points. The projection updates automatically as new polls are added.
Demographically, Dundee Central is a Remain-leaning area (an estimated 39.6% voted Leave in 2016). About 45.0% of residents hold a degree, 46.1% of homes are owner-occupied, and the seat has a median age of about 36 (2021 Census).
Across the last 5 general elections on record, the seat has been won by the SNP 4 times, Labour 1 time (earlier years may be on predecessor boundaries).
Who lives in Dundee Central? Constituency demographics
From the 2021 Census and 2016 EU referendum estimates. Constituency-level data on 2024 boundaries.
How did Dundee Central vote in 2024 and how would it vote now?
2024 vote shares from the HoC Library. Current projection is at the 7-poll average.
2024 general election
Current projection
Map of Dundee Central
Switch between ward-level 2024 election winners and a demographic view. Ward winners are Britain Elects' / New Statesman modelled estimates with an average ~4pp margin of error per ward. The demographic view splits the seat into small neighbourhoods (around 800 residents each, from Scotland's 2022 Census). Hover any area for detail.
How Dundee Central voted at the Scottish Parliament election (7 May 2026)
Dundee Central crosses multiple Holyrood boundaries: Dundee City West (79%), Dundee City East (18%), Angus South (2%). Scotland uses the Additional Member System: voters cast one ballot for a constituency MSP and a second for a regional list. The figures below are the constituency vote.
| Holyrood constituency | Share of Dundee Central | Winner | Runner-up | Elected MSP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dundee City West | 79% | SNP 49.1% | Labour 24.6% | Heather Anderson |
| Dundee City East | 18% | SNP 48.8% | Labour 18.0% | Stephen Gethins |
| Angus South | 2% | SNP 42.3% | Conservative 21.3% | Lloyd Melville |
Holyrood 2026 constituency results from official declarations. Overlap percentages are area-based using the post-2024 Westminster boundary against the new Holyrood second-review boundary (in force from 7 May 2026).
Dundee Central within Dundee City
The Westminster constituency of Dundee Central sits entirely within Dundee City Council. Local council elections are a separate ballot from Westminster general elections - English councils rotate their election cycles and Dundee City was not due to vote in 2026, so the figures below show the most recent council ward results available.
Council overlap
| Council | Share of seat |
|---|---|
| Dundee City | 100% |
Recent council by-elections
Council ward by-elections held inside this seat, most recent first. The result column shows which party won; the share column shows the top three parties’ vote shares on the day.
| Date | Ward | Result | Top 3 vote shares |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Oct 2024 | Lochee | SNP GAIN from Lab | — |
| 9 Oct 2024 | Strathmartine | SNP HOLD | — |
Most recent council ward results
Latest council winner per ward. Where the council held a May 2026 election, those results are shown; otherwise we show the most recent available ward result (via DCLEAPIL, 2014-2024), or, where the seat was uncontested at the last election, the current sitting councillor from OpenCouncilData. The "Shift since GE2024" column is only computed for May 2026 results - earlier council votes pre-date the GE, so no directional shift is shown.
| Ward | GE2024 winner | Latest council winner | Shift since GE2024 | Turnout |
|---|
Projection trajectory
PollCheck's projection for Dundee Central at each of the last 60 GB polls. Hover the chart for the underlying poll details.
Who has won Dundee Central at past general elections?
2024 result is on current boundaries. The 2019 row is the UK Parliament's notional recalculation onto the 2024 boundaries (directly comparable to 2024). The 2010, 2015 and 2017 rows are on the boundaries in force at the time and aren't directly comparable.
| Year | Result | MP | Lab | Con | LD | Majority | Turnout |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010predecessor | Lab hold | Jim McGovern Dundee West MP | 48.5% | 9.3% | 11.4% | 7,278 | 58.9% |
| 2015predecessor | SNP gain from Lab | Chris Law Dundee West MP | 23.7% | 8.6% | 2.4% | 17,092 | 67.8%+8.9 |
| 2017predecessor | SNP hold | Chris Law Dundee West MP | 33.1% | 16.2% | 3.1% | 5,262 | 61.7%-6.1 |
| 2019notional | Scottish National Party winner | Chris Law Dundee West MP, pre-review boundary | 23.8% | 11.1% | 5.5% | 15,221 | 62.0% |
| 2024 | SNP hold | Chris Law | 38.3% | 4.0% | 6.2% | 675 | 52.3%-9.7 |
Dundee Central was created or substantially redrawn by the 2023 boundary review. Pre-2024 rows below are for the predecessor seat Dundee West (the seat that covered most of this area), so vote shares and majorities aren’t directly comparable to the post-2024 figures.
Constituencies most like Dundee Central
Five seats with similar demographic profiles to Dundee Central. Politics shown for context.
- ↓Owner-occupied46.1 / 43.3vs 61.9
- ↓Leave39.6 / 40.5vs 53.2
- ↑Social rent27.8 / 27.4vs 16.8
- ↓Leave39.6 / 38.8vs 53.2
- ↑Under 3540.5 / 45.3vs 30.2
- ↓Owner-occupied46.1 / 52.6vs 61.9
- ↓Leave39.6 / 34.8vs 53.2
- ↓Owner-occupied46.1 / 52.0vs 61.9
- ↑Private rent25.1 / 25.2vs 20.2
- ↓Owner-occupied46.1 / 47.9vs 61.9
- ↓Leave39.6 / 31.3vs 53.2
- ↑Under 3540.5 / 43.4vs 30.2
- ↓Leave39.6 / 37.4vs 53.2
- ↑Under 3540.5 / 40.6vs 30.2
- ↓Owner-occupied46.1 / 54.8vs 61.9
What would change this seat?
Move the sliders to set national vote shares. The per-seat projection updates live. Reset returns to the current 7-poll average.
Related
Sources
- 2024 general election results · UK Parliament Election Results portal and House of Commons Library briefing CBP-10009.
- Notional 2019 results on 2024 boundaries · UK Parliament Election Results portal. Recalculated by Parliament; carries assumptions about how 2019 voters would have distributed across the redrawn boundaries.
- Historic general election results (2010-2017) · House of Commons Library historic results files (on the boundaries in force at the time).
- Ward-level GE2024 estimates · Britain Elects / New Statesman - article by Ben Walker, underlying spreadsheet. Modelled from constituency totals; average ~4pp per-ward MoE.
- May 2026 council ward results · Democracy Club via PollCheck's locals 2026 dataset.
- Earlier council ward results (2014-2024) · DCLEAPIL v1.0 (Jason Leman, drawing on Andrew Teale's LEAP dataset and Democracy Club).
- Demographics · ONS Census 2021 (England and Wales), aggregated to constituency level using the ONS LSOA21 -> PCON24 best-fit lookup.
- EU referendum 2016 estimates · Constituency-level Leave vote estimates (Hanretty 2017 method).
- MP details and Cabinet roles · UK Parliament Members API. MP photos are fetched live from the same source.
- Boundary geometry and lookups · ONS Open Geography Portal (PCON24 boundaries, LSOA21 boundaries, LSOA21-WD24-LAD24 best-fit lookup).
- Current projection and trajectory · PollCheck's demographic swingometer applied to the rolling 7-poll average from aggregated GB polls. Not a true MRP - vote-share movements are applied through per-constituency sensitivity multipliers derived from demographic regressions.
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