By far the smallest region by population, Dumfries and Galloway simply doesn’t tie neatly in with anywhere else. It’s a big rural area that’s already combining three distinct historic counties. It doesn’t have very good transport links to the Borders to the east, whilst Ayrshire to the west has a large population and a distinct identity of its own. D&G was it’s own region under the 1973 Act as well. I’m therefore quite comfortable leaving it as its own place.

However, that this massive area is a single Council under the current arrangements is a total nonsense. It’s patently absurd to have Gretna, which borders England, in the same most local unit of governance as Cairnryan, where the Northern Ireland ferries dock. It isn’t just the widely spread rural nature of the region that means it shouldn’t be a single unit – Dumfries is one of Scotland’s larger towns, with a very different set of local issues to the countryside surrounding it.

This isn’t an exact recreation of the 1973 Act region and its districts though. The historic boundaries of the three shires that make up the region – Wigtown, Kirkcudbright, Dumfries – are mostly restored, having been substantially disrupted in that previous two-tier system. There’s also an additional municipality, as I break Dumfries off from its shire to stand alone. Barring some very slight tinkering with boundaries, there aren’t really any meaningful changes compared to my 2020 version.

Based on 2022 results this would be the only region where the SNP weren’t the largest party, and thus their weakest region, with the Conservatives instead coming out on top. Conservative strength here is such that they’re projected to have the highest vote share of any party at the regional level in any region. In part due to the weight of Dumfries, Labour are stronger here than in any other primarily rural region.

What’s perhaps really interesting however is that the Greens and Lib Dems don’t do too badly here. Dumfries and Galloway had been a real dark spot for both parties at the 2021 Holyrood elections, but they pick up a decent tally of seats based on 2022 results. In fact, albeit it’s only got 5 of them, this is the only region where the Greens have representation in every municipality. Whereas the Greens justify seats on the basis of doing better in 2022 than in 2021 and having a well-spread vote, the Lib Dems maintain a lingering strength in Annandale specifically. 

This would also have been an interesting one to watch administration formation in if it existed. In the real Dumfries and Galloway, Labour attempted in vain to go against the ridiculous national edict barring them from entering into coalitions with either the SNP or Conservatives, by maintaining their 2017 coalition with the SNP, with Lib Dem support. The numbers on the regional council would have allowed that here, or alternatively to sub in the Green for the Lib Dem. However, that actual coalition was not to last, as Scottish Labour’s central office continued to exert pressure that forced their local councillors to collapse it.