Holyrood elections 2026 - All you need to know about Dumbarton
Cost of living, transport and sewage are the biggest issues facing Scotland’s longest, most diverse constituency - but will Jackie Baillie hang on to Dumbarton for Labour?
It has potential to be the biggest upset of the election and a devastating blow to Scottish Labour.
All eyes are on the Dumbarton constituency where grande dame Jackie Baillie - who has held the seat since the founding of the Scottish parliament in 1999 - just might be defenestrated by one of the campaign’s youngest would-be MSPs.
Split across two local authorities, Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire, Dumbarton is a diverse mix of rural, coastal and urban.
It stretches from Bowling and Milton at the southern tip and it goes right up to the Rest and Be Thankful at its northernmost point.
It spreads down to Rhu, Helensburgh, Dumbarton, and the Vale of Leven.
“I remember when I was first elected,” Ms Baillie says during a rare chance to sit down.
“The National Farmers Union took pity on me as a city girl and had me along to some of their farms to understand their way of life and the issues that matter to them.”
At the 2021 election, Labour won the seat but the party’s vote share was a slim 3.8 per cent.
On the doors now, people talk about NHS waiting lists and the cost of living.
The area is growing because HM Naval Base Clyde - or Faslane - which is the biggest single-site employer in the west of Scotland, is also growing.
