East Kilbride Strathaven and Lesmahagow
2010 Results:
Conservative: 6613 (12.98%)
Labour: 26241 (51.51%)
Liberal Democrat: 5052 (9.92%)
SNP: 11738 (23.04%)
Green: 1003 (1.97%)
Independent: 299 (0.59%)
Majority: 14503 (28.47%)
2005 Results:
Labour: 23264 (48.7%)
SNP: 8541 (17.9%)
Liberal Democrat: 7904 (16.6%)
Conservative: 4776 (10%)
Other: 3248 (6.8%)
Majority: 14723 (30.8%)
Boundary changes prior to 2005 election: Name of seat changed from East Kilbride.
2001 Result
Conservative: 4238 (10.2%)
Labour: 22205 (53.3%)
Liberal Democrat: 4278 (10.3%)
SNP: 9450 (22.7%)
Other: 1519 (3.6%)
Majority: 12755 (30.6%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 5863 (12%)
Labour: 27584 (56.5%)
Liberal Democrat: 3527 (7.2%)
SNP: 10200 (20.9%)
Referendum: 306 (0.6%)
Other: 1316 (2.7%)
Majority: 17384 (35.6%)
No Boundary Changes:
Profile:
Current MP: Michael McCann (Labour) South Lanarkshire councillor.
Graham Simpson (Conservative) born Aberdeen. Journalist. South Lanarkshire councillor. Contested East Kilbride and Central Scotland in 2007 Scottish election.Michael McCann (Labour) South Lanarkshire councillor.
John Loughton (Liberal Democrat)John McKenna (SNP) Born Rutherglen. Firefighter.
Kirsten Robb (Green) Manages an environmental trust. Contested Central Scotland in 2007 Scottish elections.John Houston (Independent)2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 99036
Male: 48%
Female: 52%
Under 18: 24.6%
Over 60: 20%
Born outside UK: 2.2%
White: 98.9%
Asian: 0.5%
Mixed: 0.2%
Other: 0.4%
Christian: 66.7%
Graduates 16-74: 16.9%
No Qualifications 16-74: 30.3%
Owner-Occupied: 74.4%
Social Housing: 20.3% (Council: 18.9%, Housing Ass.: 1.4%)
Privately Rented: 2.6%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 2.6%
Lab Hold
Maj 12 800
Lab maj 9,500
LAB HOLD
Which seats were East Kilbride in (or at least the area, as it is a new town) before 1974?
It was in Lanark. The removal of East Kilbride in 1974 was reckoned to make Lanark a notional Tory seat (1970)
‘It was in Lanark’
Therefore Alec-Douglas Home (when known as Lord Dunglass) represented East Kilbride during the war – he was Neville Chamberlain’s PPS during Chamberlain’s premiership
Not sure how much of East Kilbride existed then, though.
“It was in Lanark. The removal of East Kilbride in 1974 was reckoned to make Lanark a notional Tory seat (1970)”
Judith Hart stayed with Lanark in Feb 1974 when it could have been expected that she would have stood instead in East Kilbride.
East Kilbrides first MP was Maurice Miller (MP for Glasgow Kelvingrove from 1964 – 1974). His failed to be selected for the new Glasgow Kelvingrove constituency which combined all of Neil Carmichaels Glasgow Woodside with the parts of his seat not merged with Glasgow Central.
Neil Carmichael of course now has a namesake in parliament. There have been a remarkably large number of unrelated namesakes in the House over the years, sometimes simultaneously (Alan Williams, Tony Wright, Michael Foster, Bob Hughes, Angela Smith for example). We also have 2 homophones at the moment (Grahame Morris & Graeme Morrice).
Watching the election replay on YouTube, Labour supporters didn’t sound happy when Roy Jenkins eventually defeated Neil Carmichael at Hillhead, to put it mildly.
Yes….it got really personal, and I recall the sheer relentless determination by Labour to ensure George Galloway defeated Jenkins in 1987.
Just as Glasgow Cathcart in 1983 was a notional Labour Gain from Conservative, Glasgow Hillhead was a notional SDP Gain from Labour. The seat had been the last Tory seat in the city when Jenkins won the by election, but the addition of the more Labour parts of Glasgow Kelvingrove turned a 1979 Tory majority of around 2000 into a similar Labour majority.
Apparently Neil Carmichael had the opportunity to be considered for selection in Glasgow Maryhill (which absorbed the other half of his Kelvingrove constituency) but had been determined to defeat Roy Jenkins.
At the time Jim Craigen, who had been MP for Maryhill in the previous Parliament and for some time previously, stood in the redrawn seat. He then however retired in 1987 to make way for left-winger Maria Fyfe.
The boundary changes in Glasgow Hillhead transformed the 1979 Tory majority of 2,002 into a notional Labour majority of 2,020.