East Kilbride Strathaven and Lesmahagow
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
Current MP: Adam Ingram (Labour) Will stand down at next election (more information at They work for you)
Candidates: 
Graham Simpson (Conservative) born Aberdeen. Journalist. South Lanarkshire councillor. Contested East Kilbride and Central Scotland in 2007 Scottish election.
Kirsten Robb (Scottish Green) Manages an environmental trust. Contested Central Scotland in 2007 Scottish elections.
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%
It’s a shame the Scottish boundary commission has started a precedent of using more than 3 names in a the title of a seat.
Adam Ingram announced last night that he will stand down at next GE
I imagine that this will be an AWS.
Even with a new candidate Labour will comfortably hold this seat. They won the corresponding Scottish Parliament seats and the Council is a Labour-minority.
East Kilbride News says that there won’t be an AWS. The only person to come forward as a potential Labour PPC so far is East Kilbride West councillor, Cllr Michael McCann.
Still no SNP candidate here?
I think that the local paper was saying was that they don’t want an AWS - which is not (obviously) the same thing.
The SNP have as Matt suggests missed a trick by having no candidate.
The problem with those in Labour against the AWS is that they don’t really have a strong argument. As my SNP posting colleeages will vouch, Scottish Labour has not produced a great number of big hitters in recent years - Adam Ingram was a big hitter btw - so why not level the playing field?
Cllr McCann was inadvertently ‘anointed’ as successor to Mr Ingram by John Reid MP at a Labour function a year or so ago.
The SNP candidate has been chosen, and will be formally adopted in early June.
Agentmancuso
Is being “anointed” by John Reid a blessing or the kiss of death ?
Sorry, but I have not undertaken a PHD on the in and outs of Scottish Labour.
Paul H-J,
I doubt that Mr Reid is an easy man to embarrass, but I think that even he must have realised he had overstepped the mark by publicly referring to Mr Ingram’s successor not only before such had been “chosen” by the local Labour Party, and before Mr McCann had announced his candidature, but a whole year before Mr Ingram announced his intention of stepping down.
The 14723 Labour majority here in 2005 has always struck me as very large, for in 1983 it was -
Lab 17535
SDP 13199
Con 11483
SNP 4795
Comm 256
Lab maj 4336
I would have expected much of the old SDP vote to have gone to the SNP and (when you consider that this seat also covers very pleaseant Lanarkshire villages like Straven) the Tory vote to have remained well over 6000.
I don’t understand why the SNP are so strong in Livingston and Cumbernauld (which is mutted by the presence of the Labour stronghold of Kilsyth in the Holyrood seat) but Labour remain so dominant here?
Yes, the 1983 result is clearly a marginal with a strong third place Conservative position. Would expect the SNP to come closer here and the Tories to have more than 5000 votes.
Much of the electorate will have come from Glasgow, but this will have already been established in 1983.
The big population surge in EK was during the early ’seventies. And yes, most incomers originated in Glasgow, or even stronger Labour areas like Motherwell.
As far as the comparison with other new towns goes, I’d suggest the odd man out here is Cumbernauld, as it’s the only urban SNP stonghold within the wider Glasgow conurbation.
The strength of the SNP in Cumbernauld is diluted by its inclusion with Kilsyth since 1983, then also the more Labour parts of East Dunbartonshire since 2005.