Glasgow East
2010 Results:
Conservative: 1453 (4.52%)
Labour: 19797 (61.55%)
Liberal Democrat: 1617 (5.03%)
SNP: 7957 (24.74%)
BNP: 677 (2.1%)
UKIP: 209 (0.65%)
Scottish Socialist: 454 (1.41%)
Majority: 11840 (36.81%)
2005 Results:
Labour: 18775 (60.7%)
SNP: 5268 (17%)
Liberal Democrat: 3665 (11.8%)
Conservative: 2135 (6.9%)
Other: 1096 (3.5%)
Majority: 13507 (43.7%)
Boundary changes prior to 2005 election: Name of seat changed from Glasgow Baillieston.
2001 Result
Conservative: 1580 (6.8%)
Labour: 14200 (61%)
Liberal Democrat: 1551 (6.7%)
SNP: 4361 (18.7%)
Other: 1569 (6.7%)
Majority: 9839 (42.3%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 2468 (7.7%)
Labour: 20925 (65.7%)
Liberal Democrat: 1217 (3.8%)
SNP: 6085 (19.1%)
Referendum: 188 (0.6%)
Other: 970 (3%)
Majority: 14840 (46.6%)
No Boundary Changes:
Profile: The eastern part of the city of Glasgow. This seat contains some affluent suburban areas like Mount Vernon and Bailleston, but it is mostly made up of the post-war product of slum clearances, souless tenements and terraces thrown up in the 1950s and 1960s into which the population of Glasgow`s substandard housing were decanted. The resulting estates, lacking employment and amenties were ravaged by unemployment, hard drugs, violence and gang culture. In a city that is Labour to the core anyway, this along with Glasgow South West is one of their two safest seats.
Current MP: Margaret Curran (Labour) born 1958. Educated at Glasgow University. Former lecturer and community worker. MSP for Glasgow Baillieston since 1999. Former Minister for Parliamentary business. Contested Glasgow East by-election 2008.
Hamira Khan (Conservative) Educated at Bannerman High School and University of the West of Scotland. PR and communications professional.Margaret Curran (Labour) born 1958. Educated at Glasgow University. Former lecturer and community worker. MSP for Glasgow Baillieston since 1999. Former Minister for Parliamentary business. Contested Glasgow East by-election 2008.
Kevin Ward (Liberal Democrat) Born Glasgow. Educated at Strathclyde University. Works for Glasgow Caledonian University student association. 
John Mason(SNP) born 1957. Accountant and leader of the SNP group on Glasgow council. Glasgow councillor since 1998. First elected as MP for Glasgow East in 2008 by-election (more information at They work for you)
Arthur Misty Thackeray (UKIP) Arthur Thackeray (UKIP) Joe Finnie (BNP)Frances Curran (Scottish Socialist) 2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 89305
Male: 46.7%
Female: 53.3%
Under 18: 25.6%
Over 60: 20.6%
Born outside UK: 1.5%
White: 98.9%
Asian: 0.5%
Mixed: 0.2%
Other: 0.4%
Christian: 73.2%
Graduates 16-74: 7.6%
No Qualifications 16-74: 50.4%
Owner-Occupied: 46.7%
Social Housing: 45.8% (Council: 29.9%, Housing Ass.: 15.8%)
Privately Rented: 2.5%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 15.6%
2008 By-election
David Marshall resigned from Parliament on the 30th June due to a stress related illness. The by-election was held on 24th July and saw the SNP overturn the Labour majority with a swing of over 22%.
By-election result:
John Mason (SNP) 11277 (43.1%) +26.1%
Margaret Curran (Labour) 10912 (41.7%) -19.0%
Davena Rankin (Conservative) 1639 (6.3%) -0.6%
Ian Robertson (Liberal Democrat) 915 (3.5%) -8.3%
Frances Curran (SSP) 555 (2.1%) -1.4%
Tricia McLeish (Solidarity) 512 (1.9%)
Eileen Duke (Scottish Green) 232 (0.9%)
Chris Creighton (Independent) 67 (0.3%)
Hamish Howitt (Freedom 4 Choice) 65 (0.2%)
Majority: 365 (1.4%)
By-election Candidates:Margaret Curran (Labour) born 1958. Educated at Glasgow University. Former lecturer and community worker. MSP for Glasgow Baillieston since 1999. Former Minister for Parliamentary business.
Davena Rankin (Conservative) Educated at Knightswood Secondary school and Sussex University. Commercial manager at Glasgow Caledonian University. Contested Glasgow Kelvin 2001, Glasgow Cathcart & Glasgow list in 2007 Scottish elections.
Ian Robertson (Liberal Democrat) born 1978, Glasgow. Educated at Strathclyde University. Maths teacher. Contested Rutherglen and Hamilton West.John Mason (SNP) born 1957. Accountant and now full time leader of the SNP group on Glasgow council. Glasgow councillor since 1998.
Frances Curran (Scottish Socialist Party) born 1961, Glasgow. Educated at St Andrews Secondar School. Former Labour party member, and NEC member. Member of the Scottish Parliament for West of Scotland 2003-2007. Contested Paisley South 1997 by-election and 2001. Joint national spokesperson for the SSP.
Tricia McLeish (Solidarity) born Glasgow. Educated at St Andrews School. Local government officer. Contested Glasgow Region in 2003 Scottish elections for the SSP, 2007 for Solidarity.
Eileen Duke (Scottish Green) Retired GP. Contested Glasgow region in 2007 Scottish elections.
Hamish Howitt (Freedom 4 Choice) Blackpool publican who in 2007 was the first to be prosecuted for continuing to allow smoking in his pub. Contested Haltemprice and Howden by-election 2008. Will contest Blackpool South at the next general election.
Chris Creighton (Independent) Politics student at the University of Glasgow. Contested Glasgow Cathcart by-election to the Scottish Parliament 2005.
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Even John Mason has said Labour will win this one. Only real threat is that the labour candidate shares a name with the SSP one
LAB REGAIN
I was surprised how comprehensively Labour won this seat back. John Mason’s incumbency didn’t seem to help him much at all.
The majority was 11,840 – and the swing to the SNP from 2005 was just 3.4%.
@VoteDave – Mason won the by-election by squeezing the LibDems and gaining a lot of Labour votes. His mostly Tory voting record, his views on abortion and the swing towards Labour in Scotland on account of the feeling it was a case of ‘vote Labour to keep the Tories out’ would all have told against him on that score. I’m much more surprised that the LibDem vote didn’t recover as much and the Tory vote decreased than I am Labour retook the seat; I’d guess it was to do with turnout more than anything.
Does anyone know if Margaret Curran plans to step down as an MSP? That’s what I came here to check.
Duncan, I would imagine that Curran does intend to stand down next year. Indeed, this will solve a problem for Labour, as Curran’s Holyrood Constituency is abolished in the Boundary Review and her accession to Westminster prevents an unseemly row with neighbouring Labour Constituency MSPs, allowing Paul Martin and Frank McAveety free runs in Glasgow Provan and Glasgow Shettleston respectively.
General elections in Glasgow have become so predictable and uncompetitive in recent years.
We have to go way back to 1983 before a non-Labour candidate won a seat in a general election (Michael Martin more or less excepted).
In the middle of this fascinating 9-minute video, Roy Jenkins wins Hillhead that year. The poor man had a big struggle trying to make his acceptance speech, being drowned out by some very rude opponents.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftkdkYqGGRU
I wonder if we’ve seen the last of John Mason? I can’t imagine he would stand here again.
I did not doubt that Curran would regain this seat but not by such a wide margin (4000 – 6000 seemed more likely).
I don’t see why Mason won’t stand again in Glasgow Shettleston and may even be placed high on the Glasgow Region list. He is very popular in Ballieston/ Mt Vernon. He had been an SNP councillor for many years – so may return to local politics if not the Scottish parliament.
The SNP did extreemly well in Glasgow Ballieston in 1999, coming within 4000 in what have been one of the safest Labour seats.
They were then pushed back in 2001 and 2003, so I don’t see why they can’t come back again.
Hamira Khan was also a victum of the swing from Con to Lab in Scotland in losing here deposit. She was a good candidate, born and bred in the constituency and then ‘made it’. There may have been some tacticle voting among a few Tories to try to keep Labour out, and even amoungst ‘Unionists’ to defeat the nationalist. I’m sure she will get a more winnable seat next time.
Glasgow Govan in ‘92 – Jim Sillars, a much more prominent and eloquent politician, was hammered by a Labour donkey in Glasgow Govan after a stunning by-election victory in 1988 won on the basis of poll tax non-payment against a Labour candidate who refused to condone the civil disobedience. It’s a shame people didn’t remember that Labour were far less radical than the tories.
And RE voting with the tories, he wasn’t there all that long and although he was more socially conservative than I’m frankly comfortable with due to his faith, economically he seems fairly centre-left to me http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpn=John_Mason&mpc=Glasgow_East&house=commons&display=alldreams. Voting with Labour 100% of the time would mean that he voted for ID cards, for the abolition of the 10p rate of taxation, for the Iraq war (if he had been an MP in 2003), for 42 day detention and against Gurkha settlement rights. On some issues, New Labour were to the right of the tories – some people don’t seem to get that.
Anyway, I’m sure he’ll be back in a reasonably prominent role unlike the contestants of the other two by elections, one of whom leads the increasingly unpopular Fife Council (which is cutting 50% of music tutors this year and simultaneously funding a festival which is basically just a showcase of Vettriano for around £1m) and the other was a BBC commentator who failed to even dent the Labour majority.