Motherwell and Wishaw (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Motherwell and Wishaw is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. Also, however, it is one of nine constituencies in the Central Scotland electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Not to be confused with Motherwell and Wishaw (UK Parliament constituency).

Motherwell and Wishaw
burgh constituency
for the Scottish Parliament
Motherwell and Wishaw shown within the Central Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Current constituency
Created1999
PartyScottish National Party
MSPClare Adamson
Council areaNorth Lanarkshire

Electoral region
See also: Central Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

The other eight constituencies of the Central Scotland region are Airdrie and Shotts, Coatbridge and Chryston, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, East Kilbride, Falkirk East, Falkirk West, Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse and Uddingston and Bellshill.

The region covers all of the Falkirk council area, all of the North Lanarkshire council area and part of the South Lanarkshire council area.

Constituency boundaries and council area

The constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of an existing Westminster constituency. In 2005, however, Scottish Westminster (House of Commons) constituencies were mostly replaced with new constituencies.[1]

The Holyrood constituency is one of five covering the North Lanarkshire council area, the others being Airdrie and Shotts, Coatbridge and Chryston, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth and Uddingston and Bellshill. All five are within the Central Scotland electoral region.

The electoral wards used in the creation of Motherwell and Wishaw are:

Member of the Scottish Parliament

The seat had always elected Labour MSPs (until 2016), it was a safe Labour seat from 1999 until 2011. The MSP from 1999 was the former First Minister, Lord Jack McConnell. The MSP John Pentland won the seat on McConnell's retirement in 2011, but the national SNP landslide of that year turned it for the first time from safe Labour into a Labour-SNP marginal with just two percentage points separating Pentland and his nearest opponent, the SNP's Clare Adamson. Adamson defeated Pentland to gain the seat in 2016.

ElectionMemberParty
1999 Jack McConnell Scottish Labour Party
2011 John Pentland
2016 Clare Adamson Scottish National Party

Election results

2010s
Scottish Parliament Election 2016: Motherwell and Wishaw
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Clare Adamson 15,291 52.5 +11.1
Labour John Pentland 9,068 31.1 -12.7
Conservative Meghan Gallacher 3,991 13.7 +6.5
Liberal Democrats Yvonne Finlayson 761 2.6 +1.1
Majority 6,223 21.4 N/A
Turnout 29,111 51.0 +6.0
SNP gain from Labour Swing +11.9
Scottish Parliament Election 2011: Motherwell and Wishaw
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John Pentland 10,713 43.8 N/A
SNP Clare Adamson 10,126 41.4 N/A
Conservative Robert Burgess 1,753 7.2 N/A
Scottish Senior Citizens John Swinburne 945 3.9 N/A
Scottish Christian Tom Selfridge 547 2.2 N/A
Liberal Democrats Beverley Hope 367 1.5 N/A
Majority 587 2.4 N/A
Turnout 24,451 45.0 -3.5
Labour win (new boundaries)

2000s
Scottish Parliament Election 2007: Motherwell and Wishaw
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Jack McConnell 12,574 48.1 -6.0
SNP Marion Fellows 6,636 25.4 +7.8
Conservative Diane Huddleston 1,990 7.6 -2.4
Scottish Senior Citizens John Swinburne 1,702 6.5 +0.2
Liberal Democrats Stuart Douglas 1,570 6.0 +1.8
Scottish Christian Thomas Selfridge 1,491 5.7 New
ATP Richard Leat 187 0.7 New
Majority 5928 22.7 -13.8
Rejected ballots 970 3.7
Turnout 26,150 48.5 -0.5
Labour hold Swing
Scottish Parliament Election 2003: Motherwell and Wishaw
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Jack McConnell 13,739 54.12 +8.21
SNP Lloyd Quinan 4,480 17.65 -11.62
Conservative Mark Nolan 2,542 10.01 -2.17
Scottish Socialist John Milligan 1,961 7.72 New
Scottish Senior Citizens John Swinburne 1,597 6.29 +6.29
Liberal Democrats Keith Legg 1,069 4.21 -2.04
Majority 9,259 36.47 +19.84
Turnout 25,388 49.03 -8.63
Labour hold Swing

1990s
Scottish Parliament Election 1999: Motherwell and Wishaw
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Jack McConnell 13,925 45.9 N/A
SNP Jim McGuigan 8,879 29.3 N/A
Conservative William Gibson 3,694 12.2 N/A
Socialist Labour John Milligan 1,941 6.4 N/A
Liberal Democrats Roger Spillane 1,895 6.2 N/A
Majority 5,046 16.6 N/A
Turnout 30,334 57.1 N/A
Labour win (new seat)

Footnotes
  1. See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland Archived 21 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
Preceded by
Fife Central		 Constituency represented by the First Minister
2001–2007		 Succeeded by
Gordon


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