Rutherglen and Hamilton West (UK Parliament constituency)

Rutherglen and Hamilton West is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which was created for the 2005 general election. It covers almost all of the former constituency of Glasgow Rutherglen and most of the former constituency of Hamilton South, and it elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election. The current MP is Margaret Ferrier, an independent, who won the seat at the 2019 snap general election. She had previously held the seat from 2015 to 2017. Ferrier was previously a Scottish National Party MP until the whip was withdrawn on 1 October 2020 after an incident relating to a breach of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic regulations.[1]

Rutherglen and Hamilton West
Burgh constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Rutherglen and Hamilton West in Scotland
Subdivisions of ScotlandSouth Lanarkshire
Major settlementsBlantyre, Burnbank, Burnside, Cambuslang, Hillhouse, Newton, Rutherglen
Current constituency
Created2005
Member of ParliamentMargaret Ferrier (Independent)
Created fromGlasgow Rutherglen and Hamilton South

Boundaries

The Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency covers part of the South Lanarkshire council area. The rest of the council area is covered by the Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow and Lanark and Hamilton East constituencies. The Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale constituency also covers part of the Dumfries and Galloway council area and part of the Scottish Borders council area.

The terms of the Rutherglen and Hamilton West name refer to the town of Rutherglen and the west of the town of Hamilton.[2]

The constituency is composed of the electoral wards:

  • In full: Blantyre, Cambuslang East, Cambuslang West, Rutherglen Central and North, Rutherglen South.
  • In part: Hamilton North and East, Hamilton South, Hamilton West and Earnock.

Constituency profile

The seat contains commuter areas into the city of Glasgow, with train travel times as short as 15 minutes away from the city centre. Like much of Greater Glasgow, the constituency contains a diverse range of economic profiles. The eastern edge of the constituency is largely dominated by prosperous, middle-class suburban homes in Hamilton and certain parts of Blantyre while the northern and western areas of the constituency have higher levels of deprivation, such as Hillhouse. The seat itself contains a slightly higher than average proportion of Remain voters at 62% and an average amount of No to Independence voters at 55%, making the seat an important Scottish bellwether. Historically dominated by Labour, Margaret Ferrier of the SNP gained the seat for the party for the first time in 2015 and regained it in 2019 with an increased majority. The Conservatives have also made some inroads in the more prosperous areas within the seat, but not to the same level as the neighbouring constituency Lanark and Hamilton East.

Members of Parliament
Parliament Years Member Party
Constituency created from Glasgow Rutherglen and Hamilton South
54th 2005–2010 Tommy McAvoy Scottish Labour and Co-operative
55th 2010–2015 Tom Greatrex
56th 2015–2017 Margaret Ferrier Scottish National Party
57th 2017–2019 Gerard Killen Scottish Labour and Co-operative
58th 2019–2020 Margaret Ferrier Scottish National Party
2020–present Independent

Elections

Elections in the 2010s
General election 2019: Rutherglen and Hamilton West[3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Margaret Ferrier 23,775 44.2 +7.2
Labour Co-op Gerard Killen 18,545 34.5 -3.0
Conservative Lynne Nailon 8,054 15.0 -4.5
Liberal Democrats Mark McGeever 2,791 5.2 +1.0
UKIP Janice MacKay 629 1.2 +0.3
Majority 5,230 9.7 N/A
Turnout 53,794 66.5 +3.0
SNP gain from Labour Co-op Swing +5.1

This was the largest increase in UKIP vote share at the 2019 general election.[5]

General election 2017: Rutherglen and Hamilton West
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Gerard Killen 19,101 37.5 +2.3
SNP Margaret Ferrier 18,836 37.0 -15.6
Conservative Ann Le Blond 9,941 19.5 +11.9
Liberal Democrats Robert Brown 2,158 4.2 +2.4
UKIP Caroline Santos 465 0.9 -1.4
Independent Andy Dixon 371 0.7 New
Majority 265 0.5 N/A
Turnout 50,872 63.5 -5.1
Labour Co-op gain from SNP Swing +8.9
General election 2015: Rutherglen and Hamilton West[6][7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Margaret Ferrier 30,279 52.6 +36.5
Labour Co-op Tom Greatrex 20,304 35.2 -25.6
Conservative Taylor Muir 4,350 7.6 -2.1
UKIP Janice Mackay[8] 1,301 2.3 +0.9
Liberal Democrats Tony Hughes 1,045 1.8 -10.2
CISTA Yvonne Maclean 336 0.6 New
Majority 9,975 17.4 N/A
Turnout 57,615 69.6 +8.1
SNP gain from Labour Co-op Swing +31.1
General election 2010: Rutherglen and Hamilton West[9][10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Tom Greatrex 28,566 60.8 +5.2
SNP Graeme Horne 7,564 16.1 +2.2
Liberal Democrats Ian Robertson 5,636 12.0 -6.4
Conservative Malcolm Macaskill 4,540 9.7 +1.3
UKIP Janice Murdoch 675 1.4 +0.3
Majority 21,002 44.7 +7.5
Turnout 46,981 61.5 +3.0
Labour Co-op hold Swing +1.5

Elections in the 2000s
General election 2005: Rutherglen and Hamilton West
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Tommy McAvoy 24,054 55.6 -4.1
Liberal Democrats Ian Robertson 7,942 18.4 +6.7
SNP Margaret Park 6,023 13.9 -1.3
Conservative Peter Crerar 3,621 8.4 -0.2
Scottish Socialist Bill Bonnar 1,164 2.7 -1.9
UKIP Janice Murdoch 457 1.1 +0.9
Majority 16,112 37.2 N/A
Turnout 43,261 58.5 N/A
Labour Co-op win (new seat)

References
  1. "MP Margaret Ferrier's Covid Parliament trip 'indefensible'". BBC News. 1 October 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  2. "UK Parliament constituencies 2005 onwards: Rutherglen and Hamilton West" (PDF). Boundary Commission for Scotland. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  3. "UK Parliamentary general election - Thursday 12 December 2019". South Lanarkshire Council. South Lanarkshire Council. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  4. "Rutherglen & Hamilton West parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  5. Uberoi, Elise; Baker, Carl; Cracknell, Richard; Allen, Grahame; Roberts, Nerys; Barton, Cassie; Sturge, Georgina; Danechi, Shadi; Harker, Rachael; Bolton, Paul; McInnes, Rod; Watson, Chris; Dempsey, Noel; Audickas, Lukas (28 January 2020). "General Election 2019: results and analysis" (PDF). parliament.uk.
  6. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  7. Council, South Lanarkshire. "UK Parliamentary General Election Results South Lanarkshire Council 2015 Elections - South Lanarkshire Council". www.southlanarkshire.gov.uk.
  8. "UK Polling Report". ukpollingreport.co.uk.
  9. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  10. http://www.southlanarkshire.gov.uk/downloads/download/631/uk_parliamentary_election_results_2010
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