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 Ferrier was previously a Scottish National Party MP until the whip was withdrawn on 1 October 2020 after an incident relating to a breach of the COVID-19 pandemic regulations.[1]

Rutherglen and Hamilton West
Burgh constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
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

Historically a safe Labour seat, in 2015 it was gained by the Scottish National Party when they won a record 56 of the 59 Scottish seats at Westminster; ending 51 years of Labour Party dominance at UK general elections in Scotland. Two years later at the 2017 general election, the seat was taken back by Labour by just 265 votes. Coincidentally in the neighbouring Lanark and Hamilton East, sitting MP Angela Crawley held her seat by 266 votes.

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:

Constituency profile

Rutherglen and Hamilton West is an urban seat in Greater Glasgow. It contains commuter areas into the city of Glasgow, with train travel times as short as 15 minutes away from the city centre.

The seat can be understood as socially divided, and it contains many areas of high deprivation, particularly on the outskirts of Rutherglen, eastern Cambuslang, Blantyre and western Hamilton, however parts of central Rutherglen, western Cambuslang and the Earnock area of Hamilton have markedly lower rates of deprivation.[3][4][5][6]

The seat itself voted approximately 62% in favour of remaining within the European Union in the 2016 Brexit referendum[7] and voters in the constituency voted approximately 50% No, 50% Yes in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.[8] Historically dominated by Labour, Margaret Ferrier of the SNP gained the seat for the party for the first time in 2015, lost the seat to Labour in 2017, before regaining it in 2019 with an increased majority. The seat is regarded as an important battleground constituency between Labour and the SNP, having changed hands three times in the past 10 years.[9]

At the 2022 South Lanarkshire Council election, Low Blantyre and the Bankhead and Fernhill areas of Rutherglen voted Labour, while the Burnside area of Rutherglen voted Liberal Democrat, and the rest of the constituency voted SNP.[10]

Overall, the town of Rutherglen was the SNP's poorest performing area, Blantyre was Labour and the SNP's best performing area, and Cambuslang and Hamilton sat close to the constituency average.

Members of Parliament
Parliament Years Member Party
Constituency created from Glasgow Rutherglen and Hamilton South
54th 2005–2010 Tommy McAvoy[11] 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[1]

Elections

Elections in the 2010s
General election 2019: Rutherglen and Hamilton West[12][13][14]
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
General election 2017: Rutherglen and Hamilton West[15]
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[16][17]
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[18] 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[19][20]
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
Turnout 43,261 58.5
Labour Co-op win (new seat)

References
Specific
  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. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  3. https://simd.scot/
  4. Rutherglen and Cambuslang communities at top of list of most deprived areas in Scotland, Edel Kenealy, Daily Record, 8 September 2016
  5. Shock stats show Rutherglen has more unemployment, highest rate of alcohol and drug admissions and more social work referrals than anywhere else in South Lanarkshire, Daily Record, 19 December 2018
  6. Rutherglen and Cambuslang areas among Scotland's poorest, according to Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation stats, Daily Record, 12 February 2020
  7. "Revised estimates of leave vote in Westminster constituencies". Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  8. Council, South Lanarkshire. "South Lanarkshire Council area breakdown Elections – South Lanarkshire Council".
  9. Scotland 'key battleground' for Labour at next UK general election, Scottish Fabians report finds
  10. "South Lanarkshire Council 2022". 14 April 2022.
  11. From a pawnbrokers to Parliament - Tommy McAvoy looks back on a career that took him to the House of Lords, Marc McLean, Daily Record, 11 September 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  12. "UK Parliamentary general election - Thursday 12 December 2019". South Lanarkshire Council. South Lanarkshire Council. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  13. "Rutherglen & Hamilton West parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  14. "Commons Briefing Paper 8749. General Election 2019: results and analysis" (PDF). London: House of Commons Library. 28 January 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  15. "Commons Briefing Paper 7979. General Election 2017: results and analysis" (PDF) (Second ed.). House of Commons Library. 29 January 2019 [7 April 2018]. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 November 2019.
  16. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  17. Council, South Lanarkshire. "UK Parliamentary General Election Results South Lanarkshire Council 2015 Elections - South Lanarkshire Council". www.southlanarkshire.gov.uk.
  18. "UK Polling Report". ukpollingreport.co.uk.
  19. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  20. http://www.southlanarkshire.gov.uk/downloads/download/631/uk_parliamentary_election_results_2010
General
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