Airdrie and Shotts (Scottish Parliament constituency)
| Airdrie and Shotts | |
|---|---|
burgh constituency for the Scottish Parliament | |
 | |
 Airdrie and Shotts shown within the Central Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland | |
| Current constituency | |
| Created | 1999 |
| Party | Scottish National Party |
| MSP | Alex Neil |
| Council area | North Lanarkshire |
Airdrie and Shotts is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. It is also one of nine constituencies in the Central Scotland electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to ten constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Contents
1 Electoral region
2 Constituency boundaries and council area
3 Member of the Scottish Parliament
4 Election results
5 Footnotes
Electoral region
The other eight constituencies of the Central Scotland region are Coatbridge and Chryston, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, East Kilbride, Falkirk East, Falkirk West, Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, Motherwell and Wishaw 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 four covering the North Lanarkshire council area, the others being Coatbridge and Chryston, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Motherwell and Wishaw and Uddingston and Bellshill. All five are within the Central Scotland electoral region.
Three of the four constituencies are entirely within the North Lanarkshire area. Uddingston and Bellshill straddles the boundary with the South Lanarkshire council area.
The electoral wards used in the creation of Airdrie and Shotts are:
- In full: Airdrie North, Airdrie Central, Airdrie South, Fortissat
Member of the Scottish Parliament
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
1999 | Karen Whitefield | Labour | |
2011 | Alex Neil | SNP | |
Election results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SNP | Alex Neil | 13,954 | 52.5 | +2.4 | |
Labour | Richard Leonard | 7,762 | 29.2 | -12.6 | |
Conservative | Eric Holford | 4,164 | 15.7 | +9.8 | |
Liberal Democrats | Louise Young | 693 | 2.6 | +0.4 | |
| Majority | 6,192 | 23.3 | +14.9 | ||
Turnout | 26,573 | 49.3 | +3.4 | ||
SNP hold | Swing | +7.5 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SNP | Alex Neil | 11,984 | 50.2 | N/A | |
Labour | Karen Whitefield | 9,983 | 41.8 | N/A | |
Conservative | Robert Crozier | 1,396 | 5.8 | N/A | |
Liberal Democrats | John Love | 531 | 2.2 | N/A | |
| Majority | 2,001 | 8.4 | |||
Turnout | 23,894 | 45.9 | |||
SNP win (new seat) | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Karen Whitefield | 11,907 | 43.8 | -12.8 | |
SNP | Sophia Coyle | 10,461 | 38.5 | +17.6 | |
Conservative | Iain McGill | 2,370 | 8.7 | -0.1 | |
Liberal Democrats | Robert Gorrie | 1,452 | 5.4 | -0.0 | |
Scottish Voice | Mev Brown | 970 | 3.6 | +3.6 | |
| Majority | 1,446 | 5.3 | -33.2 | ||
| Rejected ballots | 1536 | 2.7 | {{{change}}} | ||
Turnout | 27,160 | 47.1 | +2.8 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -15.2 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Karen Whitefield | 14,209 | 59.03 | +4.82 | |
SNP | Gil Paterson | 5,232 | 20.86 | -7.30 | |
Conservative | Alan Melville | 2,203 | 8.76 | -0.81 | |
Scottish Socialist | Fraser Coates | 2,096 | 8.36 | +8.36 | |
Liberal Democrats | Kevin Lang | 1,346 | 5.37 | -1.69 | |
| Majority | 8,977 | 35.78 | +8.73 | ||
Turnout | 25,086 | 46.26 | -12.53 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Karen Whitefield | 18,338 | 55.21 | N/A | |
SNP | Gil Paterson | 9,353 | 28.16 | N/A | |
Conservative | Patrick Ross-Taylor | 3,177 | 9.57 | N/A | |
Liberal Democrats | David Miller | 2,345 | 7.06 | N/A | |
| Majority | 8,985 | 27.05 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 33,213 | 57.58 | |||
Labour win (new seat) | |||||
Footnotes
^ See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland Archived 2007-09-21 at the Wayback Machine.
