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Glasgow Rutherglen
Former burgh constituency
for the Scottish Parliament
Glasgow Rutherglen shown within the Glasgow electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Former constituency
Created1999
Abolished2011
Council areaGlasgow City (part)
South Lanarkshire (part)

Glasgow Rutherglen was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election.

From the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, the seat of Glasgow Rutherglen was redrawn and renamed Rutherglen.

Electoral region

See also Glasgow (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

The region covered the Glasgow City council area and a north-western portion of the South Lanarkshire council area.

Characteristics

The town of Rutherglen is the oldest royal burgh in Scotland, and 500 years older than the royal burgh of Glasgow. At its northern and western borders it blends into Glasgow's suburbs and the vast Castlemilk housing scheme. It was traditionally a Conservative seat, and has always striven to maintain some autonomy since it was absorbed by Glasgow in the 1970s. However, the changes in the 1970s led the Westminster constituency to be mostly made up of council estates south-east of the Glasgow city centre and it became a Labour safe seat. The seat included not only Rutherglen itself but also the town of Cambuslang, and the housing schemes at Fernhill, Toryglen and Whitlawburn. Steel and pottery have been major industries in the past, but both have been in decline over the last 30 years. Although now mostly outside Glasgow local government area, the constituency was still seen as a safe Labour seat. There were no surprises in the 1999 elections, which saw Janis Hughes win the seat with a majority of 25% of the vote.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election Member Party
1999 Janis Hughes Labour
2007 James Kelly
2011 Constituency redrawn; see Rutherglen

Election results

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Glasgow Rutherglen
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op James Kelly 10,237 42.2 -3.6
SNP Margaret Park 5,857 24.2 +9.3
Liberal Democrats Robert Brown 5,516 22.7 +3.6
Conservative Christina Harcus 2,094 8.6 -2.0
Scottish Christian Tom Greig 548 2.3 New
Majority 4,380 18.0 -8.7
Turnout 24,252 48.5 +0.9
Labour Co-op hold Swing -6.5
2003 Scottish Parliament election: Glasgow Rutherglen
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Janis Hughes 10,794 45.8 -0.5
Liberal Democrats Robert Brown 4,491 19.1 -0.9
SNP Anne McLaughlin 3,517 14.9 -6.3
Conservative Gavin Brown 2,499 10.6 +2.6
Scottish Socialist Bill Bonnar 2,259 9.6 +6.7
Majority 6,303 26.7 +1.6
Turnout 23,560 47.6
Labour hold Swing -0.5
1999 Scottish Parliament election: Glasgow Rutherglen
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Janis Hughes 13,442 46.3 N/A
SNP Tom Chalmers 6,155 21.2 N/A
Liberal Democrats Robert Brown 5,798 20.0 N/A
Conservative Iain Stewart 2,315 8.0 N/A
Scottish Socialist Bill Bonnar 832 2.9 N/A
Socialist Labour James Nisbet 481 1.6 N/A
Majority 7,287 25.1 N/A
Turnout 15,583 N/A
Labour win (new seat)

See also

Categories