Hamilton South
Former burgh constituency
for the Scottish Parliament
Hamilton South shown within the Central Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Former constituency
Created1999
Abolished2011
Council areaSouth Lanarkshire

Hamilton South 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. It was also one of ten constituencies in the Central Scotland electoral region, which elected seven additional members, in addition to ten constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Electoral region

See also: Central Scotland Scottish Parliament electoral region

The other nine constituencies of the South of Scotland region were: Airdrie and Shotts, Coatbridge and Chryston, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, East Kilbride, Falkirk East, Falkirk West, Hamilton North and Bellshill, Kilmarnock and Loudoun and Motherwell and Wishaw.

The region covered all of the Falkirk council area, all of the North Lanarkshire council area, part of the South Lanarkshire council area, part of the East Ayrshire council area and a small part of the East Dumbartonshire 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 was one of five covering the South Lanarkshire council area, the others being East Kilbride and Hamilton North and Bellshill, which are within the Central Scotland region, Glasgow Rutherglen, within the Glasgow region, and Clydesdale, within the South of Scotland region.

Three of the five constituencies were entirely within the South Lanarkshire area. Glasgow Rutherglen straddled the boundary with the Glasgow City council area, which was entirely within the Glasgow electoral region, and Hamilton North and Bellshill straddled the boundary with the North Lanarkshire council area, which was entirely within the Central Scotland region.

The Hamilton South constituency was south of Hamilton North and Bellshill, west of Clydesdale, north and east of East Kilbride and east of Glasgow Rutherglen.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election Member Party
1999 Tom McCabe Labour

Election results

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Hamilton South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Tom McCabe 10,280 44.3 -2.2
SNP Christina McKelvie 6,628 28.6 +5.6
Conservative Margaret Mitchell 2,929 12.6 -0.1
Independent Michael McGlynn 1,764 7.6 New
Liberal Democrats John Oswald 1,610 6.9 -1.7
Majority 3,652 15.7 -9.8
Turnout 23,211 47.5 +2.7
Labour hold Swing
2003 Scottish Parliament election: Hamilton South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Tom McCabe 9,546 46.53 -7.86
SNP John Wilson 4,722 23.01 -3.70
Conservative Margaret Mitchell 2,601 12.68 +1.42
Scottish Socialist Willie O'Neill 1,893 9.23 New
Liberal Democrats John Oswald 1,756 8.56 +0.91
Majority 4,824 23.52 -4.16
Turnout 45,749 44.85 -10.58
Labour hold Swing
1999 Scottish Parliament election: Hamilton South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Tom McCabe 14,098 54.39 N/A
SNP Adam Ardrey 6,922 26.71 N/A
Conservative Margaret Mitchell 2,918 11.26 N/A
Liberal Democrats John Oswald 1,982 7.65 N/A
Majority 7,176 27.68 N/A
Turnout 25,920 55.43 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
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