East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (UK Parliament constituency)

East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow in Scotland
Subdivisions of Scotland	South Lanarkshire
Major settlements	East Kilbride, Strathaven, Lesmahagow
Current constituency
Created	2005
Member of Parliament	Lisa Cameron (Conservative)
Created from	East Kilbride Clydesdale

East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which was first used in the general election of 2005. It replaced East Kilbride and some of Clydesdale, and it elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat will be subject to boundary changes which will include the loss of Lesmahagow. As a consequence, it will be renamed East Kilbride and Strathaven , to be first contested at the next general election. ^[1]

Boundaries

Map of current boundaries

As created by the Fifth Review of the Boundary Commission for Scotland, the constituency covers part of the South Lanarkshire council area. The rest of the council area is covered by the Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, Lanark and Hamilton East, and Rutherglen and Hamilton West. 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 East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow name refer to the towns of East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow. However, the constituency also includes the settlements of Auldhouse, Blackwood, Caldermill, Chapelton, Drumclog, Glassford, Kirkmuirhill, Jackton, Nerston, Stonehouse and Thorntonhall.

The following electoral wards form the constituency:

• In full: Avondale and Stonehouse, East Kilbride Central North, East Kilbride Central South, East Kilbride East, East Kilbride South, East Kilbride West
• In part: Clydesdale South, Clydesdale West

History

Until the SNP landslide at the 2015 election, the constituency, and its predecessors East Kilbride, Lanark, and Clydesdale, had been represented continuously by the Labour party since the late 1950s. Following the defection of sitting MP Lisa Cameron in October 2023 from the SNP, the constituency was represented by the Conservative Party for the first time.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	2005	Adam Ingram	Labour Party	Previously MP for East Kilbride
	2010	Michael McCann	Labour Party
	2015	Lisa Cameron	Scottish National Party
	2023		Conservative	[2]

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

2019 general election: East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow ^{[3] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Lisa Cameron	26,113	46.4	+7.5
	Labour	Monique McAdams	12,791	22.7	−9.0
	Conservative	Gail Macgregor	11,961	21.2	−4.1
	Liberal Democrats	Ewan McRobert	3,760	6.7	+3.8
	Scottish Green	Erica Bradley-Young	1,153	2.0	New
	UKIP	David MacKay	559	1.0	−0.2
Majority			13,322	23.7	+16.5
Turnout			56,337	69.4	+2.1
	SNP hold		Swing	+8.2

2017 general election: East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Lisa Cameron	21,023	38.9	−16.7
	Labour	Monique McAdams	17,157	31.7	+3.4
	Conservative	Mark McGeever	13,704	25.3	+13.5
	Liberal Democrats	Paul McGarry	1,590	2.9	+1.2
	UKIP	Janice MacKay	628	1.2	-0.8
Majority			3,866	7.2	−20.1
Turnout			54,102	67.3	−5.5
	SNP hold		Swing	−10.1

2015 general election: East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow ^{[5] [6]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Lisa Cameron	33,678	55.6	+32.6
	Labour	Michael McCann	17,151	28.3	−23.2
	Conservative	Graham Simpson	7,129	11.8	−1.2
	UKIP	Rob Sale	1,221	2.0	New
	Liberal Democrats	Paul McGarry [7]	1,042	1.7	−8.2
	Independent	John Houston	318	0.5	−0.1
Majority			16,527	27.3	N/A
Turnout			60,539	72.8	+6.2
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing	+27.9

2010 general election: East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael McCann	26,241	51.5	+2.8
	SNP	John McKenna	11,738	23.0	+5.1
	Conservative	Graham Simpson	6,613	13.0	+3.0
	Liberal Democrats	John Loughton	5,052	9.9	−6.7
	Scottish Green	Kirsten Robb	1,003	2.0	−1.3
	Independent	John Houston	299	0.6	+0.3
Majority			14,503	28.5	−2.3
Turnout			50,946	66.6	+3.1
	Labour hold		Swing	−1.2

Elections in the 2000s

2005 general election: East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Adam Ingram	23,264	48.7	−4.3
	SNP	Douglas Edwards	8,541	17.9	−5.8
	Liberal Democrats	John Oswald	7,904	16.6	+6.6
	Conservative	Tony Lewis	4,776	10.0	+0.3
	Scottish Green	Kirsten Robb	1,575	3.3	New
	Independent	Rose Gentle	1,513	3.2	New
	Independent	John Houston	160	0.3	New
Majority			14,723	30.8
Turnout			47,733	63.5	+1.6
	Labour win (new seat)

References

Specific

1. Boundary Commission Scotland 2023 Review Report
2. "SNP MP Lisa Cameron defects to the Conservatives".
3. "UK Parliamentary general election - Thursday 12 December 2019". South Lanarkshire Council. South Lanarkshire Council. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
4. "East Kilbride, Strathaven & Lesmahagow parliamentary constituency - Election 2019" . Retrieved 14 December 2019.
5. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
6. Council, South Lanarkshire. "Elections". www.southlanarkshire.gov.uk.
7. "Central Scotland Liberal Democrats - Just another WordPress site". www.central.scot.

General

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 1)

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