Rutherglen and Hamilton West (UK Parliament constituency)

Rutherglen and Hamilton West
Former burgh constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Rutherglen and Hamilton West in Scotland
Subdivisions of Scotland	South Lanarkshire
Major settlements	Blantyre, Burnbank, Burnside, Cambuslang, Hillhouse, Newton, Rutherglen
2005–2024
Created from	Glasgow Rutherglen and Hamilton South
Replaced by	Rutherglen

Rutherglen and Hamilton West was a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which was created for the 2005 general election. It covered almost all of the former constituency of Glasgow Rutherglen and most of the former constituency of Hamilton South, and it elected one member of parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post voting system.

Margaret Ferrier won the seat at the 2019 snap general election for the Scottish National Party; she had previously held the seat from 2015 to 2017. Ferrier had the SNP whip withdrawn on 1 October 2020 after a breach of COVID-19 pandemic regulations, and sat as an independent from that date onward. ^[1]

In June 2023, Ferrier was handed a 30-day suspension from the Commons for her actions, triggering a recall petition which ran until 31 July 2023. ^[2] On 1 August, South Lanarkshire Council confirmed the recall petition had been successful, as more than 10% of the Rutherglen and Hamilton West electorate had signed. As a result, Ferrier lost her seat and the seat immediately became vacant. A by-election was held on 5 October to elect a new Member of Parliament, won by Labour's Michael Shanks. ^[3]

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 in the House of Commons; 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 just 266 votes.

Further to the completion of the 2023 periodic review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was abolished. Subject to boundary changes entailing the loss of "Hamilton West" (assigned to a new Hamilton and Clyde Valley constituency), it reverted to the name of Rutherglen, and was first contested at the 2024 general election. ^[4]

Boundaries

Map of boundaries 2005-2024

The Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency covered part of the South Lanarkshire council area. The rest of the council area was 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 covered 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. ^[5]

The constituency was composed of the electoral wards:

• In full: Blantyre, Cambuslang East, Cambuslang West, Rutherglen Central and North, Rutherglen South.
• In part: Hamilton North and East, Hamilton South, Hamilton West and Earnock.

Constituency profile

Rutherglen and Hamilton West was an urban seat in Greater Glasgow. It contained commuter areas into the city of Glasgow, with train travel times as short as 15 minutes 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. ^{[6] [7] [8] [9]}

The seat itself voted approximately 62% in favour of remaining within the European Union in the 2016 Brexit referendum ^[10] and voters in the constituency voted approximately 50% No, 50% Yes in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. ^[11] 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 was regarded as an important battleground constituency between Labour and the SNP, having changed hands three times in the past 10 years. ^[12]

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. ^[13]

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

Election		Member	Party
	2005	Tommy McAvoy [14]	Labour Co-op
	2010	Tom Greatrex
	2015	Margaret Ferrier	SNP
	2017	Gerard Killen	Labour Co-op
	2019	Margaret Ferrier	SNP
	2020		Independent [1]
	2023 by-election	Michael Shanks	Labour Co-op

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

2023 Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election ^{[15] [16]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Michael Shanks	17,845	58.6	+24.1
	SNP	Katy Loudon	8,399	27.6	–16.6
	Conservative	Thomas Kerr	1,192	3.9	–11.1
	Liberal Democrats	Gloria Adebo	895	2.9	–2.3
	Scottish Green	Cameron Eadie	601	2.0	New
	Reform UK	David Stark	403	1.3	New
	Scottish Family	Niall Fraser	319	1.0	New
	Scottish Socialist	Bill Bonnar	271	0.9	New
	ISP	Colette Walker	207	0.7	New
	TUSC	Christopher Sermanni	178	0.6	New
	Independent	Andrew Daly	81	0.3	New
	Volt	Ewan Hoyle	46	0.2	New
	No description	Prince Ankit Love, Emperor of India	34	0.1	New
	No description	Garry Cooke	6	0.0	New
Majority			9,446	31.0	N/A
Turnout			30,477	37.2	–29.3
	Labour Co-op gain from SNP		Swing	+20.4

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Rutherglen and Hamilton West ^{[17] [18] [19]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Margaret Ferrier	23,775	44.2	+7.2
	Labour Co-op	Ged 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 ^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Ged 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 ^{[21] [22]}

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 [23]	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 ^{[24] [25]}

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. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
2. "Scotland's first recall petition published with details of where to sign". HeraldScotland. 9 June 2023. Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
3. "Margaret Ferrier: Covid breach MP loses seat after recall petition". BBC. 1 August 2023. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
4. "Boundary Commission Scotland 2023 Review Report" (PDF). Boundary Commission Scotland. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 July 2023. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
5. "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.
6. "SIMD (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation)". Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. Archived from the original on 8 September 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
7. Rutherglen and Cambuslang communities at top of list of most deprived areas in Scotland Archived 1 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine , Edel Kenealy, Daily Record, 8 September 2016
8. 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 Archived 1 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine , Daily Record, 19 December 2018
9. Rutherglen and Cambuslang areas among Scotland's poorest, according to Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation stats Archived 1 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine , Daily Record, 12 February 2020
10. "Revised estimates of leave vote in Westminster constituencies". Archived from the original on 15 March 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
11. Council, South Lanarkshire. "South Lanarkshire Council area breakdown Elections – South Lanarkshire Council". Archived from the original on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
12. "Scotland 'key battleground' for Labour at next UK general election, Scottish Fabians report finds". Archived from the original on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
13. "South Lanarkshire Council 2022". 14 April 2022. Archived from the original on 28 May 2023. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
14. From a pawnbrokers to Parliament - Tommy McAvoy looks back on a career that took him to the House of Lords Archived 1 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine , Marc McLean, Daily Record, 11 September 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
15. "Rutherglen and Hamilton West By-election - Thursday 5 October 2023". South Lanarkshire Council. 12 September 2023. Archived from the original on 7 September 2023. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
16. Meighan, Craig (6 October 2023). "Scottish Labour wins key Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election". STV News. Archived from the original on 22 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
17. "UK Parliamentary general election - Thursday 12 December 2019". South Lanarkshire Council. Archived from the original on 16 November 2019. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
18. "Rutherglen & Hamilton West parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News . Archived from the original on 6 December 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
19. "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.
20. "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.
21. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
22. Council, South Lanarkshire. "UK Parliamentary General Election Results South Lanarkshire Council 2015 Elections - South Lanarkshire Council". www.southlanarkshire.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 9 August 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
23. "UK Polling Report". ukpollingreport.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 May 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
24. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
25. http://www.southlanarkshire.gov.uk/downloads/download/631/uk_parliamentary_election_results_2010 ^{[ dead link ‍]}

General

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "R" (part 2)

External links

• Rutherglen and Hamilton West UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2005 – May 2024) at MapIt UK

55°49′12″N4°10′30″W / 55.820°N 4.175°W / 55.820; -4.175