Rutherglen and Hamilton West (UK Parliament constituency)

Rutherglen and Hamilton West is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which was created for the 2005 general election. It covers almost all of the former constituency of Glasgow Rutherglen and most of the former constituency of Hamilton South, and it elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election. The current MP is Margaret Ferrier of the Scottish National Party (SNP), who won the seat at the 2019 snap general election. She had previously held the seat from 2015 to 2017.

Rutherglen and Hamilton West
Burgh constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Rutherglen and Hamilton West in Scotland
Subdivisions of Scotland	South Lanarkshire
Major settlements	Blantyre, Burnside, Cambuslang, Newton, Rutherglen
Current constituency
Created	2005
Member of Parliament	Margaret Ferrier (Scottish National Party)
Created from	Glasgow Rutherglen and Hamilton South

Boundaries

The Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency covers part of the South Lanarkshire council area. The rest of the council area is covered by the Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, l East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow and Lanark and Hamilton East 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 Rutherglen and Hamilton West name refer to the town of Rutherglen and the west of the town of Hamilton.[1]

Constituency profile

The seat contains significant commuter areas into the city of Glasgow, with trains being as short as 15 minutes away from the city centre. Like much of Greater Glasgow, the constituency contains a diverse range of economic profiles. The eastern edge of the constituency is largely dominated by prosperous, middle class suburban homes in Hamilton north and east and certain parts of Blantyre while the northern and western areas of the constituency have more areas of deprivation, such as Hillhouse. The seat itself contains a slightly higher than average proportion of remain voters at 62% and an average amount of no voters at 55%, making the seat an important Scottish bellwether. Historically dominated by Labour, the SNP gained the seat for the first time in their 2015 landslide and regained it in their 2019 landslide. The Conservatives have also made some inroads in the more prosperous areas within the seat, but not to the same level as the neighbouring constituency Lanark and Hamilton East.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	2005	Tommy McAvoy	Scottish Labour and Co-operative
	2010	Tom Greatrex
	2015	Margaret Ferrier	Scottish National Party
	2017	Gerard Killen	Scottish Labour and Co-operative
	2019	Margaret Ferrier	Scottish National Party

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Rutherglen and Hamilton West[2][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SNP	Margaret Ferrier	23,775	44.2	+7.2
	Labour Co-op	Gerard 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

This was the largest increase in UKIP vote share at the 2019 general election.[4]

General election 2017: Rutherglen and Hamilton West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour Co-op	Gerard 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[5][6]

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[7]	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[8][9]

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	N/A
Turnout			43,261	58.5	N/A
	Labour Co-op win (new seat)

References

1. "UK Parliament constituencies 2005 onwards: Rutherglen and Hamilton West" (PDF). Boundary Commission for Scotland. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
2. "UK Parliamentary general election - Thursday 12 December 2019". South Lanarkshire Council. South Lanarkshire Council. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
3. "Rutherglen & Hamilton West parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
4. http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8749/CBP-8749.pdf
5. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
6. Council, South Lanarkshire. "UK Parliamentary General Election Results South Lanarkshire Council 2015 Elections - South Lanarkshire Council". www.southlanarkshire.gov.uk.
7. "UK Polling Report". ukpollingreport.co.uk.
8. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
9. http://www.southlanarkshire.gov.uk/downloads/download/631/uk_parliamentary_election_results_2010

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