Clydesdale LAB Hold

Scottish Parliament election

constituency

	Clydesdale	LAB Hold

	CANDIDATE	PARTY	VOTES	%	+/-%
	Karen Gillon	LAB	14800	45.6	+2.6
	John Brady	SNP	8129	25.1	-8.0
	Alastair Campbell	CON	5174	15.9	+1.0
	Fraser Grieve	LD	2338	7.2	-1.8
	Owen Meharry	SSP	1422	4.4	+4.4
	David Morrison	SPA	579	1.8	+1.8
		MAJORITY	6671	20.6
		TURNOUT	32442	51

ELECTORATE	63675

Top-up region: South of Scotland

DESCRIPTION: Clydesdale

Clydesdale is a large, sparsely populated seat following the routes of the River Clyde and the M74 south and east of Hamilton. Some areas were once noted for coal mining but most of it is hills, moorland and agricultural land. The largest towns are Lanark, Larkhall, Biggar and Stonehouse, and all are home to various light industries. The extraction of sand and gravel still takes place around Carstairs, a town which is also known for its railway junction: the lines from Glasgow and Edinburgh meet and go on to the south.

Sir Alec Douglas-Home once represented this area before he became prime minister. But it has been represented by a Labour MP since 1959 when Dame Judith Hart won the predecessor seat, Lanark, from the Conservatives. The SNP came within 698 votes of unseating her in October 1974, but fell back to third place in 1979. In 1997 it managed to replace the Tories as the second-placed party. Karen Gillon is standing for re-election, though for the SNP this is exactly the kind of seat where it hopes to make a breakthrough.

PREVIOUS RESULTS

	1999 SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT ELECTION		LAB WIN
	PARTY	VOTES	%
	LAB	16755	43
	SNP	12875	33.1
	CON	5814	14.9
	LD	3503	9

	2001 GENERAL ELECTION		LAB WIN
	PARTY	VOTES	%
	LAB	17822	46.6
	SNP	10028	26.2
	CON	5034	13.2
	LD	4111	10.8
	SSP	974	2.5
	UKIP	253	0.7