Airdrie & Shotts LAB Hold

Scottish Parliament election

constituency

	Airdrie & Shotts	LAB Hold

	CANDIDATE	PARTY	VOTES	%	+/-%
	Karen Whitefield	LAB	14209	56.6	+1.4
	Gil Paterson	SNP	5232	20.9	-7.3
	Alan Melville	CON	2203	8.8	-0.8
	Fraser Coats	SSP	2096	8.4	+8.4
	Kevin Lang	LD	1346	5.4	-1.7
		MAJORITY	8977	35.8
		TURNOUT	25086	49.2

ELECTORATE	60608

Top-up region: Central Scotland

DESCRIPTION: Airdrie & Shotts

Situated near the eastern outskirts of Glasgow, Airdrie and Shotts is the successor seat to John Smith's old Monklands East fortress. The late Labour leader had a 15,712 majority. After his death in 1994 Labour won by only 1,640 votes over the SNP in a bitter by-election contest, the nationalist surge helped by scandal on the then Labour council, Monklands. The SNP vote receded in time for the 1997 election, however. In 1999 Labour’s Karen Whitefield became the MSP with a healthy majority, and Helen Liddell increased her majority at the 2001 general election.

Airdrie is by far the largest centre of population and, like Shotts, is an industrial town suffering from a decline in traditional industries such as engineering, coal, iron and steel. Shotts is home to one of Scotland's main prisons. The seat has relatively high levels of unemployment and the announcement in February of the impending closure of the Boots cosmetics factory in Airdrie with the loss of 1,000 jobs will not help matters.

PREVIOUS RESULTS

	1999 SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT ELECTION		LAB WIN
	PARTY	VOTES	%
	LAB	18338	55.2
	SNP	9353	28.2
	CON	3177	9.6
	LD	2345	7.1

	2001 GENERAL ELECTION		LAB WIN
	PARTY	VOTES	%
	LAB	18478	58.2
	SNP	6138	19.3
	LD	2376	7.5
	CON	1960	6.2
	SUP	1439	4.5
	SSP	1171	3.7
	SLP	174	0.5