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, like Carluke, but most of the territory comprises hills and moorland and agricultural land.
The constituency’s largest towns are Lanark, Larkhall, Biggar and Stonehouse, and all are home to various light industries.
Although mining has stopped, the extraction of sand and gravel still takes place around Carstairs.
This area 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 they fell back to third place in 1979 and have had little luck in elections here since. They only replaced the Conservatives as the second placed party at the 1997 General Election.
The success of Karen Gillon in winning the seat for Labour in the Scottish Parliament elections in 1999 came as no great surprise.
However, the SNP managed to strengthen their standing in the seat, capturing nearly 3,000 more votes than at the 1997 general election
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