New Town of East Kilbride south of Glasgow - which was declared as Scotland’s first New Town in 1947. The constituency also has a rural hinterland stretching south to include Chapelton, Sandford, Glassford and the market town of Strathaven. Light engineering, service industries, textiles and woollens are the main generators of economic wealth with farming dominant in the south.
There are also modern industrial centres around the East Kilbride, which house various companies, including Motorola - which is now facing difficulties - Rolls Royce, British Energy and Fuji Electric. The Olympia Shopping Centre in the East Kilbride town centre has also been expanded to become one of the largest indoor shopping centres in Europe.
Levels of owner-occupation increased dramatically between 1981 and 1991 from 30% to 63% while the non-manual occupational groups now form nearly 60% compared to less than 50% in 1981. Unemployment is low.
Labour has held the seat of East Kilbride since its creation in February 1974. The closest they have yet come to losing it was in October 1974 when the SNP slashed their majority to 2,700.
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