# Rutherglen South (ward)

Rutherglen South is one of the 20 electoral wards of South Lanarkshire Council. Created in 2007, the ward elects three councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system and covers an area with a population of 15,322 people.
The ward has politically been split between Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party (SNP) with each party returning one councillor at each full election. Labour briefly held two of the three seats following a by-election in 2013.

## Boundaries

The ward was created following the Fourth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2007 Scottish local elections. As a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, local elections in Scotland would use the single transferable vote electoral system from 2007 onwards so Rutherglen South was formed from an amalgamation of several previous first-past-the-post wards. It contained the majority of the former Stonelaw ward, roughly half of the former Cathkin/Springhall ward and all of the former Fernhill and Spittal/Blairbeth wards as well as a small part of the former Bankhead ward. Rutherglen South covers a suburban area in the south of Rutherglen including the neighbourhoods of Burnside, Blairbeth, Cathkin, Fernhill, High Burnside, Springhall and Spittal. The ward's western boundary is the long-established division with Glasgow City Council.
Prior to the local government reforms in the 1990s, Rutherglen was within the Glasgow District under Strathclyde Regional Council. One of its single-member wards was Fernhill, which included much of the same area as the current Rutherglen South, with the exception of the parts of Burnside north of the Cathcart Circle Line railway tracks.
Following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2017 Scottish local elections, streets around Overtoun Park, Dryburgh Avenue and Limeside Avenue were transferred from the ward into Rutherglen Central and North while streets to the east of the ward around East Kilbride Road, Brownside Road and Dukes Road were transferred into Rutherglen South from Cambuslang West.

## Councillors

| Election | Councillors | Councillors | Councillors | Councillors |
| 2007 | | Brian McKenna (Labour) | Eileen Baxendale (Liberal Democrats) | Anne Higgins (SNP) |
| 2012 | Robert Brown (Liberal Democrats) | Brian McKenna (Labour) | | Anne Higgins (SNP) |
| 2013 by-election | Robert Brown (Liberal Democrats) | Brian McKenna (Labour) | Gerard Killen (Labour) |
| 2017 | Robert Brown (Liberal Democrats) | Margaret Cowie (Labour) | Carol Nugent (SNP) |
| 2022 | Robert Brown (Liberal Democrats) | Margaret Cowie (Labour) | Carol Nugent (SNP) |

## Election Results
### 2022 election

Rutherglen South - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 |
| | SNP | Carol Nugent (incumbent) | 31.9 | 1,825 | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Robert Brown (incumbent) | 29.4 | 1,686 | |
| | Labour | Margaret Cowie (incumbent) | 23.2 | 1,331 | 1,436 |
| | Conservative | Alexandra Herdman | 8.5 | 489 | 495 |
| | Scottish Green | Emma Smith | 4.6 | 263 | 436 |
| | Scottish Family | Michael O'Hara | 1.3 | 73 | 85 |
| | Independent | Spencer Hugh Pryor | 1.1 | 62 | 73 |
| Electorate: 11,697 Valid: 5,729 Spoilt: 73 Quota: 1,433 Turnout: 49.6% ||||||
Source:

### 2017 election

Rutherglen South - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | SNP | Carol Nugent | 31.0 | 1,803 | | | | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Robert Brown (incumbent) | 31.0 | 1,798 | | | | |
| | Labour | Margaret Cowie | 19.7 | 1,142 | 1,220 | 1,333 | 1,343 | 1,522 |
| | Conservative | Taylor Muir | 14.7 | 854 | 861 | 950 | 976 | 1,009 |
| | Scottish Green | Brian Finlay | 2.6 | 152 | 324 | 364 | 383 | |
| | UKIP | Jack Sinclair | 1.0 | 57 | 65 | 71 | | |
| Electorate: 11,557 Valid: 5,806 Spoilt: 65 Quota: 1,452 Turnout: 50.8% |||||||||
Source:

### 2013 by-election

Rutherglen South by-election (14 February 2013) - 1 seat :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| | Labour | Gerard Killen | 39.9 | 1,352 | 1,358 | 1,370 | 1,376 | 1,396 | 1,616 | 2,090 |
| | Liberal Democrats | David Baillie | 29.5 | 999 | 1,004 | 1,016 | 1,035 | 1,104 | 1,278 | |
| | SNP | Margaret Ferrier | 21.0 | 712 | 714 | 730 | 741 | 755 | | |
| | Conservative | Aric Gilinisky | 3.8 | 128 | 133 | 134 | 170 | | | |
| | UKIP | Donald Murdo MacKay | 3.3 | 111 | 115 | 120 | | | | |
| | Scottish Green | Susan Martin | 1.7 | 59 | 60 | | | | | |
| | Independent | Craig Smith | 0.9 | 31 | | | | | | |
| Electorate: 12,919 Valid: 3,392 Spoilt: 46 Quota: 1,697 Turnout: 26.6% |||||||||||
Source:

### 2012 election

Rutherglen South - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | Labour | Brian McKenna (incumbent) | 26.0 | 1,244 | | | | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Robert Brown | 24.7 | 1,181 | 1,185 | 1,213 | | |
| | SNP | Anne Higgins (incumbent) | 23.9 | 1,141 | 1,143 | 1,151 | 1,156 | 1,199 |
| | Labour | Gerard Killen | 17.8 | 851 | 888 | 914 | 918 | 972 |
| | Conservative | Richard Tawse | 4.9 | 232 | 233 | 269 | 272 | |
| | Scottish Unionist | Michael Haigh | 2.7 | 130 | 131 | | | |
| Electorate: 11,153 Valid: 4,779 Spoilt: 72 Quota: 1,195 Turnout: 42.9% |||||||||
Source:

### 2007 election

Rutherglen South - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| | Labour | Brian McKenna | 24.7 | 1,534 | 1,548 | 1,565 | | | | | | | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Eileen Baxendale | 17.3 | 1,077 | 1,082 | 1,092 | 1,092 | ??? | 1,174 | 1,597 | | | |
| | SNP | Anne Higgins | 16.8 | 1,045 | 1,070 | 1,074 | 1,074 | ??? | 1,159 | 1,195 | 1,204 | 1,303 | ??? |
| | Labour | Patricia Osborne | 13.6 | 846 | 857 | 864 | 871 | ??? | 951 | 970 | 976 | 1,035 | |
| | Conservative | Jean Miller | 8.5 | 529 | 530 | 588 | 588 | ??? | 630 | 649 | 657 | | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Danny Campbell | 8.1 | 506 | 507 | 510 | 510 | ??? | 550 | | | | |
| | Independent | Brian McCutcheon | 4.6 | 285 | 293 | 303 | 303 | ??? | | | | | |
| | Scottish Green | Michael Tobin | 2.4 | 150 | 176 | 178 | 178 | | | | | | |
| | Scottish Unionist | Michael A Haigh | 2.2 | 135 | 138 | | | | | | | | |
| | Scottish Socialist | John Patrick | 1.7 | 106 | | | | | | | | | |
| Electorate: 11,376 Valid: 6,213 Quota: 1,554 Turnout: 55.8% ||||||||||||||
Source: