Rutherglen and Hamilton West (UK Parliament constituency)

Rutherglen and Hamilton West (UK Parliament constituency)
Rutherglen and Hamilton West is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which was created for the 2005 general election. It covers almost all of the former constituency of Glasgow Rutherglen and most of the former constituency of Hamilton South, and it elects one member of parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post voting system.
Margaret Ferrier, an independent since the whip was withdrawn on 1 October 2020 after an incident relating to a breach of the COVID-19 pandemic regulations, won the seat at the 2019 snap general election for the Scottish National Party, she had previously held the seat from 2015 to 2017.
This led to a recall petition, which ran until 31 July 2023. On 1 August, South Lanarkshire Council confirmed the recall petition had been successful, as more than 10% of the Rutherglen and Hamilton West electorate had signed. As a result, Margaret Ferrier lost her seat and the seat immediately became vacant. A by-election was held on 5 October to elect a new Member of Parliament, won by Labour's Michael Shanks.
Historically a safe Labour seat, in 2015 it was gained by the Scottish National Party when they won a record 56 of the 59 Scottish seats in the House of Commons; ending 51 years of Labour Party dominance at UK general elections in Scotland. Two years later at the 2017 general election, the seat was taken back by Labour by just 265 votes. Coincidentally in the neighbouring Lanark and Hamilton East, sitting MP Angela Crawley held her seat by just 266 votes.
Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat will be subject to boundary changes which will entail the loss of "Hamilton West". Therefore it will revert to the name of Rutherglen, to be first contested at the next general election.
Boundaries
The Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency covers part of the South Lanarkshire council area. The rest of the council area is covered by the Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow and Lanark and Hamilton East constituencies. The Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale constituency also covers part of the Dumfries and Galloway council area and part of the Scottish Borders council area.
The terms of the Rutherglen and Hamilton West name refer to the town of Rutherglen and the west of the town of Hamilton.
The constituency is composed of the electoral wards:
In full: Blantyre, Cambuslang East, Cambuslang West, Rutherglen Central and North, Rutherglen South.
In part: Hamilton North and East, Hamilton South, Hamilton West and Earnock.
Constituency profile
Rutherglen and Hamilton West is an urban seat in Greater Glasgow. It contains commuter areas into the city of Glasgow, with train travel times as short as 15 minutes away from the city centre.
The seat can be understood as socially divided, and it contains many areas of high deprivation, particularly on the outskirts of Rutherglen, eastern Cambuslang, Blantyre and western Hamilton; however, parts of central Rutherglen, western Cambuslang and the Earnock area of Hamilton have markedly lower rates of deprivation.
The seat itself voted approximately 62% in favour of remaining within the European Union in the 2016 Brexit referendum and voters in the constituency voted approximately 50% No, 50% Yes in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. Historically dominated by Labour, Margaret Ferrier of the SNP gained the seat for the party for the first time in 2015, lost the seat to Labour in 2017, before regaining it in 2019 with an increased majority. The seat is regarded as an important battleground constituency between Labour and the SNP, having changed hands three times in the past 10 years.
At the 2022 South Lanarkshire Council election, Low Blantyre and the Bankhead and Fernhill areas of Rutherglen voted Labour, while the Burnside area of Rutherglen voted Liberal Democrat, and the rest of the constituency voted SNP.
Overall, the town of Rutherglen was the SNP's poorest performing area, Blantyre was Labour and the SNP's best performing area, and Cambuslang and Hamilton sat close to the constituency average.
Members of Parliament
Elections
Elections in the 2020s
Elections in the 2010s
Elections in the 2000s
References
Specific
General
Westminster Parliamentary constituencies in Scotland
Rutherglen
Cambuslang
Blantyre, South Lanarkshire
Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 2005
Hamilton, South Lanarkshire
Politics of South Lanarkshire