Airdrie and Shotts (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Airdrie and Shotts (Scottish Parliament constituency).

Airdrie and Shotts is a constituency of the UK House of Commons, located in central Scotland within the North Lanarkshire council area. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) at least once every five years using the first-past-the-post system of voting.

Airdrie and Shotts
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Airdrie and Shotts in Scotland for the 2005 general election
Subdivisions of Scotland	North Lanarkshire
Major settlements	Airdrie, Caldercruix, Shotts
Current constituency
Created	1997
Member of Parliament	Anum Qaisar (SNP)
Created from	Monklands East
Overlaps
Scottish Parliament	Central Scotland

The constituency has existed since 1997; however, it underwent significant boundary changes in 2005. Before 2015, it could have been described as a safe seat for the Labour Party, who held it with a majority of over 12,000 votes until Neil Gray of the Scottish National Party (SNP) was elected at that year's general election. Former MPs for the constituency include: Pamela Nash, former Baby of the House, John Reid, former Labour Home Secretary and Defence Secretary, and Helen Liddell, former Labour Scottish Secretary.

It is a generally working-class, urban seat, and contains the towns of Airdrie, Calderbank, Chapelhall, Glenmavis and Shotts.

From 2015-21, the Member of Parliament for the seat was Neil Gray of the SNP. He resigned in March 2021 to run for a seat in the Scottish Parliament, triggering a by-election.^[1]

Constituency profile

The majority of this constituency maintains the boundaries of its predecessor. From the North Lanarkshire constituency come Holytown and Newarthill. This seat is positioned on either side of the M8 motorway to Glasgow. Small semi-urban towns such as Shotts (including Stane and Dykehead) were added to Airdrie in the 1997 redistribution to form this seat, the predecessor of which was Monklands East. An area in the eastern part of Coatbridge is also part of the constituency.

Electoral Calculus describes the seat as "Traditional", characterised by working class people with lower levels of income and formal education.^[2]

Boundaries and history

 

Map of current boundaries

1997–2005: The Monklands District electoral divisions of Airdrie North and Airdrie South, and the Motherwell District electoral division of Fortissat.

2005–present: The North Lanarkshire Council wards of academy, Airdrie Central, Airdrie North,^[3] Airdrie South,^[3] Benhar, Calderbank, Chapelhall, Clarkston, Craigneuk and Petersburn, Dykehead, Holytown, New Monkland West, Newarthill, Newmains, North Cairnhill and Coatdyke, Plains and Caldercruix, Salsburgh, South East Cairnhill and Gartlea, Stane, and Whinhall. In 2007 these were converted into multi-member wards, with the following falling within the constituency: Airdrie Central, Airdrie North, Airdrie South, Fortissat, Mossend and Holytown (part), Murdostoun (part).

The 2005 changes saw the seat lose some territory to Motherwell and Wishaw whilst gaining part of Hamilton North and Bellshill. It proved to be a Labour Party stronghold from its creation until the Scottish National Party gained it at the 2015 general election, with Neil Gray winning the seat from Pamela Nash by 8,779 votes. Gray's majority dipped to just 195 in the 2017 election. However, in the 2019 election he won by 5,201 votes.^[4]

On 24 March 2021 it was formally announced that Neil Gray had officially stood down as the Member of Parliament for Airdrie and Shotts to contest the 2021 Scottish Parliament election seat of the same name.

Members of Parliament

Election	Member^[5]	Party
1997	Helen Liddell		Labour
2005	John Reid		Labour
2010	Pamela Nash		Labour
2015	Neil Gray		SNP
2021 by-election	Anum Qaisar		SNP

Election results

 

Elections in the 2020s

By-election 2021: Airdrie and Shotts

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Anum Qaisar	10,129	46.4	+1.4
	Labour	Kenneth Stevenson	8,372	38.4	+6.5
	Conservative	Ben Callaghan	2,812	12.9	–4.7
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Arrundale	220	1.0	–2.6
	SDP	Neil Manson	151	0.7	New
	Scottish Unionist	Jonathan Stanley	59	0.3	New
	Reform UK	Martyn Greene	45	0.2	New
	UKIP	Donald Mackay	39	0.2	New
Majority			1,757	8.0	–5.1
Turnout			21,827	34.3	–28.0
	SNP hold		Swing	–2.5

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Airdrie and Shotts^[6][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Neil Gray	17,929	45.0	+7.4
	Labour	Helen McFarlane	12,728	31.9	−5.2
	Conservative	Lorraine Nolan	7,011	17.6	−5.6
	Liberal Democrats	William Crossman	1,419	3.6	+1.5
	Scottish Green	Rosemary McGowan	685	1.7	New
Majority			5,201	13.1	+12.6
Turnout			39,772	62.3	+3.1
	SNP hold		Swing	+6.3

General election 2017: Airdrie and Shotts^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Neil Gray	14,291	37.6	−16.3
	Labour	Helen McFarlane	14,096	37.1	+3.0
	Conservative	Jennifer Donnellan	8,813	23.2	+15.5
	Liberal Democrats	Ewan McRobert	802	2.1	+0.6
Majority			195	0.5	−19.3
Turnout			38,002	59.2	−6.9
	SNP hold		Swing	-9.7

General election 2015: Airdrie and Shotts^[8][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Neil Gray	23,887	53.9	+30.4
	Labour	Pamela Nash	15,108	34.1	−24.1
	Conservative	Eric Holford	3,389	7.7	−1.0
	UKIP	Matthew Williams	1,088	2.5	New
	Liberal Democrats	John Love	678	1.5	−6.6
	Independent	Deryck Beaumont	136	0.3	New
Majority			8,779	19.8	New
Turnout			44,286	66.3	+8.8
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing	+27.2

See also: Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies, 2010–15 § Airdrie and Shotts

General election 2010: Airdrie and Shotts^[10][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Pamela Nash	20,849	58.2	−0.8
	SNP	Sophia Coyle	8,441	23.5	+7.0
	Conservative	Ruth Whitfield	3,133	8.7	−1.2
	Liberal Democrats	John Love	2,898	8.1	−3.3
	Independent	John McGeechan	528	1.5	New
Majority			12,408	34.7	−7.8
Turnout			35,849	57.5	+4.0
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.9

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Airdrie and Shotts^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Reid	19,568	59.0	+0.4
	SNP	Malcolm Balfour	5,484	16.5	−2.7
	Liberal Democrats	Helen Watt	3,792	11.4	+3.5
	Conservative	Stuart Cottis	3,271	9.9	+3.8
	Scottish Socialist	Fraser Coats	706	2.1	−1.6
	Scottish Independence Party	Joseph Rowan	337	1.0	New
Majority			14,084	42.5	+3.6
Turnout			33,158	53.5	−0.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.5

General election 2001: Airdrie and Shotts^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Helen Liddell	18,478	58.2	−3.6
	SNP	Alison Lindsay	6,138	19.3	−5.1
	Liberal Democrats	John Love	2,376	7.5	+3.3
	Conservative	Gordon McIntosh	1,960	6.2	−2.7
	Scottish Unionist	Mark Dempsey	1,439	4.5	New
	Scottish Socialist	Kenny McGuigan	1,171	3.7	New
	Socialist Labour	Chris Herriot	174	0.5	New
Majority			12,340	38.9	+1.5
Turnout			31,736	54.4	−17.0
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.7

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Airdrie and Shotts^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Helen Liddell	25,460	61.8	N/A
	SNP	Keith R.A. Robertson	10,048	24.4	N/A
	Conservative	Nicholas H. Brook	3,660	8.9	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Richard G. Wolseley	1,719	4.2	N/A
	Referendum	Crawford Semple	294	0.7	N/A
Majority			15,412	37.4	N/A
Turnout			41,181	71.4	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

See also

• Scottish Westminster Constituencies

External links

• (Election results from 1922 onwards)
• Electoral Calculus (Election results from 1955 onwards)

References

1. Sim, Philip [@BBCPhilipSim] (24 March 2021). "This is now confirmed: Neil Gray has gone from being MP for Airdrie and Shotts to the Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead (...which is one way of quitting Westminster) - and as of tomorrow will be the SNP candidate to be MSP for Airdrie and Shotts. By-election incoming" (Tweet). Retrieved 28 March 2021 – via Twitter.
2. "Airdrie and Shotts: Seat Details". Electoral Calculus. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
3. Baxter, Martin (14 September 2018). "Seat Details". Electoral Calculus. Retrieved 8 February 2019.^{[dead link]}
4. "Airdrie & Shotts parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
6. "UK Parliamentary Elections 2019". North Lanarkshire Council. Retrieved 16 November 2019.^{[dead link]}
7. . Politics Resources. Archived from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
8. . Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
9. "Election results". North Lanarkshire Council. 5 May 2015.^{[dead link]}
10. . Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
11. "Election 2010 - Constituency - Airdrie & Shotts". BBC News. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
12. . Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
13. . Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
14. . Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

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