Glasgow East (UK Parliament constituency)

Glasgow East
Burgh constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Glasgow East in Scotland.
Subdivisions of Scotland	City of Glasgow
Current constituency
Created	2005
Member of parliament	Natalie McGarry (Independent; elected as SNP)
Created from	Glasgow Baillieston Glasgow Shettleston
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	Scotland

Glasgow East is a constituency of the British House of Commons, located in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) at least once every five years using the first-past-the-post system of voting.

Once one of the safest seats for the Labour Party, the constituency had voted Labour since the 1930s until achieving national prominence in 2008, when a by-election saw the Scottish National Party overturn a majority of over 13,000 votes to take the seat. At the 2010 general election, Labour's Margaret Curran won the seat back from the SNP, with a renewed majority of over 11,000 votes.

In the 2015 General Election, Curran was defeated by the SNP's Natalie McGarry, who won Glasgow East with a swing of almost 31% and a majority of over 10,000.

The seat is entirely within the Glasgow City Council area, taking in the areas of Baillieston, Carmyle, Easterhouse, Parkhead, Shettleston and Tollcross.

Boundaries

The Glasgow City wards of Baillieston, Barlanark, Braidfauld, Easterhouse, Garrowhill, Garthamlock, Greenfield, Mount Vernon, Parkhead, Queenslie, Shettleston, and Tollcross Park.

Glasgow East is one of seven constituencies covering the Glasgow City council area. All are entirely within the council area.

Prior to the 2005 general election, the city area was covered by ten constituencies, of which two straddled boundaries with other council areas. The East constituency includes the area of the former Glasgow Baillieston constituency and parts of the former Glasgow Shettleston constituency.^[1] Scottish Parliament constituencies retain the names and boundaries of the older Westminster constituencies.

Baillieston has always been represented by the Labour Party, as was its predecessor Glasgow Provan from its creation in 1955. Shettleston was won by the Labour Party at every election from 1950 onwards (in 1945 it was won by the Independent Labour Party). In 2008, the Scottish National Party succeeded in winning the seat from Labour in a by-election on a very large swing. Prior to the by-election, it had been one of the safest Labour seats in the United Kingdom. At the 2010 General Election, the constituency was re-gained by Labour from the SNP's by-election victor John Mason by more than 11,000 votes by Margaret Curran.

The Glasgow East constituency contains part of the M8 motorway and main railway lines into the city centre; the home ground of Glasgow Celtic football club is within the constituency.

It is one of the most deprived constituencies in Britain. Nearly 40% of adults smoke, and on average there are 25 drug-related deaths a year.^[2] Average male life expectancy is 68, five years less than the Scottish average, while in the Shettleston area it is 63.^[3] A 2008 World Health Organisation report gave the average male life expectancy in Calton as 54.^[4]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[5]	Party
	2005	David Marshall	Labour
	2008 by-election	John Mason	SNP
	2010	Margaret Curran	Labour
	2015	Natalie McGarry	SNP
	2015		Independent

2008 by-election

On 28 June 2008, David Marshall MP announced he would step down because of a stress-related illness and was appointed Steward of the Manor of Northstead on 30 June 2008, thus effectively resigning from the Commons.^[6] Although the seat represented Labour's third highest majority in Scotland, they faced a strong challenge from the SNP, hot on the heels of Labour's disastrous performance in the 2008 Henley by-election.^[7] Nominations for candidates closed at 4pm on 9 July, and the election took place on 24 July.^[8]

On 25 July 2008, and after a recount, the SNP candidate John Mason won the seat with a majority of 365 votes over the Labour Party candidate Margaret Curran.^[9]

Elections

General Election 2015: Glasgow East[10][11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Natalie McGarry	24,116	56.9	+32.2
	Labour	Margaret Curran	13,729	32.4	−29.2
	Conservative	Andrew Morrison	2,544	6.0	+1.5
	UKIP	Arthur Thackeray[12]	1,105	2.6	+2.0
	Scottish Green	Kim Long[13]	381	0.9	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Gary McLelland[14]	318	0.7	−4.3
	Scottish Socialist	Liam McLaughlan	224	0.5	−0.9
Majority			10,387	24.5
Turnout			42,417	60.3	+8.3
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing	+30.7

General Election 2010: Glasgow East[15][16][17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Margaret Curran	19,797	61.6	+19.9
	SNP	John Mason	7,957	24.7	-17.0
	Liberal Democrats	Kevin Ward	1,617	5.0	+1.5
	Conservative	Hamira Khan	1,453	4.5	-1.8
	BNP	Joe T Finnie	677	2.1	+2.1
	Scottish Socialist	Frances Curran	454	1.4	-0.7
	UKIP	Arthur Thackeray	209	0.6	+0.6
Majority			11,840	36.8
Turnout			32,164	52.0	+3.8^1
	Labour hold		Swing	3.4

¹ Turnout compared with previous General Election in 2005, but other changes compared with the by-election.

Glasgow East by-election, 2008[18][19][20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	John Mason	11,277	43.1	+26.1
	Labour	Margaret Curran	10,912	41.7	-19.0
	Conservative	Davena Rankin	1,639	6.3	-0.6
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Robertson	915	3.5	-8.3
	Scottish Socialist	Frances Curran	555	2.1	-1.4
	Solidarity	Tricia McLeish	512	2.0	N/A
	Scottish Green	Eileen Duke	232	0.9	N/A
	Independent	Chris Creighton	67	0.3	N/A
	Freedom-4-Choice	Hamish Howitt	65	0.2	N/A
Majority			365	1.4	+45.1
Turnout			26,219	42.25	-5.95
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing	22.5

General Election 2005: Glasgow East[21][22][23]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Marshall	18,775	60.7	N/A
	SNP	Lachlan McNeill	5,268	17.0	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	David Jackson	3,665	11.8	N/A
	Conservative	Carl Thomson	2,135	6.9	N/A
	Scottish Socialist	George Savage	1,096	3.5	N/A
Majority			13,507	43.7
Turnout			30,939	48.2	N/A
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

See also

• Politics of Glasgow

Notes and references

1. "Fifth Periodical Report, Boundary Commission for Scotland".
2. McSmith, Andy (2008-06-12). "Struggle for survival in Labour heartland". London: The Independent. Retrieved 2013-12-06.
3. Johnson, Simon (2008-07-02). "Glasgow as bad as the Gaza Strip, says SNP leader". London: The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-07-11.
4. "BBC News". 2008-08-28.
5. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "G" (part 1)
6. "Manor of Northstead". hm-treasury.gov.uk. 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
7. "Gordon Brown faces by-election test as veteran Scots MP David Marshal quits over illness". The Daily Record. 2008-06-28. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
8. "Notice of By-election for the UK Parliament". Retrieved 2008-07-12.
9. BBC Scotland election coverage, Friday 25 July 2008
10. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
11. election result^♯ http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=10527 25Aug15
12. http://www.myukip.com/parliamentary-candidates-f-k.html
13. http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/seven-greens-bid-for-city-seats-196304n.117673520
14. http://www.libdems.org.uk/list_of_selected_candidates
15. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
16. election result^♯ http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=10527 25Aug15
17. "Glasgow East: Constituency". The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-12-06.
18. Press Association (2008-07-02). "By-election candidates selected". Deeside Piper and Herald (Johnston Press Digital Publishing). Retrieved 2008-07-05.
19. "In full: Glasgow East candidates". BBC News (British Broadcasting Corporation). 2008-07-04. Retrieved 2008-07-05.
20. "Freedom-4-Choice party registration". Register of political parties. Electoral Commission. 2006-09-06. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
21. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
22. "Glasgow East". Financial Times. Retrieved 2013-12-06.
23. "Election 2005 Result: Glasgow East". BBC. Retrieved 2013-12-06.

^♯ This reference gives all recent Glasgow City Westminster election results. You select the year and then the constituency to view the result.

External links

• Scottish Election Results 1997 - present

Coordinates: 55°51′20″N 4°08′49″W / 55.85556°N 4.14694°W