Hamilton South (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Hamilton South
Former burgh constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Hamilton South shown within the Central Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Former constituency
Created	1999
Abolished	2011
Council area	South Lanarkshire

Hamilton South is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. However, it is one of ten constituencies in the Central Scotland electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to ten constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Electoral region

See also Central Scotland Scottish Parliament region

The other nine constituencies of the South of Scotland region are Airdrie and Shotts, Coatbridge and Chryston, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, East Kilbride, Falkirk East, Falkirk West, Hamilton North and Bellshill, Kilmarnock and Loudoun and Motherwell and Wishaw.

The region covers all of the Falkirk council area, all of the North Lanarkshire council area, part of the South Lanarkshire council area, part of the East Ayrshire council area and a small part of the East Dumbartonshire council area.

Constituency boundaries and council area

The constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of an existing Westminster constituency. In 2005, however, Scottish Westminster (House of Commons) constituencies were mostly replaced with new constituencies.^[1]

The Holyrood constituency is one of five covering the South Lanarkshire council area, the others being East Kilbride and Hamilton North and Bellshill, which are within the Central Scotland region, Glasgow Rutherglen, within the Glasgow region, and Clydesdale, within the South of Scotland region.

Three of the five constituencies are entirely within the South Lanarkshire area. Glasgow Rutherglen straddles the boundary with the Glasgow City council area, which is entirely within the Glasgow electoral region, and Hamilton North and Bellshill straddles the boundary with the North Lanarkshire council area, which is entirely within the Central Scotland region.

The Hamilton South constituency is south of Hamilton North and Bellshill, west of Clydesdale, north and east of East Kilbride and east of Glasgow Rutherglen.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1999	Tom McCabe	Labour
	2003
	2007

Election results

Scottish Parliament election, 2007: Hamilton South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom McCabe	10,280	44.3	-2.2
	SNP	Christina McKelvie	6,628	28.6	+5.6
	Conservative	Margaret Mitchell	2,929	12.6	-0.1
	Independent	Michael McGlynn	1,764	7.6	+7.6
	Liberal Democrats	John Oswald	1,610	6.9	-1.7
Majority			3,652	15.7
Turnout			23,211	47.5	+2.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Scottish Parliament election, 2003: Hamilton South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom McCabe	9,546	46.53	-7.86
	SNP	John Wilson	4,722	23.01	-3.70
	Conservative	Margaret Mitchell	2,601	12.68	+1.42
	Scottish Socialist	Willie O'Neill	1,893	9.23	+9.23
	Liberal Democrats	John Oswald	1,756	8.56	+0.91
Majority			4,824	23.51	-4.18
Turnout			45,749	44.85	-10.58
	Labour hold		Swing

Scottish Parliament election, 1999: Hamilton South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom McCabe	14,098	54.39
	SNP	Adam Ardrey	6,922	26.71
	Conservative	Margaret Mitchell	2,918	11.26
	Liberal Democrats	John Oswald	1,982	7.65
Majority			7,176	27.69
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

Footnotes

1. See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland