Glasgow Rutherglen (Scottish Parliament constituency)
Glasgow Rutherglen 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. Also, however, it is one of ten constituencies in the
Glasgow 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.
See also Glasgow Scottish Parliament regionThe other nine constituencies of the Glasgow region are
Glasgow Anniesland,
Glasgow Baillieston,
Glasgow Cathcart,
Glasgow Govan,
Glasgow Kelvin,
Glasgow Maryhill,
Glasgow Pollok,
Glasgow Shettleston and
Glasgow Springburn.
The region covers the
Glasgow City council area, a north-western portion of the
South Lanarkshire council area and a small eastern portion of the
Renfrewshire council area.
The Glasgow Rutherglen 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.
The Holyrood constituency is east of the Cathcart constituency and south of the Shettleston and Baillieston constituencies, which are all entirely within the Glasgow City council area. The Rutherglen constituency, however, covers a south-eastern portion of the city area and a north-western portion of the South Lanarkshire council area.
In the South Lanarkshire area, Glasgow Rutherglen is one of five constituencies covering the area: Glasgow Rutherglen,
East Kilbride,
Hamilton South,
Hamilton North and Bellshill and
Clydesdale. Glasgow Rutherglen borders the East Kilbride and Hamilton South constituencies.
The East Kilbride constituency, the Hamilton constituency and the Hamilton North and Bellshill constituency are all in the
Central Scotland electoral region. The Clydesdale constituency is in the
South of Scotland region.
The
town of Rutherglen is the oldest
burgh in
Scotland, and 500 years older than the burgh of
Glasgow. It was traditionally a
Conservative seat, and has always striven to maintain some autonomy since it was absorbed by Glasgow in the 1970s. However, the changes in the 1970's led the Westminster constituency to be mostly made up of vast
council estates south-east of the Glasgow city centre and it became a
Labour safe seat. At its northern border it blends into Glasgow's suburbs and the vast Castlemilk housing scheme. The seat includes not only Rutherglen itself but also the town of
Cambuslang, and the housing scheme at
Fernhill and Whitlawburn.
Steel and
pottery have been major industries in the past, but both have been in decline over the last 30 years. Although now mostly outside Glasgow local government area, the constituency is still seen as a safe Labour seat. There were no surprises in the 1999 elections, which saw
Janis Hughes win the seat with a majority of 25% of the vote. The SNP increased its vote in 1999, establishing a firm second place.
