East Kilbride (Scottish Parliament constituency)

East Kilbride 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 nine constituencies in the Central Scotland electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

East Kilbride
county constituency for the Scottish Parliament
East Kilbride shown within the Central Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Current constituency
Created	1999
Party	Scottish National Party
MSP	Linda Fabiani
Council area	South Lanarkshire

Electoral region

The other eight constituencies of the Central Scotland region are Airdrie and Shotts, Coatbridge and Chryston, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Falkirk East, Falkirk West, Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, Motherwell and Wishaw and Uddingston and Bellshill.

The region covers all of the Falkirk council area, all of the North Lanarkshire council area and part of the South Lanarkshire 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 Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, which is within the Central Scotland region, Rutherglen, within the Glasgow region, and Clydesdale, within the South Scotland region. Part of the Uddingston and Bellshill constituency includes parts of South Lanarkshire and is part of the Central Scotland region.

The electoral wards used in the creation of East Kilbride were:

• East Kilbride South, East Kilbride Central South, East Kilbride Central North, East Kilbride West, East Kilbride East

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1999	Andy Kerr	Labour
	2011	Linda Fabiani	SNP

Election results

2010s

2016 Scottish Parliament election: East Kilbride

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Linda Fabiani	19,371	55.9	+7.9
	Labour	Lizanne Handibode	8,392	24.2	-17.3
	Conservative	Graham Simpson	5,857	16.9	+9.3
	Liberal Democrats	Paul McGarry	1,009	2.9	+1.3
Majority			10,979	31.7	+25.2
Turnout			34,629	56.6	+6.5
	SNP hold		Swing	+12.6

[2]

2011 Scottish Parliament election: East Kilbride

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Linda Fabiani	14,359	48.0	N/A
	Labour	Andy Kerr	12,410	41.5	N/A
	Conservative	Graham Simpson	2,260	7.6	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Douglas Herbison	468	1.6	N/A
	Independent	John Houston	414	1.4	N/A
Majority			1,949	6.5	N/A
Turnout			29,911	50.1	-3.5
	SNP win (new boundaries)

2000s

2007 Scottish Parliament election: East Kilbride

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Andy Kerr	15,334	42.7	+2.1
	SNP	Linda Fabiani	13,362	37.2	+12.1
	Conservative	Graham Simpson	4,115	11.5	+0.4
	Liberal Democrats	Dave Clark	3,092	8.6	+2.2
Majority			1,972	5.5	-10.0
Turnout			35,903	53.6	+1.5
	Labour hold		Swing

2003 Scottish Parliament election: East Kilbride

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Andy Kerr	13,825	40.56	-7.82
	SNP	Linda Fabiani	8,544	25.07	-7.42
	Conservative	Grace Campbell	3,785	11.10	+0.29
	Scottish Socialist	Carolyn Leckie	2,736	8.03	New
	Liberal Democrats	Alex McKie	2,181	6.40	-1.74
Majority			5,281	15.49	-0.24
Turnout			34,087	52.06	-10.73
	Labour hold		Swing

1990s

1999 Scottish Parliament election: East Kilbride

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Andy Kerr	19,987	48.38	N/A
	SNP	Linda Fabiani	13,488	32.65	N/A
	Conservative	Craig Stevenson	4,465	10.81	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Ewan Hawthorn	3,373	8.16	N/A
Majority			6,499	15.73	N/A
Turnout			41,313	62.79	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

Footnotes

1. See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland Archived September 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
2. Statement of Persons Nomination Archived 5 August 2012 at Archive.today South Lanarkshire Council