Airdrie and Shotts (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Airdrie and Shotts is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. It is also one of nine 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.

Airdrie and Shotts
burgh constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Airdrie and Shotts shown within the Central Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Current constituency
Created	1999
Party	Scottish National Party
MSP	Alex Neil
Council area	North Lanarkshire

Electoral region

The other eight constituencies of the Central Scotland region are Coatbridge and Chryston, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, East Kilbride, 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 four covering the North Lanarkshire council area, the others being Coatbridge and Chryston, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Motherwell and Wishaw and Uddingston and Bellshill. All five are within the Central Scotland electoral region.

Three of the four constituencies are entirely within the North Lanarkshire area. Uddingston and Bellshill straddles the boundary with the South Lanarkshire council area.

The electoral wards used in the creation of Airdrie and Shotts are:

• In full: Airdrie North, Airdrie Central, Airdrie South, Fortissat

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1999	Karen Whitefield	Labour
	2011	Alex Neil	SNP

Election results

2010s

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Airdrie and Shotts

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Alex Neil	13,954	52.5	+2.3
	Labour	Richard Leonard	7,762	29.2	-12.6
	Conservative	Eric Holford	4,164	15.7	+9.9
	Liberal Democrats	Louise Young	693	2.6	+0.4
Majority			6,192	23.3	+14.9
Turnout			26,573	49.3	+3.4
	SNP hold		Swing	+7.5

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Airdrie and Shotts

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	SNP	Alex Neil	11,984	50.2
	Labour	Karen Whitefield	9,983	41.8
	Conservative	Robert Crozier	1,396	5.8
	Liberal Democrats	John Love	531	2.2
Majority			2,001	8.4
Turnout			23,894	45.9
	SNP win (new boundaries)

2000s

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Airdrie and Shotts

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Karen Whitefield	11,907	43.8	-12.8
	SNP	Sophia Coyle	10,461	38.5	+17.6
	Conservative	Iain McGill	2,370	8.7	-0.1
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Gorrie	1,452	5.4	0.0
	Scottish Voice	Mev Brown	970	3.6	N/A
Majority			1,446	5.3	-33.2
Rejected ballots			1,536	2.7
Turnout			27,160	47.1	+2.8
	Labour hold		Swing	-15.2

2003 Scottish Parliament election: Airdrie and Shotts

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Karen Whitefield	14,209	59.0	+4.8
	SNP	Gil Paterson	5,232	20.9	-7.3
	Conservative	Alan Melville	2,203	8.8	-0.8
	Scottish Socialist	Fraser Coates	2,096	8.4	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Kevin Lang	1,346	5.4	-1.7
Majority			8,977	38.1	+11.1
Turnout			25,086	46.3	-11.3
	Labour hold		Swing

1990s

1999 Scottish Parliament election: Airdrie and Shotts

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Karen Whitefield	18,338	55.2
	SNP	Gil Paterson	9,353	28.2
	Conservative	Patrick Ross-Taylor	3,177	9.6
	Liberal Democrats	David Miller	2,345	7.1
Majority			8,985	27.1
Turnout			33,213	57.6
	Labour win (new seat)

Footnotes

1. See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland Archived 2007-09-21 at the Wayback Machine