Subdivisions of Scotland City of Glasgow European Parliament constituency Scotland | Created 2005 Member of parliament Anne McLaughlin | |
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Created from Glasgow Springburn
Glasgow Maryhill Replaced by Glasgow Springburn, Glasgow Maryhill | ||
Glasgow North East is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (at Westminster). It was first contested at the 2005 general election. Its current Member of Parliament (MP) is Anne McLaughlin of the Scottish National Party, who won her seat from Labour's Willie Bain in the 2015 general election with a record-breaking swing of 39.3%.
Contents
From its creation until 2009, the constituency was represented by Michael Martin, previously MP for Glasgow Springburn from 1979. Martin was elected Speaker of the House of Commons in October 2000, but in May 2009 he announced that he would be resigning as Speaker on 21 June 2009 because of his perceived role in the MPs' expenses controversy. He was the first Speaker in 300 years to be forced out of office by a motion of no confidence. He also resigned as an MP the following day, resulting in a by-election on 12 November 2009, which was won by Bain with 59% of the vote. This position was consolidated after Bain was elected as the MP for Glasgow North East in the May 2010 UK general election.
Boundaries
The Glasgow City wards of Ashfield, Carntyne, Cowlairs, Dennistoun, Gartcraig, Keppochhill, Milnbank, Milton, Robroyston, Royston, Springburn, and Wallacewell.
Glasgow North 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, two of which straddled the boundaries of other council areas. The North East constituency includes most of the former Glasgow Springburn constituency and a small part of the former Glasgow Maryhill constituency.
Constituency profile
The population of the constituency was 88,156 at the time of the 2011 Census. On commonly used measures like unemployment rate, numbers eligible for free school meals and educational attainment, Glasgow North East is one of the most deprived constituencies in the United Kingdom. In addition, some parts of the constituency have significant gang-related violence and drug-related crime. These issues are significant across the seat, but some areas have particular problems: heroin addiction in Possilpark, difficult to let and maintain, system-built tower blocks at Sighthill and Red Road, the latter once known as the tallest public housing in Europe, the older housing schemes in Springburn and the post-war (1949) scheme in Milton, with housing but few amenities and itself the product of earlier attempts at slum clearance. However, the innermost area of Dennistoun retains the original Victorian tenements which are no longer routinely refused mortgages because of subsidence risk due to mine workings in the area. Dennistoun has seen some gentrification, and is becoming popular with students and young professionals, while to the north there have been some new housing developments on the outskirts of Glasgow at Robroyston.
Voting pattern
This seat has returned Labour Party candidates when contested. However, the seat was not immune to surge of support for the SNP in Scotland in 2015 and the SNP gained the seat on the largest swing recorded in the general election that year of 39.3%. The history of elections in its predecessor seats has been that Labour Party candidates were returned on most occasions when the seats were contested. Historic information about the constituencies that previously represented parts of the area now defined by Glasgow North East is detailed in Glasgow Parliamentary Constituencies.
According to the British Election Study, it is the most left-wing seat in the country.
Elections in the 2010s
1 As noted at the top of the article, this was the largest swing in the 2015 SNP Landslide.
2 Change given relative to General Election in 2005 whereas other changes are relative to by-election in 2009.
Elections in the 2000s
A by-election was held in November 2009, caused by the resignation of former Speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin. Labour won fairly comfortably, compared to the surprising SNP win in the neighbouring constituency of Glasgow East in the previous year. The turnout was the lowest in Scottish history.
1 Michael Martin stood as 'the Speaker seeking re-election'. The Speaker is elected by the House of Commons after each General Election.
As is conventional, Michael Martin (a member of the Labour Party when first elected Speaker) stood as Speaker of the House of Commons in the general election of 2005. The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats did not stand against him. Other parties did, including the Scottish National Party (the Constitution of which requires that the party fight every seat in Scotland).
The most notable feature of the result was the relatively large vote for Arthur Scargill's Socialist Labour Party, in an area where it had very little base. This was considered to be a result of voter confusion (and not the first recorded example of its kind). A large number of traditional Labour Party voters may have voted for the Socialist Labour Party in the absence of a named Labour Party candidate on the ballot paper.