Glasgow North East (UK Parliament constituency)

See also: Glasgow North East by-election, 2009

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Glasgow North East is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster). It was first contested at the 2005 general election. Its current MP is Willie Bain of the Labour Party.

It was formerly represented since its creation 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 announced that he would be resigning as Speaker on 21 June 2009 due to his 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 Thursday 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

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, of which two straddled boundaries with 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.

Scottish Parliament constituencies retain the names and boundaries of the older Westminster constituencies.

Member of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
style="background-color: Template:Speaker of the British House of Commons/meta/color" |	2005	Michael Martin	Speaker
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	2009 by-election	Willie Bain	Labour

Election results

2010 General Election

General Election 2010: Glasgow North East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Willie Bain	20,100	68.3	+15.0
	SNP	Billy McAllister	4,158	14.1	−3.5
	Liberal Democrats	Eileen Baxendale	2,262	7.7	+7.7
	Conservative	Ruth Davidson	1,569	5.3	+5.3
	BNP	Walter Hamilton	798	2.7	−0.5
	TUSC	Graham Campbell	187	0.6	+0.6
	Scottish Socialist	Kevin McVey	179	0.6	−4.3
	Socialist Labour	Jim Berrington	156	0.5	−13.7
Majority			15,942	54.2
Turnout			29,409	49.1	+3.4

By-election, 2009

Thirteen candidates ran in the 2009 by-election, 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.

Glasgow North East by-election, 2009

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Willie Bain	12,231	59.4	N/A
	SNP	David Kerr	4,120	20.0	+2.3
	Conservative	Ruth Davidson	1,075	5.2	N/A
	BNP	Charlie Baillie	1,013	4.9	+1.7
	Solidarity	Tommy Sheridan	794	3.9	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Eileen Baxendale	474	2.3	N/A
	Scottish Green	David Doherty	332	1.6	N/A
	Jury Team	John Smeaton	258	1.2	N/A
	Scottish Socialist	Kevin McVey	152	0.7	−4.2
	No Label	Mikey Hughes	54	0.3	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Louise McDaid	47	0.2	−14.0
	Independent	Mev Brown	32	0.2	N/A
	The Individuals Labour and Tory (TILT)	Colin Campbell	13	0.1	N/A
Majority			8,111	39.4	+3.7
Turnout			20,595	33.2	−12.6
	Labour gain from Speaker		Swing

2005

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 (whose constitution requires that they fight every seat in Scotland).

The most notable feature of the result was the large vote for Arthur Scargill's Socialist Labour Party, in an area where they had very little base. This appears to be a result of voter confusion (and not the first recorded example of its kind). A large number of traditional Labour voters may have voted for them because there was no Labour candidate on the ballot paper.

General Election 2005: Glasgow North East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Speaker	Michael Martin	15,153	53.3	−13.8
	SNP	John McLaughlin	5,019	17.7	−0.5
	Socialist Labour	Doris Kelly	4,036	14.2	N/A
	Scottish Socialist	Graham Campbell	1,402	4.9	−3.2
	Scottish Unionist	Daniel Houston	1,266	4.5	+0.3
	BNP	Scott McLean	920	3.2	N/A
	Independent	Joe Chambers	622	2.2	N/A
Majority			10,134	35.7
Turnout			28,418	45.8	+1.9
	Speaker hold		Swing	-6.6

See also

• Politics of Glasgow