Motherwell and Wishaw (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Motherwell and Wishaw (UK Parliament constituency).

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Constituency
Current constituency

Motherwell and Wishaw 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 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.

The seat has always elected Labour MSPs, it was a safe Labour seat from 1999 until 2011. The MSP from 1999 was the former First Minister, Lord Jack McConnell. The current MSP is John Pentland, who won the seat on McConnell's retirement in 2011 but the national SNP landslide of that year turned it for the first time from safe Labour into a Labour-SNP marginal with just two percentage points separating Pentland and his nearest opponent, the SNP's Clare Adamson.

Electoral region

See also Central Scotland Scottish Parliament region

The other nine constituencies of the South of Scotland region are Airdrie and Shotts, Coatbridge and Chryston, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, East Kilbride, Falkirk East, Falkirk West, Hamilton North and Bellshill, Hamilton South and Kilmarnock and Loudoun.

The region covers all of the Falkirk council area, all of the North Lanarkshire council area, part of the South Lanarkshire council area, part of the East Ayrshire council area and a small part of the East Dumbartonshire council area.

The region itself is described as the 2nd safest Labour seat in Scotland. However, during the 2011 Scottish Parliament Elections, Labour held their seat with the smallest majority since 1999.

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.

The Holyrood constituency is one of five covering the North Lanarkshire council area, the others being Airdrie and Shotts, Coatbridge and Chryston, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth and Hamilton North and Bellshill. All five are within the Central Scotland electoral region.

Three of the five constituencies are entirely within the North Lanarkshire area. Coatbridge and Chryston straddles the boundary with the East Dunbartonshire council area, which is otherwise within the West of Scotland region, and Hamilton North and Bellshill straddles the boundary with the South Lanarkshire council area, which is otherwise divided between the Central Scotland, Glasgow and South of Scotland regions.

Motherwell and Wishaw covers a south-western portion of the North Lanarkshire area, south of Hamilton North and Bellshill and west of Aidrie and Shotts.

The electoral wards used in the creation of Motherwell and Wishaw are;

• In full: Motherwell West, Motherwell South East and Ravenscraig, Murdoustoun, Wishaw.
• In part: Motherwell North shared with Uddingston and Bellshill.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
style="background-color: Template:Scottish Labour Party/meta/color" |	1999	Jack McConnell	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Scottish Labour Party/meta/color" |	2003
style="background-color: Template:Scottish Labour Party/meta/color" |	2007
style="background-color: Template:Scottish Labour Party/meta/color" |	2011	John Pentland	Labour

Election results

Scottish Parliament election, 2011: Motherwell and Wishaw

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Pentland	10713	43.8%	−4.3%
	SNP	Clare Adamson	10126	41.4%	+16%
	Conservative	Robert Burgess	1753	7.2%	−0.4%
	Scottish Senior Citizens	John Swinburne	945	3.9%	−1.9%
	Scottish Christian	Tom Selfridge	547	2.2%	−2.8%
	Liberal Democrats	Beverley Hope	367	1.5%	−4.5%
Majority			587	2.4%	−20.3%
Rejected ballots			TBA
Turnout			24451	45%	−3.5
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

Scottish Senior Citizens, Scottish Christians and Liberal Democrats all gained under 5% of the poll and thus lost their deposit

Scottish Parliament election, 2007: Motherwell and Wishaw

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jack McConnell	12,574	48.1	−6.0
	SNP	Marion Fellows	6,636	25.4	+7.8
	Conservative	Diane Huddleston	1,990	7.6	−2.4
	Scottish Senior Citizens	John Swinburne	1,702	6.5	+0.2
	Liberal Democrats	Stuart Douglas	1,570	6.0	+1.8
	Scottish Christian	Thomas Selfridge	1,491	5.7	+5.7
	ATP	Richard Leat	187	0.7	0.7
Majority			5928	22.7	−3.5
Rejected ballots			970
Turnout			26,150	48.5	−0.5
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

Scottish Parliament election, 2003: Motherwell and Wishaw

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jack McConnell	13,739	54.12	+8.21
	SNP	Lloyd Quinan	4,480	17.65	−11.62
	Conservative	Mark Nolan	2,542	10.01	−2.17
	Scottish Socialist	John Milligan	1,961	7.72	N/A
	Scottish Senior Citizens	John Swinburne	1,597	6.29	+6.29
	Liberal Democrats	Keith Legg	1,069	4.21	−2.04
Majority			9,259	36.47	+19.84
Turnout			25,388	49.03	−8.63
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

Scottish Parliament election, 1999: Motherwell and Wishaw

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jack McConnell	13,955	45.96	N/A
	SNP	Jim McGuigan	8,879	29.24	N/A
	Conservative	William Gibson	3,694	12.17	N/A
	Socialist Labour	John Milligan	1,941	6.39	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Roger Spillane	1,895	6.24	N/A
Majority			5,076	16.72	N/A
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A