Glasgow Pollok (Scottish Parliament constituency)

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**Glasgow Pollok**
Scottish Parliament burgh constituency

Glasgow Pollok shown within the Glasgow electoral region
Created:	1999
MSP:	Johann Lamont
Party:	Labour
Council area:	Glasgow City (part)

Glasgow Pollok 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 Glasgow 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.

1 Electoral region
2 Constituency boundaries
3 Characteristics
4 Election results
5 See also

[edit] Electoral region

The other nine constituencies of the Glasgow region are Glasgow Anniesland, Glasgow Baillieston, Glasgow Cathcart, Glasgow Govan, Glasgow Kelvin, Glasgow Maryhill, Glasgow Rutherglen, Glasgow Shettleston and Glasgow Springburn.

The region covers the Glasgow City council area and a north-western portion of the South Lanarkshire council area.

[edit] Constituency boundaries

The Glasgow Pollok 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 entirely within the Glasgow City council area, on its south-western boundary. It is south of the Govan constituency and west of the Cathcart constituency. Cathcart and Govan are also entirely within the city area.

[edit] Characteristics

Half of Pollok Park and the world-renowned Burrell Collection are found here, but there is a lack of open green space as council estates occupy most of this region. Social deprivation, high levels of unemployment and poor housing are serious problems in areas such as Nitshill, Priesthill, Arden and Corkerhill.

Pollok has been regarded as among the safest Labour seats in Scotland, but became the mainspring of the Scottish Socialist Party during the anti-poll tax campaign. However, Johann Lamont, well-known for her old Labour credentials, won the seat for Labour in 1999 with a respectable 17.8% majority over the Scottish National Party's Kenny Gibson.

[edit] Election results

Scottish parliamentary election, 2003: Glasgow Pollok
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Johann Lamont	9,357	43.4%	-0.3%
	Scottish Socialist	Tommy Sheridan	6,016	27.9%	+6.4%
	Scottish National Party	Kenny Gibson	4,118	19.1%	-6.8%
	Conservative	Ashraf Anjum	1,012	4.7%	-0.6%
	Liberal Democrats	Isabel Nelson	962	4.5%	+0.9%
	PE	Robert Ray	73	0.3%	+0.3%
Majority			3,341	15.5%	-2.30%
Turnout			21,538	45.7%
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.3%

Scottish parliamentary election, 1999: Glasgow Pollok
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Johann Lamont	11,405	43.73%	N/A
	Scottish National Party	Kenny Gibson	6,763	25.93%	N/A
	Scottish Socialist	Tommy Sheridan	5,611	21.51%	N/A
	Conservative	Rory O'Brien	1,370	5.25%	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	James King	931	3.57%	N/A
Majority			4,642	17.80%	N/A
Turnout			26,080
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A