Motherwell and Wishaw (Scottish Parliament constituency)

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

Motherwell and Wishaw
burgh constituency for the Scottish Parliament

Motherwell and Wishaw shown within the Central Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Current constituency
Created	1999
Party	Labour
MSP	John Pentland
Council area	North Lanarkshire

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 nine constituencies in the Central Scotland electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Electoral region

The other eight constituencies of the Central Scotland region are Airdrie and Shotts, Coatbridge and Chryston, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, East Kilbride, Falkirk East, Falkirk West, Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse 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 five covering the North Lanarkshire council area, the others being Airdrie and Shotts, Coatbridge and Chryston, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth and Uddingston and Bellshill. All five are within the Central Scotland electoral region.

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

In full: Motherwell West, Motherwell South East and Ravenscraig, Murdostoun, Wishaw
In part: Motherwell North (shared with Uddingston and Bellshill)

Member of the Scottish Parliament

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.

	Member	Party
1999	Jack McConnell	Labour
2003
2007
2011	John Pentland	Labour

Election results

Scottish Parliament Election 2011: Motherwell and Wishaw
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Pentland	10,713	43.8	-4.3
	SNP	Clare Adamson	10,126	41.4	+16.0
	Conservative	Robert Burgess	1,753	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		{{{change}}}
Turnout			24,451	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 Notional Result: Motherwell and Wishaw
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour		12,675	48.4
	SNP		6,701	25.6
	Conservative		2,165	8.3
	Liberal Democrats		1,563	6.0
	Others		3,102	11.8
Majority			5,974	22.8
	Labour hold		Swing

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		{{{change}}}
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	13,925	45.9	N/A
	SNP	Jim McGuigan	8,879	29.3	N/A
	Conservative	William Gibson	3,694	12.2	N/A
	Socialist Labour	John Milligan	1,941	6.4	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Roger Spillane	1,895	6.2	N/A
Majority			5,046	16.6	N/A
Turnout			30,334	57.1	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

Footnotes

↑ See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland

Preceded by Fife Central	Constituency represented by the First Minister 2001–2007	Succeeded by Gordon

« 1999–2011 « Electoral regions and constituencies of the Scottish Parliament 2011–

Central Scotland	Airdrie and Shotts Coatbridge and Chryston Cumbernauld and Kilsyth East Kilbride Falkirk East Falkirk West Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse Motherwell and Wishaw Uddingston and Bellshill

Glasgow	Glasgow Anniesland Glasgow Cathcart Glasgow Kelvin Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn Glasgow Pollok Glasgow Provan Glasgow Shettleston Glasgow Southside Rutherglen

Highlands and Islands	Argyll and Bute Caithness, Sutherland and Ross Inverness and Nairn Moray Na h-Eileanan an Iar Orkney Shetland Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch

Lothian	Almond Valley Edinburgh Central Edinburgh Eastern Edinburgh Northern and Leith Edinburgh Pentlands Edinburgh Southern Edinburgh Western Linlithgow Midlothian North and Musselburgh

Mid Scotland and Fife	Clackmannanshire and Dunblane Cowdenbeath Dunfermline Kirkcaldy Mid Fife and Glenrothes North East Fife Perthshire North Perthshire South and Kinross-shire Stirling

North East Scotland	Aberdeen Central Aberdeen Donside Aberdeen South and North Kincardine Aberdeenshire East Aberdeenshire West Angus North and Mearns Angus South Banffshire and Buchan Coast Dundee City East Dundee City West

South Scotland	Ayr Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley Clydesdale Dumfriesshire East Lothian Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire Galloway and West Dumfries Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley Midlothian South, Tweeddale, and Lauderdale

West Scotland	Clydebank and Milngavie Cunninghame North Cunninghame South Dumbarton Eastwood Greenock and Inverclyde Paisley Renfrewshire North and West Renfrewshire South Strathkelvin and Bearsden

Electoral regions and Constituencies of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2011 » 2011– »

Central Scotland	Airdrie and Shotts Coatbridge and Chryston Cumbernauld and Kilsyth East Kilbride Falkirk East Falkirk West Hamilton North and Bellshill Hamilton South Kilmarnock and Loudoun Motherwell and Wishaw

Glasgow	Glasgow Anniesland Glasgow Baillieston Glasgow Cathcart Glasgow Govan Glasgow Kelvin Glasgow Maryhill Glasgow Pollok Glasgow Rutherglen Glasgow Shettleston Glasgow Springburn

Highlands and Islands	Argyll and Bute Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber Moray Orkney Ross, Skye and Inverness West Shetland Western Isles

Lothians	Edinburgh Central Edinburgh East and Musselburgh Edinburgh North and Leith Edinburgh Pentlands Edinburgh South Edinburgh West Linlithgow Livingston Midlothian

Mid Scotland and Fife	Central Fife Dunfermline East Dunfermline West Kirkcaldy North East Fife North Tayside Ochil Perth Stirling

North East Scotland	Aberdeen Central Aberdeen North Aberdeen South Angus Banff and Buchan Dundee East Dundee West Gordon West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine

South of Scotland	Ayr Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley Clydesdale Cunninghame South Dumfries East Lothian Galloway and Upper Nithsdale Roxburgh and Berwickshire Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale

West of Scotland	Clydebank and Milngavie Cunninghame North Dumbarton Eastwood Greenock and Inverclyde Paisley North Paisley South Strathkelvin and Bearsden West Renfrewshire