Airdrie and Shotts (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Airdrie and Shotts (Scottish Parliament constituency).

Airdrie and Shotts
Burgh constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Airdrie and Shotts in Scotland for the 2005 general election.
Subdivisions of Scotland	North Lanarkshire
Current constituency
Created	1997 (1997)
Member of Parliament	Pamela Nash (Labour)
Created from	Monklands East
Overlaps
Scottish Parliament	Central Scotland
European Parliament constituency	Scotland

Airdrie and Shotts is a constituency of the British House of Commons, located in central Scotland within the North Lanarkshire council area. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) at least once every five years using the First-past-the-post system of voting.

The constituency has existed since 1997, however underwent significant boundary changes in 2005. It can be described as a safe seat for the Labour Party, who hold it with a majority of over 12,000 votes. It's current MP, Pamela Nash, at 25 years of age, holds the unnofficial title of Baby of the House. Former MPs for the constituency include John Reid, former Labour Home Secretary and Defence Secretary, and Helen Liddell, former Labour Scottish Secretary.

It is a generally working class, urban seat, and contains the towns of Airdrie, Calderbank, Chapelhall, Glenmavis and Shotts.

Boundaries and history

The majority of the newly created constituency maintains the boundaries of its predecessor. From North Lanarkshire come Holytown and Newarthill. This seat is positioned on either side of the M8 motorway to Glasgow.

Small semi-urban towns such as Stane, Dykehead and Shotts were added to Airdrie in the 1990s redistribution to form this seat, the predecessor of which was Monklands East. An area in the eastern part of Coatbridge is also part of the constituency.

The 2005 changes saw the seat lose some territory to Motherwell and Wishaw whilst gaining part of Hamilton North and Bellshill. It has proved to be a Labour Party stronghold since its creation.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1997	Helen Liddell	Labour
	2005	John Reid	Labour
	2010	Pamela Nash	Labour

Election results

General Election 2010: Airdrie and Shotts
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Pamela Nash	20,849	58.2	-0.9
	SNP	Sophia Coyle	8,441	23.5	+7.0
	Conservative	Ruth Whitfield	3,133	8.7	-1.1
	Liberal Democrat	John Love	2,898	8.1	-3.4
	Independent	John McGeechan	528	1.5	+1.5
Majority			12,408	34.6
Turnout			35,849	57.5	+2.8
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.9

General Election 2005: Airdrie and Shotts
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Reid	19,568	59.0	+0.8
	SNP	Malcolm Balfour	5,484	16.5	-2.8
	Liberal Democrat	Helen Watt	3,792	11.4	+3.9
	Conservative	Stuart Cottis	3,271	9.9	-3.7
	Scottish Socialist	Fraser Coats	706	2.1	-1.6
	Scottish Independence Party	Joseph Rowan	337	1.0	N/A
Majority			14,084	42.5
Turnout			33,158	53.5	-0.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.5

General Election 2001: Airdrie and Shotts
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Helen Liddell	18,478	58.2	-3.6
	SNP	Alison Lindsay	6,138	19.3	-5.1
	Liberal Democrat	John Love	2,376	7.5	+3.3
	Conservative	Gordon McIntosh	1,960	6.2	-2.7
	Scottish Unionist	Mark Dempsey	1,439	4.5	N/A
	Scottish Socialist	Kenny McGuigan	1,171	3.7	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Christ Herriot	174	0.5	N/A
Majority			12,340	38.9
Turnout			31,736	54.4	-17.0

General Election 1997: Airdrie and Shotts
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Helen Liddell	25,460	61.8	N/A
	SNP	Keith Robertson	10,048	24.4	N/A
	Conservative	Nicholas Brook	3,660	8.9	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Richard Wolseley	1,719	4.2	N/A
	Referendum Party	C. Semple	294	0.7	N/A
Majority			15,412		N/A
Turnout				71.4	N/A