Livingston (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Livingston (Scottish Parliament constituency).

Livingston
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Livingston in Scotland.
Subdivisions of Scotland	West Lothian
Current constituency
Created	1983 (1983)
Member of Parliament	Graeme Morrice (Labour)
Created from	Midlothian West Lothian
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	Scotland

Livingston is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, to which it returns one Member of Parliament (MP). Elections are held using the first-past-the-post voting system.

It was formed from parts of traditional Midlothian and West Lothian for the 1983 general election. A similar constituency, also called Livingston, is used by the Scottish Parliament. In 2005 a small part of the Linlithgow constituency was moved into Livingston.

Boundaries

The constituency covers the eastern portion of the West Lothian council area, and is dominated by Livingston. It borders onto the constituencies of Edinburgh West, Edinburgh South West, Dumfriesshire, Lanark and Hamilton East, Airdrie and Shotts, and Linlithgow and East Falkirk.

Members of Parliament

The Member of Parliament for this seat had been Robin Cook of the Labour Party since its creation in 1983. Following his death on 6 August 2005 a by-election was held on 29 September, and Jim Devine was elected. On 8 February 2010 Jim Devine was suspended from the Labour party after he was charged over the expenses scandal.

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1983	Robin Cook	Labour	Foreign Secretary 1997–2001
	2005 by-election	Jim Devine	Labour	barred from standing at the 2010 general election by the Labour Party ruling council
	2010	Graeme Morrice	Labour

Election results

General election results since 1983

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Livingston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Graeme Morrice	23,215	48.5	-2.6
	SNP	Lis Bardell	12,424	25.9	+4.4
	Liberal Democrat	Charles Dundas	5,316	11.1	-4.3
	Conservative	Alison Adamson-Ross	5,158	10.8	+0.6
	BNP	David Orr	960	2.0	-
	UKIP	Alistair Forrest	443	0.9	-
	Scottish Socialist	Ally Hendry	242	0.5	-1.3
	Independent	Jim Slavin	149	0.3	-
Majority			10,791	22.5
Turnout			47,907	63.1	+4.6
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.5

Elections in the 2000s

Livingston by-election, 2005
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jim Devine	12,319	41.8	-9.3
	SNP	Angela Constance	9,639	32.7	+11.1
	Liberal Democrat	Charles Dundas	4,362	14.8	-0.6
	Conservative	Gordon Lindhurst	1,993	6.7	-3.4
	Scottish Green	David Robertson	529	1.8
	Scottish Socialist	Steven Nimmo	407	1.4	-0.4
	UKIP	Peter Adams	108	0.4
	Independent	Melville Brown	55	0.2
	Alliance for Change	John William Allman	33	0.1
	Socialist (GB)	Brian Gardner	32	0.1
Majority			2,680	9.1
Turnout			29,477	38.6	−19.5
	Labour hold		Swing	-10.2

General Election 2005: Livingston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robin Cook	22,657	51.1	-4.1
	SNP	Angela Constance	9,560	21.6	-1.7
	Liberal Democrat	Charles Dundas	6,832	15.4	+5.5
	Conservative	Alison Ross	4,499	10.1	+2.5
	Scottish Socialist	Steven Nimmo	789	1.8	-1.2
Majority			13,097	29.5
Turnout			44,337	58.1	+2.0
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.2

General Election 2001: Livingston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robin Cook	19,108	53.0	-1.9
	SNP	Graham Sutherland	8,492	23.6	-3.9
	Liberal Democrat	Gordon Mackenzie	3,969	11.0	+4.3
	Conservative	Ian Mowat	2,995	8.3	-1.1
	Scottish Socialist	Wendy Milne	1,110	3.1	N/A
	UKIP	Robert Kingdon	359	1.0	N/A
Majority			10,616	29.4
Turnout			36,033	55.6	-15.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Livingston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robin Cook	23,510	54.9	+10.5
	SNP	Peter Johnston	11,763	27.5	+0.9
	Conservative	Hugh Craigie Halkett	4,028	9.4	−10.0
	Liberal Democrat	Ewan Hawthorn	2,876	6.7	−1.9
	Referendum Party	Helen Campbell	444	1.0	N/A
	Socialist (GB)	Matt Culbert	213	0.5	N/A
Majority			11,747	27.4
Turnout			42,834	71.0
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1992: Livingston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robin Cook	20,245	44.4	−1.2
	SNP	Peter Johnston	12,140	26.6	+10.0
	Conservative	Hugh Hunter Gordon	8,824	19.4	+0.7
	Liberal Democrat	Fred Mackintosh	3,911	8.6	−10.5
	Scottish Green	A. Ross-Smith	469	1.0
Majority			8,105	17.8
Turnout				74.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Livingston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robin Cook	19,110	45.6	+7.9
	SDP–Liberal Alliance	R. McCreadle	8,005	19.1	−5.5
	Conservative	M.N.A. Mayall	7,860	18.7	−5.5
	SNP	Kenny MacAskill	6,969	16.6	+3.1
Majority			11,105	26.5
Turnout				74.1
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Livingston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robin Cook	14,255	37.7	N/A
	SDP–Liberal Alliance	A. Henderson	9,304	24.6	N/A
	Conservative	J. Campbell	9,129	24.2	N/A
	SNP	Kenny MacAskill	5,090	13.5	N/A
Majority			4,951	13.1	N/A
Turnout				70.9	N/A
	New creation: Labour gain.		Swing	N/A

See also

• List of UK Parliamentary constituencies in Scotland

Sources

• Election result, by-election 2005
• Election result, 2005 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997 - 2001 (BBC)
• Election results, 1992 - 2005 (Guardian)
• Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources (1983 and 1987 results)