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	Scottish National Party
MSP	Clare Adamson
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

See also: Central Scotland (Scottish Parliament 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.

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 had always elected Labour MSPs (until 2016), it was a safe Labour seat from 1999 until 2011. The MSP from 1999 was the former First Minister, Lord Jack McConnell. The MSP John Pentland 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. Adamson defeated Pentland to gain the seat in 2016.

Election		Member	Party
style="background-color: Template:Scottish Labour Party/meta/color;" rowspan="2" |	1999	Jack McConnell	Scottish Labour Party
2011	John Pentland
style="background-color: Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color" |	2016	Clare Adamson	Scottish National Party

Election results

2010s

Scottish Parliament Election 2016: Motherwell and Wishaw

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Clare Adamson	15,291	52.5	+11.1
	Labour	John Pentland	9,068	31.1	−12.7
	Conservative	Meghan Gallacher	3,991	13.7	+6.5
	Liberal Democrats	Yvonne Finlayson	761	2.6	+1.1
Majority			6,223	21.4	N/A
Turnout			29,111	51.0	+6.0
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing	+11.9

Scottish Parliament Election 2011: Motherwell and Wishaw

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Pentland	10,713	43.8	N/A
	SNP	Clare Adamson	10,126	41.4	N/A
	Conservative	Robert Burgess	1,753	7.2	N/A
	Scottish Senior Citizens	John Swinburne	945	3.9	N/A
	Scottish Christian	Tom Selfridge	547	2.2	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Beverley Hope	367	1.5	N/A
Majority			587	2.4	N/A
Turnout			24,451	45.0	−3.5
	Labour win (new boundaries)

2000s

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	New
	ATP	Richard Leat	187	0.7	New
Majority			5928	22.7	−13.8
Rejected ballots			970	3.7
Turnout			26,150	48.5	−0.5
	Labour hold		Swing

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	New
	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

1990s

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)