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
Member of Parliament	Neil Gray (SNP)
Created from	Monklands East
Overlaps
Scottish Parliament	Central 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, it underwent significant boundary changes in 2005. Before 2015 it could have been described as a safe seat for the Labour Party, who held it with a majority of over 12,000 votes until its current MP, Neil Gray of the Scottish National Party, was elected in that year's general election. Former MPs for the constituency include Pamela Nash, former Baby of the House, 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

1997-2005: The Monklands District electoral divisions of Airdrie North and Airdrie South, and the Motherwell District electoral division of Fortissat.

2005–present: The North Lanarkshire Council wards of Academy, Airdrie Central, Benhar, Calderbank, Chapelhall, Clarkston, Craigneuk and Petersburn, Dykehead, Holytown, New Monkland West, Newarthill, Newmains, North Cairnhill and Coatdyke, Plains and Caldercruix, Salsburgh, South East Cairnhill and Gartlea, Stane, and Whinhall.

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 1997 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
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1997	Helen Liddell	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	2005	John Reid	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	2010	Pamela Nash	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color" |	2015	Neil Gray	Scottish National Party

Election results

Elections of the 2010s

See also: Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies, 2010–15 § Airdrie and Shotts

General Election 2015: Airdrie and Shotts

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Neil Gray	23,887	53.9	+30.4
	Labour	Pamela Nash	15,108	34.1	−24.0
	Conservative	Eric Holford	3,389	7.7	−1.0
	UKIP	Matthew Williams	1,088	2.5	+2.5
	Liberal Democrats	John Love	678	1.5	−6.6
	Independent	Deryck Beaumont	136	0.3	N/A
Majority			8,779	19.8
Turnout			44,286	66.3	+8.8
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing	+27.2

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 Democrats	John Love	2,898	8.1	−3.4
	Independent	John McGeechan	528	1.5	N/A
Majority			12,408	34.6
Turnout			35,849	57.5	+2.8
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.9

Elections of the 2000s

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 Democrats	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	Mrs. Alison Jean Lindsay	6,138	19.3	−5.1
	Liberal Democrats	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
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections of the 1990s

General Election 1997: Airdrie and Shotts

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Helen Liddell	25,460	61.8	N/A
	SNP	Keith R.A. Robertson	10,048	24.4	N/A
	Conservative	Nicholas H. Brook	3,660	8.9	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Richard G. Wolseley	1,719	4.2	N/A
	Referendum	Crawford Semple	294	0.7	N/A
Majority			15,412	37.4	N/A
Turnout			41,181	71.4	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)