Motherwell (UK Parliament constituency)

Motherwell
Motherwell
Former Burgh constituency; for the House of Commons
Major settlements	Motherwell, Wishaw
1918–1974
Seats	One
Created from	North East Lanarkshire
Replaced by	Motherwell and Wishaw

Motherwell was a burgh constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1974. It was formed by the division of Lanarkshire. The name was changed in 1974 to Motherwell and Wishaw. It is famous for returning the first-ever SNP MP (Robert McIntyre in 1945) and arguably the first Communist Party MP (Walton Newbold in 1922).

Boundaries[edit]

From 1918 the constituency consisted of "The burghs of Motherwell and Wishaw, together with the part of the Middle Ward County District which is contained within the extraburghal portion of the parish of Dalziel."

Members of Parliament[edit]

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Robert Nelson	Unionist
	1922	Walton Newbold	Communist
	1923	Hugh Ferguson	Unionist
	1924	James Barr	Labour
	1931	Thomas Ormiston	Unionist
	1935	James Walker	Labour
	1945 by-election	Robert McIntyre	SNP
	1945	Alexander Anderson	Labour
	1954 by-election	George Lawson	Labour
1974, Feb.		constituency renamed: see Motherwell and Wishaw

Election results[edit]

Elections in the 1970s[edit]

General election 1970: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Lawson	20,683	53.2	-7.6
	Conservative	S. Bell	12,509	32.2	-3.0
	SNP	Isobel Lindsay	3,861	9.9	New
	Communist	James Sneddon	1,829	4.7	+0.6
Majority			8,174	21.0	-4.6
Turnout			38,882	73.5	-0.9
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s[edit]

General election 1966: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Lawson	22,658	60.8	+2.1
	Conservative	John Joseph Young	13,100	35.2	-2.1
	Communist	James Sneddon	1,508	4.1	+0.1
Majority			9,558	25.6	+4.2
Turnout			37,266	74.4	-4.5
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1964: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Lawson	23,281	58.7	+5.0
	Unionist	John Joseph Young	14,789	37.3	-5.7
	Communist	James Sneddon	1,565	4.0	New
Majority			8,492	21.4	+10.7
Turnout			39,635	78.9	-2.2
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s[edit]

General election 1959: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Lawson	22,009	53.7	-0.2
	Unionist	Bernard Brogan	17,613	43.0	-3.1
	Independent	David Murray	1,331	3.3	New
Majority			4,396	10.7	+2.9
Turnout			40,953	81.1	+4.6
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1955: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Lawson	20,147	53.9	-3.4
	Unionist	Michael Hutchison	17,262	46.1	+3.3
Majority			2,885	7.8	-6.7
Turnout			37,409	76.5	-8.2
	Labour hold		Swing

1954 Motherwell by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Lawson	19,163	56.4	-0.9
	National Liberal	Norman A Sloan	13,334	39.3	-3.5
	Communist	John Gollan	1,457	4.3	New
Majority			5,829	17.1	+2.6
Turnout			33,954
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1951: Motherwell^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alexander Anderson	23,641	57.3	+3.1
	National Liberal	Norman A Sloan	17,650	42.8	+8.8
Majority			5,991	14.5	-2.7
Turnout			41,291	84.7	+0.2
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1950: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alexander Anderson	22,608	54.2	+1.5
	National Liberal	A. Robertson	14,183	34.0	+13.4
	SNP	Robert McIntyre	3,892	9.3	-17.4
	Communist	R. Henderson	1,007	2.4	New
Majority			8,425	20.2	-5.8
Turnout			41,690	84.5	+11.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s[edit]

General election 1945: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alexander Anderson	15,831	52.7	+2.0
	SNP	Robert McIntyre	8,022	26.7	N/A
	Unionist	J. H. Hamilton	6,197	20.6	-28.7
Majority			7,809	26.0	+24.6
Turnout			30,050	72.8	-3.1
	Labour hold		Swing

1945 Motherwell by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Robert McIntyre	11,417	51.4	*New*
	Labour	Alexander Anderson	10,800	48.6	-1.9
Majority			617	2.8	N/A
Turnout			22,217	54.0	-22.9
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1930s[edit]

General election 1935: Motherwell ^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Walker	14,755	50.7	+2.0
	Unionist	Thomas Ormiston	14,325	49.3	-2.0
Majority			430	1.4	N/A
Turnout			29,080	75.9	-6.5
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing

General election 1931: Motherwell^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Thomas Ormiston	15,513	51.3	+25.2
	Labour	James Barr	14,714	48.7	-9.3
Majority			799	2.6	N/A
Turnout			30,227	82.4	+2.8
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1920s[edit]

General election 1929: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Barr	16,650	58.0	+5.9
	Unionist	John Ford	7,502	26.1	−21.8
	Liberal	Henry Archibald	3,597	12.5	New
	Communist	Isabel Brown	984	3.4	New
Majority			9,148	31.9	+27.7
Turnout			28,733	79.6	−2.7
Registered electors			36,094
	Labour hold		Swing	+13.9

General election 1924: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Barr	12,816	52.1	*New*
	Unionist	Hugh Ferguson	11,776	47.9	+5.9
Majority			1,040	4.2	N/A
Turnout			24,592	82.3	+4.9
Registered electors			29,871
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	N/A

General election 1923: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Hugh Ferguson	9,793	42.0	*N/A*
	Communist	Walton Newbold	8,712	37.4	+4.1
	Liberal	John Maxwell	4,799	20.6	−1.0
Majority			1,081	4.6	N/A
Turnout			23,304	77.4	−4.1
Registered electors			30,109
	Unionist gain from Communist		Swing	N/A

General election 1922: Motherwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Communist	Walton Newbold	8,262	33.3	*New*
	Ind. Unionist	Hugh Ferguson*	7,214	29.1	+18.3
	Liberal	John Maxwell	5,359	21.6	−5.4
	National Liberal	John Colville	3,966	16.0	New
Majority			1,048	10.2	N/A
Turnout			24,801	81.5	+17.3
Registered electors			30,443
	Communist gain from Unionist		Swing	N/A

* Ferguson was associated with the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland movement in Lanarkshire.

Elections in the 1910s[edit]

General election 1918: Motherwell ^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
C	Unionist	Robert Nelson	6,972	39.0
	Liberal	James Duncan Millar	4,817	27.0
	Labour	Walton Newbold	4,135	23.2
	Ind. Unionist	Hugh Ferguson*	1,923	10.8
Majority			2,155	12.0
Turnout			17,847	64.2
Registered electors			27,816
	Unionist win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.