Airdrie and Shotts (Scottish Parliament constituency)

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

Airdrie and Shotts (Gaelic: An t-Àrd-Ruigh agus Shotts) is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament covering part of the council area of North Lanarkshire. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. It is also one of nine constituencies in the Central Scotland electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Airdrie and Shotts
Burgh constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Airdrie and Shotts shown within the Central Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Population	70,478 (2019)[1]
Current constituency
Created	1999
Party	Scottish National Party
MSP	Neil Gray
Council area	North Lanarkshire

The seat has been held by Neil Gray of the Scottish National Party since the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.

Electoral region

See also: Central Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

The other eight constituencies of the Central Scotland region are: Coatbridge and Chryston, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, East Kilbride, Falkirk East, Falkirk West, Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, Motherwell and Wishaw 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

Map of boundaries from 2005

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.^[2]

The Holyrood constituency is one of four covering the North Lanarkshire council area, the others being Coatbridge and Chryston, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Motherwell and Wishaw and Uddingston and Bellshill, the last of which spans parts of both North and South Lanarkshire. All five are within the Central Scotland electoral region.

The electoral wards used in the creation of Airdrie and Shotts are:

• In full: Airdrie Central, Airdrie North, Airdrie South, Fortissat

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1999	Karen Whitefield	Labour
	2011	Alex Neil	SNP
	2021	Neil Gray

Election results

2020s

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Airdrie and Shotts^[3][4][5][6]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Neil Gray	16,139	50.6	1.9	14,251	44.6	2.9
	Labour	Richard Leonard[a]	10,671	33.4	4.2	7,964	24.9	1.5
	Conservative	Ross Lambie	4,422	13.9	1.8	6,528	20.4	4.4
	Liberal Democrats	John Cole	562	1.8	0.8	495	1.5	0.1
	No label	Jimmy Dowson	132	0.4	New
	Scottish Green					1,362	4.3	1.0
	Alba					534	1.7	New
	All for Unity					188	0.6	New
	Scottish Family					166	0.5	New
	Independent Green Voice					148	0.5	New
	Abolish the Scottish Parliament					76	0.2	New
	Scottish Libertarian					60	0.2	New
	Reform UK					53	0.2	New
	UKIP					51	0.2	2.5
	Freedom Alliance (UK)					46	0.1	New
	Independent	Paddy Hogg				33	0.1	New
Majority			5,468	17.2	6.1
Valid Votes			31,926			31,955
Invalid Votes			75			49
Turnout			32,001	59.1	9.6	32,004	59.1	9.6
	SNP hold		Swing		3.1
Notes Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency

2010s

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Airdrie and Shotts^[7][8]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Alex Neil	13,954	52.5	2.4	12,646	47.5	0.6
	Labour	Richard Leonard	7,762	29.2	12.6	7,029	26.4	10.9
	Conservative	Eric Holford	4,164	15.7	9.8	4,270	16.0	11.0
	Scottish Green					880	3.3	1.8
	UKIP					730	2.7	2.2
	Liberal Democrats	Louise Young	693	2.6	0.4	423	1.6	0.3
	Solidarity					279	1.0	0.8
	RISE					106	0.4	New
	Scottish Christian					248	0.9	0.4
	Independent	Deryck Beaumont				35	0.1	New
Majority			6,192	23.3	14.9
Valid Votes			26,573			26,646
Invalid Votes			102			26
Turnout			26,675	49.5	2.8	26,672	49.5	2.8
	SNP hold		Swing		7.5
Notes

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Airdrie and Shotts^[9]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Alex Neil	11,984	50.2	N/A	11,186	46.9	N/A
	Labour	Karen Whitefield	9,983	41.8	N/A	8,884	37.3	N/A
	Conservative	Robert Crozier	1,396	5.8	N/A	1,186	5.0	N/A
	All-Scotland Pensioners Party					461	1.9	N/A
	Scottish Green					367	1.5	N/A
	Socialist Labour					330	1.4	N/A
	Scottish Christian					313	1.3	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	John Love	531	2.2	N/A	301	1.3	N/A
	BNP					278	1.2	N/A
	UKIP					110	0.5	N/A
	Independent	Hugh O'Donnell				80	0.3	N/A
	Scottish Socialist					78	0.3	N/A
	Solidarity					43	0.2	N/A
	Others					222	0.9	N/A
Majority			2,001	8.4	N/A
Valid Votes			23,894			23,839
Invalid Votes			87			119
Turnout			23,981	46.7	N/A	23,958	46.7	N/A
	SNP win (new boundaries)

2000s

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Airdrie and Shotts

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Karen Whitefield	11,907	43.8	−12.8
	SNP	Sophia Coyle	10,461	38.5	+17.6
	Conservative	Iain McGill	2,370	8.7	−0.1
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Gorrie	1,452	5.4	0.0
	Scottish Voice	Mev Brown	970	3.6	New
Majority			1,446	5.3	−34.8
Rejected ballots			1,536	2.7
Turnout			27,160	47.1	+2.8
	Labour hold		Swing	-15.2

2003 Scottish Parliament election: Airdrie and Shotts

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Karen Whitefield	14,209	59.0	+4.8
	SNP	Gil Paterson	5,232	20.9	−7.3
	Conservative	Alan Melville	2,203	8.8	−0.8
	Scottish Socialist	Fraser Coates	2,096	8.4	New
	Liberal Democrats	Kevin Lang	1,346	5.4	−1.7
Majority			8,977	38.1	+11.1
Turnout			25,086	46.3	−11.3
	Labour hold		Swing

1990s

1999 Scottish Parliament election: Airdrie and Shotts

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Karen Whitefield	18,338	55.2
	SNP	Gil Paterson	9,353	28.2
	Conservative	Patrick Ross-Taylor	3,177	9.6
	Liberal Democrats	David Miller	2,345	7.1
Majority			8,985	27.0
Turnout			33,213	57.6
	Labour win (new seat)