Clydesdale (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Clydesdale (UK Parliament constituency).

Clydesdale (Gaelic: Dail Chluaidh) is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of South Lanarkshire. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. It is one of nine constituencies in the South 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.

Clydesdale
County constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Clydesdale shown within the South Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Population	72,548 (2019)[1]
Current constituency
Created	1999
Party	Scottish National Party
MSP	Màiri McAllan
Council area	South Lanarkshire

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

Electoral region

See also: South Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

The other eight constituencies of the South Scotland region are: Ayr, Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Dumfriesshire, East Lothian, Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Galloway and West Dumfries, Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley and Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale.

The region covers the Dumfries and Galloway council area, part of the East Ayrshire council area, part of the East Lothian council area, part of the Midlothian council area, the Scottish Borders council area, the South Ayrshire council area and part of the South Lanarkshire council area.

Constituency boundaries and council area

Map of boundaries from 2011

The Clydesdale 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 five covering the South Lanarkshire council area. The others are the East Kilbride, Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, Rutherglen and the Uddingston and Bellshill constituencies, all in other electoral regions.

The electoral wards used in the creation of Clydesdale are listed below. All of these wards are part of South Lanarkshire:^[3]

• In full: Clydesdale East, Clydesdale North, Clydesdale South, Clydesdale West
• In part: Avondale and Stonehouse (shared with Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse)

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1999	Karen Gillon	Labour
	2011	Aileen Campbell	SNP
	2021	Màiri McAllan

Election results

2020s

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Clydesdale^[4]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Màiri McAllan	17,596	43.2	0.8	15,081	36.9	2.8
	Conservative	Eric Holford	13,018	32.0	5.8	12,208	29.9	1.6
	Labour	Claudia Beamish[a]	8,960	22.0	1.3	8,243	20.2	0.1
	Scottish Green					2,258	5.5	0.8
	Liberal Democrats	Amanda Kubie	1,144	2.8	0.4	1,144	2.8	0.2
	Alba					517	1.3	New
	All for Unity					504	1.2	New
	Scottish Family					234	0.6	New
	Independent Green Voice					182	0.4	New
	Abolish the Scottish Parliament					123	0.3	New
	Freedom Alliance (UK)					86	0.2	New
	Reform UK					84	0.2	New
	Scottish Libertarian					71	0.2	New
	UKIP					65	0.2	2.1
	Scotia Future					16	0.0	New
	Vanguard Party (UK)					8	0.0	New
Majority			4,578	11.2	6.6
Valid Votes			40,718			40,824
Invalid Votes			156			81
Turnout			40,874	66.8	9.0	40,905	66.9	9.1
	SNP hold		Swing		3.3
Notes Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency

2010s

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Clydesdale^[4]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Aileen Campbell[a]	14,821	44.0	5.9	13,389	39.7	6.0
	Conservative	Alex Allison	8,842	26.2	11.9	9,537	28.3	14.4
	Labour	Claudia Beamish[b]	6,995	20.7	15.1	6,772	20.1	8.7
	Scottish Green					1,572	4.7	1.7
	Independent	Danny Meikle	1,332	4.0	New
	Clydesdale and South Scotland Independent	Bev Gauld	909	2.7	New	536	1.6	New
	Liberal Democrats	Jennifer Jamieson Ball	820	2.4	New	865	2.6	0.3
	UKIP					777	2.3	2.2
	Solidarity					169	0.5	0.4
	RISE					123	0.4	New
Majority			5,979	17.8	3.7
Valid Votes			33,719			33,740
Invalid Votes			83			66
Turnout			33,802	57.8	4.9	33,806	57.8	4.9
	SNP hold		Swing		8.9
Notes Incumbent member for this constituency Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Clydesdale^[5][6]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Aileen Campbell[a]	14,931	49.9	N/A	13,813	45.7	N/A
	Labour	Karen Gillon[b]	10,715	35.8	N/A	8,650	28.8	N/A
	Conservative	Colin McGavigan	4,291	14.3	N/A	4,177	13.9	N/A
	Scottish Green					908	3.0	N/A
	Liberal Democrats					700	2.3	N/A
	All-Scotland Pensioners Party					464	1.5	N/A
	BNP					267	0.9	N/A
	Scottish Christian					339	1.1	N/A
	Scottish Socialist					75	0.3	N/A
	Socialist Labour					253	0.8	N/A
	Solidarity					42	0.1	N/A
	UKIP					279	0.9	N/A
Majority			4,216	14.1	N/A
Valid Votes			29,937			29,967
Invalid Votes			136			85
Turnout			30,073	52.9	N/A	30,052	52.9	N/A
	SNP win (new boundaries)
Notes Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency Incumbent member for this constituency

2000s

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Clydesdale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Karen Gillon	13,835	41.5	−4.1
	SNP	Aileen Campbell	10,942	32.8	+7.8
	Conservative	Colin McGavigan	5,604	16.8	+0.8
	Liberal Democrats	Fraser Grieve	2,951	8.8	+1.6
Majority			2,893	8.7	−13.9
Turnout			33,332	50.5	−0.5
	Labour hold		Swing

2003 Scottish Parliament election: Clydesdale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Karen Gillon	14,800	46.6	+2.6
	SNP	John Brady	8,129	25.0	−7.9
	Conservative	Alastair Campbell	5,174	16.0	+1.1
	Liberal Democrats	Fraser Grieve	2,338	7.2	−1.7
	Scottish Socialist	Owen Meharry	1,422	4.4	New
	Independent	David Morrison	579	1.8	New
Majority			6,671	21.6	+11.6
Turnout			32,442	51.0	−9.6
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.3

1990s

1999 Scottish Parliament election: Clydesdale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Karen Gillon	16,755	43.02	N/A
	SNP	Anne Winning	12,875	33.06	N/A
	Conservative	Charles Cormack	5,814	14.93	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Sandra Grieve	3,503	7.89	N/A
Majority			3,880	9.96	N/A
Turnout			39,324	60.61	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)