Falkirk East (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Falkirk East (UK Parliament constituency).

Falkirk East (Gaelic: An Eaglais Bhreac an Ear) is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Falkirk. 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.

Falkirk East
County constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Falkirk East shown within the Central Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Population	80,482 (2019)[1]
Current constituency
Created	1999
Party	Scottish National Party
MSP	Michelle Thomson
Council area	Falkirk

The constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, for the 1999 Scottish Parliament election. Ahead of the 2011 Scottish Parliament election the boundaries of the seat were reformed and reshaped.^[2][3]

The seat has been held by Michelle Thomson 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: Airdrie and Shotts, Coatbridge and Chryston, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, East Kilbride, 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 2011

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.^[4] The Holyrood constituency was subsequently itself redrawn for the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, with the newly shaped Falkirk East being formed from the following electoral wards:^[5]

• In full: Bo'ness and Blackness, Grangemouth, Lower Braes, Upper Braes
• In part: Carse, Kinnaird and Tryst, Falkirk South (shared with Falkirk West constituency)

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1999	Cathy Peattie	Labour
	2011	Angus MacDonald	SNP
	2021	Michelle Thomson

Election results

2020s

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Falkirk East^[6][7]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Michelle Thomson	18,417	47.4	4.0	16,432	42.1	4.7
	Labour Co-op	Allyson Black	10,832	27.9	2.0	8,516	21.8	0.5
	Conservative	Neil Benny	7,618	19.6	0.1	8,800	22.5	2.7
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Rolfe	1,007	2.6	0.6	912	2.3	0.1
	Independent	Peter Krykant	971	2.5	New
	Scottish Green					2,333	6.0	1.3
	Alba					629	1.6	New
	All for Unity					325	0.8	New
	Freedom Alliance (UK)					220	0.6	New
	Scottish Family					220	0.6	New
	Independent Green Voice					205	0.5	New
	Abolish the Scottish Parliament					127	0.3	New
	Reform UK					97	0.2	New
	Independent	Paddy Hogg				84	0.2	New
	UKIP					83	0.2	2.3
	Scottish Libertarian					76	0.2	New
Majority			7,585	19.5	6.0
Valid Votes			38,845			39,059
Invalid Votes			115
Turnout			38,960	62.9	8.8
	SNP hold		Swing		6.0
Notes

2010s

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Falkirk East^[8]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Angus MacDonald	16,720	51.4	0.6	15,199	46.4	3.9
	Labour	Craig Martin	8,408	25.9	12.3	7,281	22.3	7.5
	Conservative	Callum Laidlaw	6,342	19.5	11.1	6,450	19.8	12.0
	Scottish Green					1,537	4.7	2.2
	UKIP					812	2.5	1.8
	Liberal Democrats	James Munro	1,054	3.2	0.6	716	2.2	0.4
	Scottish Christian					279	0.9	0.1
	Solidarity					154	0.5	0.3
	RISE					96	0.3	New
	Independent	Deryck Beaumont				63	0.2	New
Majority			8,312	25.5	12.9
Valid Votes			32,524			32,587
Invalid Votes			105			45
Turnout			32,629	54.1	4.0	32,632	54.1	4.0
	SNP hold		Swing		6.5
Notes

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Falkirk East^[9]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Angus MacDonald	14,302	50.8	N/A	14,221	50.5	N/A
	Labour	Cathy Peattie[a]	10,767	38.2	N/A	8,401	29.8	N/A
	Conservative	Lynn Munro	2,372	8.4	N/A	2,212	7.8	N/A
	Scottish Green					706	2.5	N/A
	All-Scotland Pensioners Party					649	2.3	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Ross Laird	727	2.6	N/A	534	1.9	N/A
	BNP					310	1.1	N/A
	Scottish Christian					282	1.0	N/A
	Socialist Labour					280	1.0	N/A
	UKIP					208	0.7	N/A
	Independent	Hugh O'Donnell				81	0.3	N/A
	Scottish Socialist					60	0.2	N/A
	Solidarity					35	0.1	N/A
	Others					206	0.7	N/A
Majority			3,535	12.6	N/A
Valid Votes			28,168			28,185
Invalid Votes			80			64
Turnout			28,248	50.1	N/A	28,249	50.1	N/A
	SNP win (new boundaries)
Notes Incumbent member for this constituency

2000s

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Falkirk East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Cathy Peattie	13,184	43.5	−8.1
	SNP	Annabelle Ewing	11,312	37.3	+9.8
	Conservative	Scott Campbell	3,701	12.2	+2.3
	Liberal Democrats	Natalie Maver	2,136	7.0	+1.0
Majority			1,872	6.2	−18.0
Turnout			30,333	53.1	+4.0
	Labour hold		Swing	-9.0

2003 Scottish Parliament election: Falkirk East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Cathy Peattie	14,235	51.65	+5.53
	SNP	Keith Brown	7,576	27.49	−5.75
	Conservative	Tom Calvert	2,720	9.87	+0.12
	Liberal Democrats	Karen Utting	1,651	5.99	−1.21
	Scottish Socialist	Mhairi McAlpine	1,377	5.00	New
Majority			6,659	24.16	+12.28
Turnout			27,559	49.06	−12.35
	Labour hold		Swing

1990s

1999 Scottish Parliament election: Falkirk East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Cathy Peattie	15,721	45.12	N/A
	SNP	Keith Brown	11,582	33.24	N/A
	Conservative	Alastair Orr	3,399	9.75	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Gordon Macdonald	2,509	7.20	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Raymond Stead	1,643	4.67	N/A
Majority			4,139	11.88	N/A
Turnout			34,845	61.41	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)