Glasgow East is a

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

of the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, located in the city of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. It elects one

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

at least once every five years using the

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast the ...

system of voting. It is currently represented by David Linden of the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from th ...

(SNP) who has been the MP since 2017.

History

Glasgow East is entirely within the Glasgow City Council area, taking in the areas of:

Baillieston Baillieston ( sco, Bailiestoun) is a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. It is about east of the city centre. It also gives its name to Ward 20 of Glasgow City Council and forms part of the Glasgow East constituency of the UK Parliament. Geogra ...

Carmyle Carmyle ( gd, An Càrn Maol) is a suburb in the east end of Glasgow, Scotland, directly north of the River Clyde. It is in an isolated location separated from the main urban area of the city and has the characteristics of a semi-rural village. ...

Easterhouse Easterhouse is a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland, east of the city centre on land gained from the county of Lanarkshire as part of an expansion of Glasgow before the Second World War. The area is on high ground north of the River Clyde and south ...

, Parkhead, Shettleston and Tollcross. It was once one of the safest seats for the Labour Party, the areas included in the constituency having returned solely Labour MPs since the 1930s. However, it achieved national prominence when a by-election in 2008 saw the

overturn a majority of over 13,000 votes to gain the seat. Since then, it has been tightly fought by Labour and the SNP. During the 2015 general election there was a nationwide surge of support for the SNP, as pro-independence voters rallied to support the party in unprecedented numbers. After votes were counted ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' reported: "The SNP swept aside once-unassailable majorities for Labour with swings as high as 35%, as voters threw out Jim Murphy, the Scottish Labour leader, its former deputy leader, Anas Sarwar, and

Margaret Curran Margaret Patricia Curran (born 24 November 1958) is a Scottish Labour Party politician. She served in the British House of Commons as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow East from 2010 to 2015 and was Shadow Secretary of State for Scot ...

, the shadow Scottish secretary n Glasgow East" At the

2016 EU referendum The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...

, the

House of Commons Library The House of Commons Library is the library and information resource of the lower house of the British Parliament. It was established in 1818, although its original 1828 construction was destroyed during the burning of Parliament in 1834. Th ...

estimates that 53% of local voters opted for Britain to Remain a member of the EU, while 47% voted to leave. The 2017 general election result in the constituency was that election's tenth-closest result, with the SNP holding the seat by a margin of 75 votes. Amid a nationwide backlash against Nicola Sturgeon's plans for a second independence referendum, the SNP's share of the vote dropped by 18%, the Conservative vote nearly trebled and Labour picked up votes from left-wing voters excited by

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialis ...

and the British Labour Party's socialist platform. In 2019, Linden was re-elected with an increased majority of 5,566 votes, making the seat a comfortable SNP majority.

Boundaries

Glasgow East is one of seven constituencies covering the Glasgow City council area. All are entirely within the council area. Glasgow East comprises the pre-2007 Glasgow City wards of Baillieston, Barlanark, Braidfauld, Easterhouse, Garrowhill, Garthamlock, Greenfield, Mount Vernon, Parkhead, Queenslie, Shettleston, and Tollcross Park. Prior to the 2005 general election, the city area was covered by ten constituencies, of which two straddled boundaries with other council areas. The Glasgow East constituency includes the area of the former Glasgow Baillieston constituency and parts of the former Glasgow Shettleston constituency. Scottish Parliament constituencies retain the names and boundaries of the older Westminster constituencies. Glasgow Baillieston had always been represented by MPs from the Labour Party until 2008, as was the predecessor Glasgow Provan constituency from its creation in

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijiangs ...

. Glasgow Shettleston was won by the Labour Party at every general election from 1950 onwards (in 1945 it was won by the Independent Labour Party). In 2008, the SNP succeeded in winning the seat from Labour in a by-election on a very large swing. Prior to the by-election, it had been one of the safest Labour seats in the UK. At the 2010 general election, the seat was regained for Labour by

from John Mason of the SNP; with a large majority of more than 11,000 votes. The Glasgow East constituency contains part of the M8 motorway and main railway lines into the city centre; Celtic Park, the home ground of Celtic F.C. is located within the constituency. It is one of the most deprived constituencies in the UK. In 2008, nearly 40% of adults smoke (UK average at the time was 19.2%), and on average there were 25 drug-related deaths a year. Average male life expectancy is 68, five years less than the Scottish average, while in the Shettleston area it is 63. A 2008

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...

report gave the average male life expectancy in Calton as 54, which is lower than it was before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

2008 by-election

On 28 June 2008, the sitting MP David Marshall announced he would step down because of a stress-related illness; he was appointed Steward of the Manor of Northstead on 30 June 2008, thus effectively resigning from the House of Commons. Although the seat represented Labour's third-largest majority in Scotland, it faced a strong challenge from the Scottish National Party, hot on the heels of Labour's disastrous performance at the

2008 Henley by-election The 2008 Henley by-election to elect a member of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons for the constituency of Henley (UK Parliament constituency), Henley in Oxfordshire was held on 26 June 2008.Margaret Curran Margaret Patricia Curran (born 24 November 1958) is a Scottish Labour Party politician. She served in the British House of Commons as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow East from 2010 to 2015 and was Shadow Secretary of State for Scot ...

.BBC Scotland election coverage, Friday 25 July 2008

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

References

^♯ This reference gives all recent Glasgow City Westminster election results. You select the year and then the constituency to view the result.

External links

Scottish Election Results 1997 - present
{{DEFAULTSORT:Glasgow East (Uk Parliament Constituency) Westminster Parliamentary constituencies in Scotland Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 2005 Politics of Glasgow Parkhead Baillieston