Hamilton West and Earnock is one of the 20

electoral wards The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ward is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil parishes and borough and distri ...

South Lanarkshire Council South Lanarkshire Council ( gd, Comhairle Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas) is the unitary authority serving the South Lanarkshire council area in Scotland. The council has its headquarters in Hamilton, has 16,000 employees, and a budget of almost £1b ...

. Created in 2007, the ward elects four councillors using the

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...

electoral system and covers an area with a population of 18,503 people. The ward was previously a

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

stronghold with the party holding half of the seats between 2007 and 2017. However, it has since become a

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 ...

(SNP) stronghold with the party holding half of the seats since a by-election win in 2011.

Boundaries

The ward was created following the Fourth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the

2007 Scottish local elections The 2007 Scottish local elections were held on 3 May 2007, the same day as Scottish Parliament elections and local elections in parts of England. All 32 Scottish councils had all their seats up for election – all Scottish councils are unitary ...

. As a result of the

Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 The Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 (asp 9) is an Act of the Scottish Parliament which provided, amongst other things, for the election of councillors to the local authorities in Scotland by the single transferable vote system. The Commissi ...

, local elections in Scotland would use the

electoral system from 2007 onwards so Hamilton West and Earnock was formed from an amalgamation of several previous

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 their ...

wards. It contained the majority of the former High Blantyre, Udston and Wellhall/Earnock wards, a small part of the former Hamilton Centre North ward and part of the former

Cadzow Hamilton ( sco, Hamiltoun; gd, Baile Hamaltan ) is a large town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It serves as the main administrative centre of the South Lanarkshire council area. It sits south-east of Glasgow, south-west of Edinburgh and nort ...

and Woodhead/Meikle Earnock wards as well as all of the former

Earnock Earnock was an ancient estate in an area south of Hamilton in Lanarkshire, Scotland. It extended from the western side of Strathaven Road to the western extremity of the Parish of Hamilton. Etymology Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account o ...

and

Hillhouse Hillhouse may refer to: People * Alex Hillhouse (1907–1983), Australian athlete who competed in the 1932 Summer Olympics *Art Hillhouse (1916–1980), American professional basketball player * Christa Hillhouse of "4 Non Blondes", an American ro ...

wards. Hamilton West and Earnock covers the western part of

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

including the Brackenhill,

, High Earnock, Highstonehall,

, Little Earnock and Udston neighbourhoods, as well as the adjoining West Craigs development. Following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the

2017 Scottish local elections The 2017 Scottish local elections were held on Thursday 4 May, in all 32 local authorities. The SNP retained its position as the largest party in terms of votes and councillors, despite suffering minor losses. The Conservatives made gains and di ...

, the ward's boundaries were unchanged.

Councillors

Election results

2022 election

2017 election

2012 election

2011 by-election

2007 election

Notes

References

{{Wards of South Lanarkshire Wards of South Lanarkshire Hamilton, South Lanarkshire