Rutherglen and Hamilton West is a

burgh constituency A burgh constituency is a type of parliamentary constituency in Scotland. It is a constituency which is predominantly urban, and on this basis has been designated as a burgh constituency. They are the successors of the historic parliamentary bur ...

of the

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of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

, which was created for the 2005 general election. It covers almost all of the former constituency of Glasgow Rutherglen and most of the former constituency of Hamilton South, and it elects one

Member of Parliament (MP) 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 often ...

by 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 election. The current MP is

Margaret Ferrier Margaret Ferrier (born 10 September 1960) is a Scottish politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rutherglen and Hamilton West since 2019, and previously from 2015 to 2017. As the candidate for the Scottish National Party (SNP), Ferrie ...

, an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

, who won the seat at the 2019 snap general election. She had previously held the seat from

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. Ferrier was previously 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 th ...

MP until the

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was withdrawn on 1 October 2020 after an incident relating to a breach of the

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regulations.

Boundaries

The Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency covers part of the

South Lanarkshire gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas , image_skyline = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms_slanarkshire.jpg , image_blank_emblem = Slanarks.jpg , blank_emblem_type = Council logo , image_map ...

council area. The rest of the council area is covered by the

Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale is a United Kingdom constituencies, constituency of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, located in the South of Scotland, within the Dumfries and Galloway, South Lanarkshire and S ...

, East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow and Lanark and Hamilton East constituencies. The Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale constituency also covers part of the

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the historic counties of Dumfriesshire, Kirkc ...

council area and part of the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lot ...

council area. The terms of the ''Rutherglen and Hamilton West'' name refer to the town of

Rutherglen Rutherglen (, sco, Ruglen, gd, An Ruadh-Ghleann) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having existed as a Lanarkshire burgh in its own ...

and the west of the town 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 Hamilto ...

. The constituency is composed of the electoral wards: *In full:

Blantyre Blantyre () is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with an enumerated 800,264 inhabitants . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, L ...

, Cambuslang East, Cambuslang West, Rutherglen Central and North, Rutherglen South. *In part: Hamilton North and East, Hamilton South, Hamilton West and Earnock.

Constituency profile

The seat contains commuter areas into 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 ...

, with train travel times as short as 15 minutes away from the city centre. Like much of

Greater Glasgow Greater Glasgow is an urban settlement in Scotland consisting of all localities which are physically attached to the city of Glasgow, forming with it a single contiguous urban area (or conurbation). It does not relate to municipal government ...

, the constituency contains a diverse range of economic profiles including some areas with high levels of deprivation.Shock stats show Rutherglen has more unemployment, highest rate of alcohol and drug admissions and more social work referrals than anywhere else in South Lanarkshire
Daily Record, 19 December 2018Rutherglen and Cambuslang areas among Scotland's poorest, according to Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation stats
Daily Record, 12 February 2020 The seat itself contains a slightly higher than average proportion of Remain voters at 62% and an average amount of No to Independence voters at 55%, making the seat an important Scottish bellwether. Historically dominated by Labour, Margaret Ferrier of the SNP gained the seat for the party for the first time in 2015 and regained it in 2019 with an increased majority. The Conservatives have also made some inroads in the more prosperous areas within the seat, but not to the same level as the neighbouring constituency Lanark and Hamilton East.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

References

;Specific ;General * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rutherglen And Hamilton West (Uk Parliament Constituency) Westminster Parliamentary constituencies in Scotland Rutherglen Cambuslang Blantyre, South Lanarkshire Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 2005 Hamilton, South Lanarkshire Politics of South Lanarkshire