Monklands East (UK Parliament constituency)

Monklands East
Former constituency for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	Monklands
1983–1997
Seats	One
Created from	Bothwell, Coatbridge and Airdrie and North Lanarkshire
Replaced by	Airdrie & Shotts and Coatbridge and Chryston

Monklands East was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1983 until 1997. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system. For the 1997 general election, it was replaced in part by Airdrie and Shotts.

It was previously held by the former Leader of the Opposition John Smith.

Boundaries

The Monklands District electoral divisions of Airdrie East, Airdrie South and West, and Chapelhall and Salsburgh.

The constituency included the town of Airdrie and a substantial part of eastern Coatbridge (Carnbroe, Shawhead, Whifflet, Greenend, Sikeside, Coatdyke, Cliftonville) together with villages such as Chapelhall, Calderbank, Plains, Caldercruix, and Greengairs.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1983	Rt Hon John Smith	Labour	Previously MP for Lanarkshire North from 1970. Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer 1987−1992. Leader of the Labour Party & Leader of the Opposition 1992−1994. Died 1994.
	1994 by-election	Helen Liddell	Labour	Subsequently, MP for Airdrie and Shotts from 1997.
1997		constituency abolished: see Airdrie and Shotts

Election results

Elections of the 1980s

General election 1983: Monklands East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Smith	18,358	51.2	−8.9
	Conservative	John Love	8,559	23.9	−1.0
	Liberal	Alan Rennie	5,721	16.0
	SNP	Thomas Johnston	3,185	8.9	−6.2
Majority			9,799	27.4	−7.9
Turnout			35,823	73.1
	Labour win (new seat)

General election 1987: Monklands East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Smith	22,649	61.0	+9.8
	Conservative	John Love	6,260	16.9	−7.0
	SNP	Kenneth Gibson	4,790	12.9	+4.0
	Liberal	Sandra Grieve	3,442	9.3	−6.7
Majority			16,389	44.1	+16.7
Turnout			37,141	74.8	+1.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+8.4

Elections of the 1990s

General election 1992: Monklands East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Smith	22,266	61.3	+0.3
	SNP	Jim Wright	6,554	18.0	+5.1
	Conservative	Stewart Walters	5,830	16.1	−0.8
	Liberal Democrats	Philip W. Ross	1,679	4.6	−4.7
Majority			15,712	43.3	−0.8
Turnout			36,329	75.0	+0.2
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.4

By-election 1994: Monklands East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Helen Liddell	16,950	49.8	−11.5
	SNP	Kay Ullrich	15,320	44.9	+26.9
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Gallagher	878	2.6	−2.0
	Conservative	Susan Bell	799	2.3	−13.8
	Independent	Abi Bremner	69	0.2	New
	Natural Law	Duncan Patterson	58	0.2	New
Majority			1,640	4.9	−42.4
Turnout			34,074	70.0	−5.0
	Labour hold		Swing	-19.2

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 3)