Falkirk West By-election 2000

Falkirk West was an unremarkable Scottish constituency until Dennis Canavan became a rebel MP and put it on the political map.

Now it is the subject of the first "Christmas" by-election in Scotland for almost half a century - the last was in Inverness on 21 December, 1954.

Geographically, Falkirk is in the central region of the country and is equidistant between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The history-rich area was known as the traditional battle ground in the wars and has been described as Scotland's "great crossroads".

Agriculture dominated Falkirk pre-18th century, but it was one of the first in Scotland to embrace the industrial revolution.

Candidates

Iain Hunter, Scottish Socialist Party Eric Joyce, Scottish Labour Party David Kerr, Scottish National Party Hugh O'Donnell, Scottish Liberal Democrat Party Craig Stevenson, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party

By the 1800s the town had become well established for its iron foundries.

Today, that industry is no more, but the area is still home to heavy vehicle assembly work and distilling.

BP Grangemouth refinery is close-by, although not within Falkirk West itself, and was the focal point of media attention earlier this year when demonstrators blocked its gates during the September petrol crisis.

The area has its fair share of castles, clay mines, canals and museums. There is even evidence of 300 million-year-old fossils.

And Bonnybridge claims to be hold the title of UFO capital of Scotland, with plans in the pipeline for the town to be twinned with Roswell.

Independent politics

In terms of local politics, Falkirk Council - which takes in the Westminster constituencies of both Falkirk West and Falkirk East - has a multi-party mix.

There are 31 councillors including 14 Labour, nine SNP and two Conservatives.

And Dennis Canavan is not the only independent in Falkirk politics.

The authority has two independent and four non-aligned members.

General election result, May 1997

Canavan, Labour: 22,772 (60.01%) Alexander, SNP: 8,989 (23.4%) Buchanan, Con: 4,639 (12.1%) Houston, Lib Dem: 1,970 (5.1%) Lab Majority: 13,783 (35.92% of the vote) Electorate: 52,850 Total vote: 38,370 4% Swing from SNP to Lab

Following the most recent boundary changes, all of the town of Falkirk now lies within the boundaries of the west constituency.

That came about when one ward was exchanged for two from the east.

At the May 1997 general election, the electors of both constituencies voted in two Labour MPs with almost identical majorities.

Michael Connarty was returned to Falkirk East, securing a 13,385 lead over second place rivals, the SNP, and Dennis Canavan, then running for Labour, was returned with a 13,783 majority.

Mr Canavan has been making the headlines, both locally and nationally, but he has had to compete for column inches with Falkirk Football Club.

Off-the-field politics have surrounded the future home of the in-debt Scottish Division One club.

An outline planning application to build a new stadium on local authority land was approved by the council in June this year.

However, finance has been a problem and a strong lobby associated with and sympathetic to the club has voiced unhappiness with what they see as a lack of action from the council.

A lot is at stake, while the club remains at its dishevelled Brockville ground it is being denied its promotion to the Scottish Premier League.

It was strongly rumoured that a member of the campaign to save "the Bairns" would stand in the by-election.

But that has not happened.

Unemployment in Falkirk is above the Scottish average and the population within the council area stands at about 144,100.

The electorate in Falkirk West was 52,850 at the last general election, out of which 38,370 (72.6%) made it to the ballot box.