Candidates and Constituency Assessments

'The way Labour is behaving is instantly recognisable to anyone who has observed local politics in West Central Scotland. Upon election, the first thing Labour councillors do, after carving up the committee convenerships and the freebies, is regroup into factions.' Iain MacWhirter in the Herald, 11 th April 2001.

East Kilbride, Strathaven & Lesmahagow

Candidates

	Labour	Rt Hon Adam Ingram MP
	Scottish National Party	Douglas Edwards
	Conservative & Unionist	Cllr Tony Lewis
	Liberal Democrat	John Oswald
	Scottish Green Party	Kirsten Robb
	Anti War	Rose Gentle
	Independent	John Houston

Candidates

The Labour candidate is the Rt Hon Adam Ingram, who has been MP for East Kilbride since 1987. Ingram was born in Glasgow in 1947 and educated at Cranhill Senior School and the Open University. He worked with the SSEB and then as a HALGO union official. Ingram was a leading opponent of devolution for Scotland in the 1970s. Ingram sat on East kilbride District Council from 1980 until 1987, being council leader from 1984 until 1987. He contested Strathkelvin & Bearsden at the 1983 Westminster election, coming third with 25.6 %. In 1987, following the retirement of Dr Maurice Miller, he was selected as Labour candidate for East Kilbride, beating Michael Connarty, who contested Stiring in 1983 and 1987, and became MP for Falkirk East in 1992. Although largely unknown outside his home area, Ingram has been a Minister of State since Labour took power in 1997, serving at the Northern Ireland Office until 2001, and since them at the Ministry of Defence.

The SNP candidate is Douglas Edwards. Douglas is membership Secretary of the East Kilbride Central Branch in the East Kilbride Constituency. He was born in Bridgend in South Wales in 1956, was educated at Currie High School near Edinburgh and has an Honours Degree in Architecture from Robert Gordon's Institute of Technology in Aberdeen. He has been a qualified architect for 18 years and has worked in the Glasgow area for the last 15. Prior to this he spent 2 years in the Gambia working with VSO for the Gambian Government. Douglas is married with three stepchildren and a grandson. He is an active member of his church and is currently involved in its public affairs department. Douglas' interests, other than working for the SNP include family history research, history, hillwalking and reading.

The Conservative candidate is Cllr Tony Lewis.

The Lib Dem candidate is John Oswald who was born in 1954 and was educated in Glasgow. He wos in the construction industry, is married with three chilren and lives in Edinburgh. His interests include watching football. He was a council candidate in 1995, 1998, 2002, and 2003. He contested Hamilton at the 1992 Westminster election, coming fourh with 7.5 %, and Hamilton South in 2001, coming third with 8.90 %. He also contested Hamilton South at the 2003 Scottish parliamentary election, coming fifth with 8.56 %, and was seventh on the Lib Dem's Central Scotland list.

The SSP candidate was Cathy Pedersen, but the SSP announced on 11 th April 2005 that they were standing down and would support Anti-War campaigner Rose Gentle. For reference, Ms Pederson is a grandmother from East Kilbride. A trained teacher adviser, Cathy has been actively involved in politics for 25 years. In that time, she has been chair of the local anti-poll tax union, a staunch supporter of the miners strike, a union shop steward, a volunteer for the homeless, a member of CND, and a campaigner for a Women's Aid refuge in EK.

The Scottish Green Party candidate is Kirsten Robb who is a community worker from East Kilbride with a degree from Aberdeen University and a postgraduate degree from Stirling. She has been active in campaigning against opencast coal mining and the closure of local schools and parks. She is particularly interested in rebuilding communities by keeping local services and involving local people.

The Save the Scottish Regiments candidate was Allan Hendry, an former Scots Guardsman. However, on the 14 th April Save the Scottish Regiments decided to withdraw in favour for Anti-War candidate Rose Gentle.

Rose Gentle is standing as an Anti War candidate. Mrs Gentle, aged 40 launched the Justice for Gordon Gentle Campaign after her 19 year old son Gordon was killed by a roadside bomb while serving with the Royal Highland Fusiliers near Basra in Iraq in the summer of 2004. Mrs gentle has described the invasion of Iraq as 'an illegal and unjustifiable war' and called for British armed forced to be withdrawn from Iraq by Tony Blair. While announcing her candidature, Mrs Gentle commented 'Adam Ingram and all those other MPs who voted for war in the House of Commons share the blame for the death of Gordon and all the other victims of Bush and Blair's war for oil.' Mrs Gentle has the backing of the SSP and Save the Scottish Regiments whose candidate both stood down in her favour.

John Houston is standing as an Independent.

Notional 2001 result

Logo	Party	Denver			Baxter
		Votes	%		Votes	%
	Labour	25,324	52.98 %		25,256	52.88 %
	Scottish National Party	11,325	23.69 %		11,314	23.69 %
	Liberal Democrat	4,784	10.01 %		4,890	10.24 %
	Conservative & Unionist	4,635	9.70 %		4,636	9.71 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	1,689	3.53 %		1,669	3.49 %
	Others	39	0.08 %		0	0.00 %
Notional Labour win	Notional Labour majority	13,999	29.29 %		13,942	29.19 %

Local Government wards in the constituency

This consists of the old East Kilbride constituency with the addition of three wards from the old Clydesdale seat.