Candidates and Constituency Assessments

'The Scottish Labour Party would actually prefer a Tory led Scottish Parliament.' Labour's delegation to the Crowther/Kilbrandon Commission on the Constitution in 1970.

Glasgow South West

Candidates

	Labour	Ian Davidson MP
	Scottish National Party	James Dornan
	Conservative & Unionist	Scott Brady
	Liberal Democrat	Katy Gordon
	Scottish Socialist Party	Cllr Keith Baldassara
	Socialist Labour Party	Violet Shaw
	Independent Green Voice	Alistair McConnachie

Candidates

The Labour MP is Ian Davidson, who is currently MP for Glasgow Pollock. He was born in Jedburgh in 1950 and educated at Jedburgh Grammar and Galashiels Academy., Edinburgh University and Jordanhill College of Education. Davidson was a Strathclyde Regional Councillor from 1978 until his election as an MP in 1992. In 1988, following Glasgow Govan MP, Bruce Millan's appointment as an EEC commissioner, Davidson lost out on the Labour nominantion to Bob Gillespie. The 1988 by election was won by the SNP's Jim Sillars, who came from fourth place to win by 3,554 votes. Davidson was selected as Labour candidate for Govan in 1992 and won back the seat for Labour with a 4,125 majority over Jim Silars. In 1997, Davidson was selected for and held the safer seat of Glasgow Pollok following the retiral of James Dunnachie. He was one of the few Labour MPs who applied to become a candidate for the Scottish parliament elections of 1999, but like fellow MPs Michael Connarty and Dennis Canavan, he was rejected as "not good enough" by Rosemary McKenna's notorious selection committee. He therefore remained at Westminster as MP for Glasgow Pollock. He is an opponent of the Euro, proportional representation and of the illegal war in Iraq.

The SNP candidate is James Dornan. James joined the SNP in 1996. He is the Organiser and Vice-Convenor of Govan Riverside branch and has held many positions both at local and regional level. In 2003 James was the SNP's Scottish Parliamentary Candidate in Ayr Constituency and has also been a local government candidate. He has been a member of the National Organisation Committee for the past two years. James is the father of 2 sons and has 2 grandchildren. He and his family have all been born and lived in the southside of Glasgow. Having previously worked in both the legal and finance sectors James is now employed as Parliamentary Assistant to Stewart Maxwell MSP.

The Tory candidate is Scott Brady.

The Lib Dem candidate is Katy Gordon who was born in 1966 and educated at Aberdeen and Napier universities. She has worked in administration and teaching in London, Paris and Edinburgh, as a research assistant, a trainees accountant, a clerical assistant, a careers adviser and then depute district manager and team leader in the careers service, and as project manager in Careers Scotland. She is single and lives in Edinburgh. Her interests include foreign culture and languages, cycling and gourmet cookery.

The SSP candidate is Cllr Keith Baldassara who was elected as the Scottish Socialist Party Councillor for Pollok two years ago. He has lived in Pollok for 17 years, works for the SSP in the Govan area, and knows the constituency inside out. In many years as a community activist, Keith has campaigned against the Poll Tax and the Council Tax, led battles to save local facilities and fought for tenants' rights. He plays a significant role in the Justice 4 Gordon Gentle Campaign to bring the troops back from Iraq.

The Socialist Labour Party canbdidate is Violet Shaw.

The Independent Green Voice candidate is Alistair McConnachie. Mr Connachie stood in the 1999 Westminster parliamentary by-election for the UK Independent Party, coming tenth with 0.31 %. He also stood in the Ayr Scottish parliamentary by-election of 2000 for the UK Independence Party coming eight with 0.35 %. At the 1999 Scottish parliamentray elections, he was the sole candidate on the UK Independence Party list for South of Scotland. At the 2003 Scottish parliamentary election, he stood in Glasgow Kelvin as an Independent Green Voice, coming sixth with 8.22 %.

Notional 2001 result

Logo	Party	Denver			Baxter
		Votes	%		Votes	%
	Labour	20,467	61.91 %		20,745	61.16 %
	Scottish National Party	5,780	17.48 %		6,056	17.85 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	3,131	9.47 %		3,016	8.97 %
	Liberal Democrat	1,807	5.47 %		2,156	6.36 %
	Conservative & Unionist	1,786	5.40 %		1,832	5.40 %
	Others	90	0.27 %		88	0.26 %
Notional Labour win	Notional Labour majority	14,687	44.42 %		14,689	43.30 %

Local Government wards in the constituency

This consists of the whole of the old Glasgow Pollock seat with the addition of Govan (shared with the old Glasgow Govan seat), Drumoyne and Ibrox from the old Glasgow Govan seat.