Candidates and Constituency Assessments

'I actually believe that Tam would prefer to be burnt on the marketplace in Edinburgh rather than see Scottish devolution pass into British law.' Roy Hattersley, in Parcel of Rogues, Channel 4 April 1998.

Linlithgow & East Falkirk

Candidates

	Labour	Michael Connarty MP
	Scottish National Party	Gordon Guthrie
	Conservative & Unionist	Michael Veitch
	Liberal Democrat	Stephen Glenn
	Scottish Socialist Party	Ally Hendry

Candidates

The Labour candidate is Michael Connarty, who is currently MP for Falkirk East. He was born in Coatbridge in 1947 and educated at St Bartholomew's & St Ptrick's High in Coatbridge, Stirling and Glasgow Universities and Jordanhill teacher training college. He worked as a teacher until his election in 1992. From 1974 until 1990 he was a Strrling District Councillor, and between 1980 and 1990 he was Labour leader of the Council. In 1983, he stood in Stirling coming second to Michael Forsyth with 27.9 % of the vote. He stood again in 1987, again coming second, this time with 36.2 % and reducing Forsyth's majority to 948. In 1992, he became MP for Falkirk East, following the retiral of Harry Ewing. Connarty took 46.1 % and had a 7,969 majority over the SNP's Ron Halliday, down from 14,023 over the Tories for Ewing in 1987. By 1997, Connarty was polling 56.12 % and had a mor healthy 13,385 majority over the SNP's Keith Brown. In 2001 he took 55.00 % of the vote and obtained a 10,712 majority over the SNP's Isabel Hutton. Connarty applied to become a candidate for the Scottish parliament but after a leak to the press withdrew before he could be told, like fellow Labour MPs Dennis Canavan and Ian Davidson, that he was 'not good enough'. He has since become a bitter and constant critic of the Scottish parliament and his colleagues on the Labour benches there.

The SNP candidate is Gordon Guthrie. Gordon was born in 1963 in Trinidad and Tobago where his father worked in the oil industry. He grew up in Bahrain and Nigeria before the oil boom brought the family back to Aberdeen. After graduating from Bristol University with an Honours degree in Chemical Physics he got a job in politics in Northern Ireland and then went on to work with Direct Line Financial Services rising to the position of IT strategist. Gordon went on to be Chief Technical Architect, and later Business Architect at Intelligent Finance, working at a main board level within Halifax PLC before taking up independent consulting positions and recently becoming a Solutions Architect with BT. He and his partner live in Linlithgow with their son.

Tory candidate, Michael Veitch, graduated from St Andrews University with a degree in International Relations and Modern History having formerly attended Linlithgow Academy. A former sales executive he currently works for the Conservative Press & Research Unit at the Scottish Parliament Michael is extensively involved in his local church, leading Sunday School and assisting the children's holiday club. He is passionate about the countryside, and enjoys fishing and walking - with the occasional foray onto the golf course.

The Lib Dem candidate is Stephen Glenn. He was born in 1969 and is a graduate from Kingston University, with a degree in Economics. Stephen is currently Treasurer of West Lothian Liberal Democrats and Vice-Convenor of Lothian Liberal Democrats. He is a former civil servant but is currently working for a call centre in Edinburgh. Stephen is engaged and lives with his finacee in West Lothian. As an ex-athlete he now play bowls and watches sport especially football and rugby. His other interests include history and genealogy. He stood for West Lothian council in 2003 for the Croftmalloch ward.

The SSP candidate is Ally Hendry who is 29 and has lived in Bathgate almost all his life. He works in construction as a project manager. Ally is treasurer of his community council, and has been involved in many local campaigns, including opposing to the changes at St John's. He was instrumental in forming the West Lothian Against the War coalition and has organised meetings, vigils and demonstrations to bring troops back from Iraq.

Notional 2001 result

Logo	Party	Denver			Baxter
		Votes	%		Votes	%
	Labour	23,104	51.83 %		23,126	52.85 %
	Scottish National Party	11,308	25.37 %		11,334	25.90 %
	Liberal Democrat	4,505	10.11 %		3,984	9.11 %
	Conservative & Unionist	4,362	9.79 %		3,920	8.96 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	920	2.06 %		1,044	2.31 %
	Others	379	0.85 %		382	0.87 %
Notional Labour win	Notional Labour majority	11,769	26.40 %		11,792	26.95 %

Local Government wards in the constituency

This consists of 12 of the 14 wards from the old Linlithgow seat plus 10 of the 17 wards from the old Falkirk East seat.