Candidates and Constituency Assessments

'Labour is seen as the corrupt party. The government has been fulfilling the old rule that oppositions do not win elections, governments lose them.' Cross-bench peer Lord Rees-Mogg, 30 th May 2006.

Glasgow Rutherglen (Glasgow Region)

Candidates

	Robert Brown MSP (Also number 1 on Glasgow list)
	Liberal Democrat
	Robert Brown was born on the 25 th December 1947 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and educated at the University of Aberdeen where he graduated with a 1st Class LLB (Hons). He worked as a Law Apprentice and Assistant at Edmonds and Ledingham, Solicitors, in Aberdeen from 1969 to 1972 then as a Depute Procurator Fiscal in Dumbarton from 1972 to 1974. He then worked as an Assistant, later as a Partner and then as Senior Civil Partner for Ross Harper, Solicitors, Rutherglen and Glasgow from 1974 to 1999 and continued as a Legal Consultant until 2005. He was a Glasgow District Cllr from 1977 and 1992 where he was leader of the Liberal and LibDem groups. He has contested the (Glasgow) Rutherglen constituency seven times, doing best in 1983 when he came second with 27.8 %. He was elected as the sixth Glasgow regional MSP in 1999 and again in the same position in 2003. He is a previous member of the Parliament's Corporate Body and sicne June 2005 has been a deputy minister. He has made few headlines except when one of his internal memos to the Lib Dems was leaked to the media revealing that Brown thought that the Lib Dem's policy on education in Scotland and the rest of the UK was incoherent, but that he believed the public would be stupid enough to fall for it. Ministerial Positions June 2005 - Deputy Minister for Education and Young People Recent electoral experience 2003 Scottish Parliament election, Glasgow Rutherglen, 4,491 votes (19.07 %) 2003 Scottish Parliament election, First on LibDem Glasgow list, 14,839 votes (7.64 %) (elected) 1999 Scottish Parliament election, Glasgow Rutherglen, 5,708 votes (19.98 %) 1999 Scottish Parliament election, First on LibDem Glasgow list, 18,473 votes (7.21 %) (elected) 1997 Westminster Parliament election, Glasgow Rutherglen, 5,167 votes (14.55 %) 1988 Glasgow District Council election (elected) 1987 Westminster Parliament election, Glasgow Rutherglen, 10,795 votes (24.39 %) 1984 Glasgow District Council election (elected) 1983 Westminster Parliament election, Glasgow Rutherglen, 12,384 votes (27.83 %) 1980 Glasgow District Council election (elected) 1979 Westminster Parliament election, Rutherglen, 7,315 votes (18.42 %) 1977 Glasgow District Council election (elected) October 1974 Westminster Parliament election, Rutherglen, 2,424 votes (6.30 %)
	Thomas Greig (Also number 5 on Glasgow list)
	Scottish Christian Party
	Recent electoral experience
	Christina Harcus (Not standing on Glasgow list)
	Conservative & Unionist
	Christina has been involved in politics since her teens and has a strong background in politics and sociology, which she studied at university. She currently works for ENABLE Scotland, a charity for children and adults with learning disabilities. Her particular interests lie in education and child development as well as health services. She was the agent for West Dunbartonshire in 2005 and has worked on various election campaigns. In her spare time Christina enjoys travelling, running and aerobics! Recent electoral experience.
	James Kelly (Not standing on Glasgow list)
	Labour
	James Kelly is 42, grew up in the constituency and stays in Cambuslang with his wife Alexa and two daughters. He has been the agent for Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP Tommy McAvoy at the last three General Elections and is also the chair of the local constituency party. James has a background in computing and finance and currently works as a Business Analyst in East Kilbride. Upon his selection in January 2006 he said: 'It's an honour to have been selected by the local party members as their prospective candidate for the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections. We have a very experienced campaign team which operates throughout Rutherglen, Cambuslang, Halfway and Toryglen, and I look forward to working as part of that team to secure success for Labour in 2007.' Recent electoral experience 1999 Scottish Parliament election, Fourth on Labour's Central Scotland list, 129,822 votes (39.28 %)
	Margaret Park (Also number 8 on Glasgow list)
	Scottish National Party
	Margaret Park has been politically active since her teens. She has been a member of the SNP since the late 1980s and was an active union member for a number of years. Margaret is 43 years old and lives in South Lanarkshire with her husband Richard and two teenage children Stephen and Frances. Following a career within the voluntary sector with 10 years at senior management level Margaret is a Management Training Consultant and has her own business which was set up in the past year. She is a member of the Chartered Management Institute,. Margaret has previously stood at local elections. She is Vice Convener, Political Education Officer and Organiser of her local SNP branch and, in addition, is a delegate to the SNP's policy making national bodies. Her particular areas of interest are young people and how the lack of training and employment opportunities impacts on local communities and the levels of youth crime. Apart from children, husband, cat and politics Margaret is a keen traveller, completed her HNC in Social Science and also a MBA. Recent electoral experience 2005 Westminster election, Rutherglen & Hamilton West, 6,023 votes (13.92 %) Local council candidate

Constituency profile

Assessment:

This assessment is based on the 2003 election results

Rank on Liberal Democrat hit list: 19 (10 in 2003)
Swing required for Liberal Democrat gain: 13.38 % from Labour to Liberal Democrat

Rank on Scottish National Party hit list: 49 (53 in 2003)
Swing required for Scottish National Party gain: 15.46 % from Labour to Scottish National Party

Rank on Conservative hit list: 52 (52 in 2003)
Swing required for Conservative gain: 17.61 % from Labour to Conservative

Correlation to the new Westminster constituencies

The electorate of 52,263 was split between the new Westminster constituencies of:
Rutherglen & Hamilton West: 43,898 (84.0 %)
Glasgow Central: 4,998 (9.6 %)
Glasgow South: 3,367 (6.4 %)

Local Government wards in the constituency

Previous results

1 st May 2003 Holyrood Election - Constituency result

Electorate 49,512. Turnout 23,554, 47.57 % (- 9.32 %)
Logo	Party	Candidate	Votes	%	% change
	Labour	Janis Hughes MSP	10,794	45.83 %	- 0.48 %
	Liberal Democrat	Robert Brown MSP	4,491	19.07 %	- 0.91 %
	Scottish National Party	Anne McLaughlin	3,511	14.91 %	- 6.30 %
	Conservative & Unionist	Gavin Brown	2,499	10.61 %	= 2.63 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	Bill Bonnar	2,259	9.59 %	+ 6.72 %
	Labour hold	Labour majority	6,303	26.76 %	+ 1.65 %

1 st May 2003 Holyrood Election - Regional list result

Electorate 49,512. Turnout 23,605, 47.68 % 136 rejected ballot papers
Logo	Party	Votes	%	% change
	Labour	9,029	38.25 %	- 6.07 %
	Scottish National Party	3,413	14.46 %	- 9.35 %
	Liberal Democrats	3,353	14.20 %	+ 0.21 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	2,539	10.76 %	+ 7.02 %
	Conservative & Unionist Party	1,889	8.00 %	+ 0.95 %
	Scottish Green Party	1,205	5.10 %	+ 2.68 %
	Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party	627	2.66 %	(+ 2.66 %)
	Socialist Labour Party	430	1.82 %	- 0.42 %
	Pro-Life Party	394	1.67 %	+ 0.80 %
	Scottish Unionist Party	322	1.36 %	+ 0.11 %
	British National Party	309	1.31 %	(+ 1.31 %)
	UK Independence Party	43	0.18 %	(+ 0.18 %)
	Communist Party Peace Democracy Socialism	28	0.12 %	- 0.02 %
	Scottish Peoples Alliance	25	0.11 %	(+ 0.11 %)
	Labour majority	5,616	23.79 %	+ 3.29 %

6 th May 1999 Holyrood Election - Constituency result

Logo	Party	Candidate	Votes	%	% change
	Labour	Janis Hughes	13,442	46.31 %	-11.21 %
	Scottish National Party	Tom Chalmers	6,155	21.21 %	+ 5.94 %
	Liberal Democrat	Robert Brown	5,798	19.98 %	+ 5.43 %
	Conservative & Unionist	Iain Stewart	2,315	7.98 %	- 1.28 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	William Bonnar	832	2.87 %	+ 2.16 % %
	Socialist Labour	James Nisbet	481	1.66 %	+ 1.66 %
	Lab win	Labour majority	7,287	25.10 %	- 17.15 %

6 th May 1999 Holyrood Election - Regional list result

Logo	Party	Votes	%
	Labour	12,862	44.32 %
	Scottish National Party	6,912	23.81 %
	Liberal Democrats	4,028	13.99 %
	Conservative & Unionist Party	2,046	7.05 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	1,086	3.74 %
	Scottish Green Party	701	2.42 %
	Socialist Labour Party	651	2.24 %
	Scottish Unionist Party	362	1.25 %
	Pro Life Alliance	252	0.87 %
	Communist Party of Britain	40	0.14 %
	Natural Law Party	29	0.10 %
	Socialist Party of Great Britain	25	0.09 %
	Humanist Party	22	0.08 %
	Bridget McGeechan, The People Choice	8	0.03 %
	Labour majority	5,950	20.50 %

1 st May 1997 Westminster Election

Logo	Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Tom McAvoy MP	20,430	57.52 %
	Scottish National Party	Cllr Iain Gray	5,423	15.27 %
	Liberal Democrat	Robert Brown	5,167	14.55 %
	Conservative & Unionist	David Campbell-Bannerman	3,288	9.26 %
	Independent Labour	George Easton	812	2.29%
	Scottish Socialist Alliance	Rosie Kane	251	0.71%
	Referendum	Julia Kerr	150	0.42%
	Labour hold	Labour majority	15,007	42.25%

Links

• Glasgow SNP
  
  
• Robert Brown MSP (Lib Dem)