Hamilton South (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Hamilton South
Hamilton South
Former burgh constituency; for the Scottish Parliament
	Hamilton South shown within the Central Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Former constituency
Created	1999
Abolished	2011
Council area	South Lanarkshire

Hamilton South was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament. It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. Under the additional-member electoral system used for elections to the Scottish Parliament, it was also one of ten constituencies in the Central Scotland electoral region, which elected seven additional members, in addition to ten constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

The constituency was abolished ahead of the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, with the area covered being split between the seats of Rutherglen, Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, and Uddingston and Bellshill.^[1]

Electoral region

The other nine constituencies of the Central Scotland region were: Airdrie and Shotts, Coatbridge and Chryston, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, East Kilbride, Falkirk East, Falkirk West, Hamilton North and Bellshill, Kilmarnock and Loudoun and Motherwell and Wishaw.

The region covered all of the Falkirk council area, all of the North Lanarkshire council area, part of the South Lanarkshire council area, part of the East Ayrshire council area and a small part of the East Dumbartonshire council area.

Constituency boundaries and council area

The constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of an existing constituency of the UK House of Commons. Ahead of the 2005 Scottish Westminster constituencies were mostly replaced with new constituencies,^[2] whilst the existing boundaries initially continued to be used for elections to the Scottish Parliament.

Hamilton South was one of five covering the South Lanarkshire council area, the others being East Kilbride and Hamilton North and Bellshill, which were within the Central Scotland region, Glasgow Rutherglen, within the Glasgow region, and Clydesdale, within the South of Scotland region.

Three of the five constituencies were entirely within the South Lanarkshire area. Glasgow Rutherglen straddled the boundary with the Glasgow City council area, which was entirely within the Glasgow electoral region, and Hamilton North and Bellshill straddled the boundary with the North Lanarkshire council area, which was entirely within the Central Scotland region.

The Hamilton South constituency was south of Hamilton North and Bellshill, west of Clydesdale, north and east of East Kilbride and east of Glasgow Rutherglen.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1999	Tom McCabe	Labour

Election results

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Hamilton South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom McCabe	10,280	44.3	−2.2
	SNP	Christina McKelvie	6,628	28.6	+5.6
	Conservative	Margaret Mitchell	2,929	12.6	−0.1
	Independent	Michael McGlynn	1,764	7.6	New
	Liberal Democrats	John Oswald	1,610	6.9	−1.7
Majority			3,652	15.7	−9.8
Turnout			23,211	47.5	+2.7
	Labour hold		Swing

2003 Scottish Parliament election: Hamilton South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom McCabe	9,546	46.53	−7.86
	SNP	John Wilson	4,722	23.01	−3.70
	Conservative	Margaret Mitchell	2,601	12.68	+1.42
	Scottish Socialist	Willie O'Neill	1,893	9.23	New
	Liberal Democrats	John Oswald	1,756	8.56	+0.91
Majority			4,824	23.52	−4.16
Turnout			45,749	44.85	−10.58
	Labour hold		Swing

1999 Scottish Parliament election: Hamilton South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom McCabe	14,098	54.39	*N/A*
	SNP	Adam Ardrey	6,922	26.71	N/A
	Conservative	Margaret Mitchell	2,918	11.26	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	John Oswald	1,982	7.65	N/A
Majority			7,176	27.68	N/A
Turnout			25,920	55.43	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

Footnotes

^ "Scottish Parliament Constituencies and Regions (including New 2026 boundaries)". Retrieved 12 March 2026.
^ See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland Archived 21 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine

[1] "Scottish Parliament Constituencies and Regions (including New 2026 boundaries)". Retrieved 12 March 2026.

[2] See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland Archived 21 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine

[1]

[2]

Electoral regions and constituencies of the Scottish Parliament (1999–2011) » 2011– »
Central Scotland	Airdrie and Shotts Coatbridge and Chryston Cumbernauld and Kilsyth East Kilbride Falkirk East Falkirk West Hamilton North and Bellshill Hamilton South Kilmarnock and Loudoun Motherwell and Wishaw
Glasgow	Glasgow Anniesland Glasgow Baillieston Glasgow Cathcart Glasgow Govan Glasgow Kelvin Glasgow Maryhill Glasgow Pollok Glasgow Rutherglen Glasgow Shettleston Glasgow Springburn
Highlands and Islands	Argyll and Bute Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber Moray Na h-Eileanan an Iar Orkney Islands Ross, Skye and Inverness West Shetland Islands
Lothians	Edinburgh Central Edinburgh East and Musselburgh Edinburgh North and Leith Edinburgh Pentlands Edinburgh South Edinburgh West Linlithgow Livingston Midlothian
Mid Scotland and Fife	Central Fife Dunfermline East Dunfermline West Kirkcaldy North East Fife North Tayside Ochil Perth Stirling
North East Scotland	Aberdeen Central Aberdeen North Aberdeen South Angus Banff and Buchan Dundee East Dundee West Gordon West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine
South of Scotland	Ayr Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley Clydesdale Cunninghame South Dumfries East Lothian Galloway and Upper Nithsdale Roxburgh and Berwickshire Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale
West of Scotland	Clydebank and Milngavie Cunninghame North Dumbarton Eastwood Greenock and Inverclyde Paisley North Paisley South Strathkelvin and Bearsden West Renfrewshire