Glasgow South (UK Parliament constituency)

For the Holyrood constituency, see Glasgow Southside (Scottish Parliament constituency).

Glasgow South is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster). It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The current Member of Parliament (MP) is Gordon McKee of the Labour Party who gained the seat from Scottish National Party's Stewart McDonald at the 2024 general election.

Glasgow South
Burgh constituency for the House of Commons
Location of Glasgow South within Scotland
Subdivisions of Scotland	Glasgow City
Major settlements	Cathcart, Croftfoot, Crossmyloof, Langside, Mount Florida, Muirend, Pollokshaws
Current constituency
Created	2005
Member of Parliament	Gordon McKee (Labour)
Created from	Glasgow Cathcart Glasgow Govan Glasgow Rutherglen Glasgow Pollok

The constituency was first used in the 2005 general election, and is the successor to Glasgow Cathcart.

Boundaries

Map of boundaries 2005-2024

Map of boundaries since 2024

2005–2024

Prior to the 2005 general election, the city area was covered by ten constituencies, of which two straddled boundaries with other council areas. The area of the South constituency was covered by the Glasgow Cathcart constituency and parts of the Glasgow Govan, Glasgow Rutherglen and Glasgow Pollok constituencies.^[1]

Under the Fifth Review of UK Parliament constituencies which came into effect for the 2005 general election, the boundaries were defined in accordance with the ward structure in place on 30 November 2004 as containing the Glasgow City Council wards of Battlefield, Carmunnock, Carnwadric, Castlemilk, Cathcart, Glenwood, King's Park, Langside, Maxwell Park, Mount Florida, Newlands, and Pollokshaws. Further to reviews of local government ward boundaries which came into effect in 2007 and 2017, but did not affect the parliamentary boundaries, the constituency comprised the City of Glasgow Council wards or part wards of: Linn, Newlands/Auldburn (most), Pollokshields (minority), Langside (most) and Southside Central (small part).

2024–present

Further to the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the 2024 general election, there were minor changes to the constituency boundaries, including the transfer of the Pollokshields area to Glasgow South West, offset by the addition of the Toryglen district and a small area to the north of Queen's Park from the abolished constituency of Glasgow Central.

The constituency currently consists of the following wards or part wards of the City of Glasgow:

• The whole of Linn ward;
• the bulk of Newlands/Auldburn ward - excluding a small area in the south (Arden housing estate);
• a minority of Pollokshields ward, comprising the area to the south of the railway line between Pollokshaws West, Crossmyloof and Rutherglen stations;
• the whole of Langside ward; and
• a small part of Southside Central ward, comprising the small area to the north of Queen's Park.^[2][3]

Glasgow South is one of six constituencies covering the Glasgow City council area. All are entirely within the council area. Scottish Parliament constituencies retain the names and boundaries of the older Westminster constituencies.

Constituency profile

While this constituency includes some of Glasgow's few Conservative-voting areas such as Pollokshields and Newlands, other areas such as Langside and Shawlands are SNP, with Labour in second place and the Conservatives far behind. While deprived housing estates typify parts of this constituency, there are still many more affluent residential areas. There is a large Asian community and Scotland's second-largest Jewish community is based around Pollokshields (the largest being in the neighbouring East Renfrewshire constituency). Around one-third of the residents in this constituency are Roman Catholics.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[4]	Party	Notes
	2005	Tom Harris	Labour	Previously MP for Glasgow Cathcart
	2015	Stewart McDonald	SNP
	2024	Gordon McKee	Labour

Election results

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Glasgow South^[5][6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gordon McKee	17,696	41.8	+12.3
	SNP	Stewart McDonald	13,542	32.0	−16.3
	Scottish Green	Niall Christie	5,554	13.1	+10.5
	Reform UK	Danny Raja	1,736	4.1	+3.2
	Conservative	Haroun Malik	1,617	3.8	−8.9
	Liberal Democrats	Peter McLaughlin	1,316	3.1	−2.9
	TUSC	Brian Smith	473	1.1	N/A
	Alba	Dhruva Kumar	444	1.0	N/A
Majority			4,154	9.8	N/A
Turnout			42,378	60.6	−7.6
Registered electors			70,219
	Labour gain from SNP		Swing	+14.3

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Glasgow South^[7][8][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Stewart McDonald	22,829	48.1	+7.0
	Labour Co-op	Johann Lamont	13,824	29.1	−7.5
	Conservative	Kyle Thornton	6,237	13.1	−6.0
	Liberal Democrats	Carole Ford	2,786	5.9	+2.7
	Scottish Green	Dan Hutchison	1,251	2.6	New
	Brexit Party	Danyaal Raja	516	1.1	New
Majority			9,005	19.0	+14.5
Turnout			47,343	66.9	+2.5
	SNP hold		Swing	+7.2

General election 2017: Glasgow South^[10][11][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Stewart McDonald	18,312	41.1	−13.8
	Labour	Eileen Dinning	16,285	36.6	+6.9
	Conservative	Taylor Muir	8,506	19.1	+9.4
	Liberal Democrats	Ewan Hoyle	1,447	3.2	+1.1
Majority			2,027	4.5	−20.7
Turnout			44,550	64.4	−1.5
	SNP hold		Swing	-10.3

See also: Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies, 2010–15 § Glasgow South

General election 2015: Glasgow South^[13][14][15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Stewart McDonald	26,773	54.9	+34.8
	Labour	Tom Harris	14,504	29.7	−22.0
	Conservative	Kyle Thornton	4,752	9.7	−1.8
	Scottish Green	Alastair Whitelaw[16]	1,431	2.9	+0.5
	Liberal Democrats	Ewan Hoyle[17]	1,019	2.1	−9.7
	TUSC	Brian Smith[18]	299	0.6	−0.3
Majority			12,269	25.2	N/A
Turnout			48,778	65.9	+4.2
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing	+28.3

General election 2010: Glasgow South^[19][20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom Harris	20,736	51.7	+4.5
	SNP	Malcolm Fleming	8,078	20.1	+7.5
	Liberal Democrats	Shabnum Mustapha	4,739	11.8	−7.2
	Conservative	Davena Rankin	4,592	11.5	−1.1
	Scottish Green	Marie Campbell	961	2.4	−2.0
	BNP	Michael Coyle	637	1.6	New
	TUSC	Brian Smith	351	0.9	New
Majority			12,658	31.6	+3.4
Turnout			40,094	61.7	+5.9
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Glasgow South^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom Harris	18,153	47.2	−3.3
	Liberal Democrats	Arthur Sanderson	7,321	19.0	+6.6
	SNP	Finlay MacLean	4,860	12.6	−4.7
	Conservative	Janette McAlpine	4,836	12.6	−1.2
	Scottish Green	Kay Allan	1,692	4.4	New
	Scottish Socialist	Ronnie Stevenson	1,303	3.4	−2.4
	Socialist Labour	Dorothy Entwistle	266	0.7	New
Majority			10,832	28.2
Turnout			38,431	55.8
	Labour win (new seat)

See also

• Politics of Glasgow