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UK Parliament - Linlithgow & Falkirk East

RACE DETAILS

Parents

> United Kingdom > Scotland > Scotland > Linlithgow & Falkirk East

Office

Parliament

Type

General Election

Filing Deadline

00, 0000 - 06:00pm

Polls Open

May 06, 2010 - 01:00am

Polls Close

May 06, 2010 - 04:00pm

Term Start

May 17, 2010 - 12:00pm

Term End

May 17, 2015 - 12:00pm

Contributor

Ralphie

Last Modified

Ralphie May 16, 2010 10:36pm

Data Sources

[Link]

Description

BBC Profile:
Labour has won the Linlithgow seat (West Lothian from 1950 until 1983) in every election since World War II. For most of those years the MP was Tam Dalyell, who held West Lothian from 1962 until his retirement in 2005.

Dalyell's opposition to devolution earned him a determined challenge from the SNP at every election. Dalyell was the victor on all 12 occasions, his majority undiminished by the removal of Livingston in 1983, when West Lothian was renamed Linlithgow.

In 2005 the seat lost Blackburn and Fauldhouse to an enlarged Livingston, but gained more than half the old Falkirk East seat. Linlithgow and East Falkirk was notionally less vulnerable to the SNP, even without Dalyell's large personal vote, and in May 2005 Michael Connarty (who came with the Falkirk East wards) won convincingly with a 24% majority.

There are no boundary changes affecting this seat.

Situated in the central industrial belt, the constituency spreads from Grangemouth and Bo'ness down the south bank of the Forth to the ancient burgh of Linlithgow, stopping just short of Queensferry.

The seat is characterised by slag heaps left over from the era of shale-mining around the villages of Armadale, Blackburn and Whitburn, and the larger town of Bathgate.

Traditional industries like textiles have declined. Industry is now concentrated in Bo'Ness and Grangemouth, which house electronic and communications companies.

Linlithgow was the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots and that connection, as well as its palace, makes it a popular tourist destination.

Grangemouth has both a modern container port and a vast petro-chemical and chemical works.

Rallings & Thrasher Notional:
No Boundary Changes