2021 Airdrie and Shotts by-election

The 2021 Airdrie and Shotts by-election was held in the UK parliament constituency of Airdrie and Shotts following the resignation of the sitting member (MP), Neil Gray, to run for the corresponding seat (which he subsequently won) in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.[1] This was necessitated by Scottish National Party (SNP) rules banning its members from sitting as an MSP and an MP at the same time. It took place on 13 May 2021, a week after the Scottish Parliament elections, to reduce COVID-19 transmission risk.[2]

2021 Airdrie and Shotts by-election
13 May 2021
Airdrie and Shotts constituency
Turnout34.3%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Candidate Anum Qaisar Kenneth Stevenson Ben Callaghan
Party SNP Labour Conservative
Popular vote 10,129 8,372 2,812
Percentage 46.4% 38.4% 12.9%
MP before election

Neil Gray
SNP

 Elected MP

Anum Qaisar
SNP

The by-election was the second to the 58th Parliament elected in 2019. This by-election ended a long lull between House of Commons by-elections in Scotland, with the last one having been held in Inverclyde in 2011. This was the first by-election to a Westminster constituency in which the SNP was the defending party. Anum Qaisar held the seat for the SNP with a decreased majority but an increased share of the vote.[3]

Background

Airdrie and Shotts is a generally working-class, urban seat, and contains the towns of Airdrie, Calderbank, Chapelhall, Glenmavis and Shotts. Previous MPs for the seat include the former Labour cabinet ministers Helen Liddell and John Reid,[3] both of whom now sit in the House of Lords.

Neil Gray was elected as the Scottish National Party (SNP) MP for Airdrie and Shotts at the 2015 United Kingdom general election, and was re-elected in both 2017 and 2019. In November 2020, Gray announced that he would be resigning as an MP in order to try and win a seat in the Holyrood constituency of the same name at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.[4] On 23 March 2021, he made his final speech in the House of Commons,[5] and was appointed Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead a day later.[1]

Candidates

Jonathan Stanley had already been announced as the Scottish Unionist Party candidate for a potential Airdrie and Shotts by-election in September 2020.[6]

On 18 March 2021, Anum Qaisar was selected as the SNP's candidate for the by-election. She was a Labour Party member until at least 2014, and was the general secretary of Muslim Friends of Labour. She had previously worked as a caseworker to an SNP MSP and as a parliamentary researcher to an SNP MP. At the time of declaring her candidacy she was a modern studies teacher.[7][8][9]

On 25 March 2021, local councillor Kenneth Stevenson was selected by Scottish Labour to contend the by-election. He beat a former MP for the constituency and the chief executive of Scotland in Union, Pamela Nash.[10][11]

The Scottish Liberal Democrat candidate was Stephen Arrundale, the party's treasurer.[12] He had previously stood as a candidate for Midlothian in the 2019 General Election.

Result
Bar chart of the election result.
2021 by-election: Airdrie and Shotts
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Anum Qaisar 10,129 46.4 +1.4
Labour Kenneth Stevenson 8,372 38.4 +6.5
Conservative Ben Callaghan 2,812 12.9 -4.7
Liberal Democrats Stephen Arrundale 220 1.0 -2.6
SDP Neil Manson 151 0.7 New
Scottish Unionist Jonathan Stanley 59 0.3 New
Reform UK Martyn Greene 45 0.2 New
UKIP Donald Mackay 39 0.1 New
Majority 1,757 8.0 -5.1
Turnout 21,827 34.3 -28.0
SNP hold Swing -2.5

2019 result

Gray won the seat with an increased majority at the 2019 election.

2019 general election: Airdrie and Shotts[13][14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Neil Gray 17,929 45.1 +7.5
Labour Helen McFarlane 12,728 32.0 −5.1
Conservative Lorraine Nolan 7,011 17.6 −5.6
Liberal Democrats William Crossman 1,419 3.6 +1.5
Scottish Green Rosemary McGowan 685 1.7 New
Majority 5,201 13.1 +12.6
Turnout 39,863 62.3 +3.1
SNP hold Swing +6.3

References
Wikinews has news related to:
  1. Sim, Philip [@BBCPhilipSim] (24 March 2021). "This is now confirmed: Neil Gray has gone from being MP for Airdrie and Shotts to the Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead (...which is one way of quitting Westminster) - and as of tomorrow will be the SNP candidate to be MSP for Airdrie and Shotts. By-election incoming" (Tweet). Retrieved 24 March 2021 – via Twitter.
  2. Tonner, Judith (26 March 2021). "Two elections in one week for Airdrie & Shotts voters". Daily Record. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  3. "SNP holds Airdrie and Shotts seat in by-election". BBC News. 14 May 2021. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  4. Tonner, Judith (6 November 2020). "Neil Gray to contest Airdrie constituency at Holyrood election". Daily Record. Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  5. Gray, Neil [@neilgraysnp] (23 March 2021). "This afternoon, in a debate starting at around 1.45pm I am eighth on the list and will be making my final speech to the Commons" (Tweet). Retrieved 24 March 2021 – via Twitter.
  6. Tonner, Judith (8 September 2020). "Candidate for potential Airdrie by-election declared in anticipation of vacancy". Daily Record. Archived from the original on 17 January 2021. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  7. Cassidy, Jane (27 March 2021). "Labour and SNP announce their by-election candidates". The National. Archived from the original on 27 March 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  8. Rodgers, Hannah (19 April 2021). "SNP election candidate Anum Qaisar-Javed on Ramadan, racism and role models". The Herald. Archived from the original on 28 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  9. Farquharson, Gregor (14 April 2021). "Lanarkshire by-election candidate opens up opens up about dealing with racist abuse online daily". Daily Record. Reach. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  10. Airdrie & Shotts Labour [@AirdrieShottsLP] (25 March 2021). "Tonight, Airdrie and Shotts CLP selected @shottsman7 to be our candidate in the upcoming Westminster by-election. Congratulations Kenny, and thank you to @pamela_nash for her hard work also during the selection process" (Tweet). Retrieved 25 March 2021 – via Twitter.
  11. Webster, Laura (26 March 2021). "Scotland in Union boss fails in bid to win back job as a Labour MP". The National. Archived from the original on 26 March 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  12. "Voters go back to polls for Airdrie and Shotts by-election". BBC News. 12 May 2021. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  13. "UK Parliamentary Elections 2019". northlanarkshire.gov.uk. North Lanarkshire Council. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  14. "Airdrie & Shotts parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
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