Post by MacShimidh on Sept 22, 2020 19:02:11 GMT
Glasgow Central is Glasgow’s oldest surviving constituency, having existed in some form since 1885 (barring a brief disappearance from 1997-2005). As the name suggests, this is a wholly urban constituency taking in Glasgow’s innermost areas, although some of Glasgow’s most famous dear green places can also be found here, such as Kelvingrove Park and Glasgow Green. This is a young, well-educated seat with a very high proportion of social renters and a high student population as it is home to two of Glasgow’s three universities (Caledonian and Strathclyde).
With a white population of only 76%, it is Scotland’s most racially diverse constituency and has a high number of non-Christian adherents, as evidenced by the presence of Glasgow Central Mosque and Scotland’s largest Sikh Gurdwara. Politically speaking, in 2014 this was one of the most pro-independence constituencies with a Yes vote in the 55% range, and in 2016 it had a very high Remain vote of 71%, making it one of the most pro-Remain seats anywhere in the UK.
Like nearly all central belt seats, this is a former Labour stronghold that fell to the SNP in 2015 and is now fairly marginal between the two. In terms of party politics, there is therefore not much to distinguish it from most other seats in the region. There are however some historical curios – Glasgow Central was merged with Glasgow Govan in 2005, so the SNP’s modern success is not without historical precedent as that seat famously elected Margo MacDonald and Jim Sillars in two sensational by-elections in 1973 and 1988, respectively. Additionally, Glasgow Central itself was represented by Prime Minister Andrew Bonar Law, but that is going back nearly a century.
This constituency’s modern boundaries are rather messy, and the seat is therefore a bit incongruous. The Clyde cuts the constituency almost exactly in two and it is tempting to present this seat as a tale of two halves. But really, this constituency should be divided into thirds: the northwest of the seat within the West End and City Centre; the deprived east of the seat (on both sides of the Clyde); and the mixed southwestern part.
This seat’s northwestern-most corner is perhaps its wealthiest area, as it is home to the gorgeous Park Circus which sits on a hill overlooking Kelvingrove Park. It also contains a large portion of the West End which runs from the Kelvingrove Art Gallery, down the trendy, bohemian Argyle Street, and terminates in the Finnieston area. Finnieston is a former working-class area most famous for being the birthplace of Billy Connolly. It is today almost completely gentrified and unrecognisable from when he was born, although the Finnieston Crane still stands next to the Clyde as a monument to Glasgow’s shipbuilding past.
Heading east, we come to the M8 motorway and the Anderston district, which serves as the eastern boundary of the West End. On the other side of the motorway is Glasgow City Centre and some of the city’s busiest and most famous streets which serve as its central business district: Sauchiehall Street, Buchanan Street and St. Vincent Street. Glasgow’s most iconic sights are also here, such as George Square, the Merchant City, Glasgow Cathedral and its Necropolis, the statue of Wellington with a cone on his head and many others. Like most city centres, relatively few people live here, but the Merchant City is known for having many large and luxurious flats. Politically this is a marginal area between Labour and the SNP, but with such a young studenty population the Greens also do well here.
Immediately east of the city centre the character of the constituency shifts very noticeably as we arrive in Glasgow’s infamous East End. This part of the East End, known as the Calton, is one of the poorest in the city and has been blighted by sectarian violence, drugs, and prostitution. Some years ago, a survey showed that life expectancy was lower here than in parts of Iraq and the Gaza Strip, although I would be surprised if things were still that bad. Like everywhere in Glasgow, things have improved a lot here in recent decades, but along with Bridgeton and Dalmarnock it still has a reputation as one of the city’s grimmest areas. Politically, this is an area of strength for the SNP, but it has an extremely low turnout rate and in 2017 there was a huge shock when it returned a Conservative councillor.
On the other side of the Clyde from Glasgow Green lies Glasgow’s Southside and the Gorbals. This was once a famously awful place to live due to overcrowding and is still fairly deprived, but having been redeveloped several times over the decades it has deservedly lost its bad reputation. Further to the south is Govanhill which is less gentrified and redeveloped than the Gorbals, with Govanhill arguably having the worse reputation nowadays. Further still to the south lies Toryglen, a more recently-built estate which is similarly deprived.
Finally, we come to the seat’s southwest corner, which is a socially mixed area containing parts of Govan and Pollokshields. The part of Govan in this seat, more properly known as Kingston, is still a bit rough, but it has seen a lot of regeneration recently, and the area west of the Kingston Bridge in particular has become very gentrified and redevelopment has gathered swift pace. This is evidenced by the presence of BBC Scotland’s HQ and the Glasgow Science Centre. Pollokshields in general is a pleasant area, and especially around Queen’s Park there are some very grand sandstone villas and tenements. Pollokshields is also home to a sizable Pakistani Muslim community, from whence this seat’s most famous political dynasty made its name.
This dynasty consists of Labour’s Mohammed and Anas Sarwar, a father-son duo known more for their ambition than for any devotion to left wing principles, who represented the seat from its re-creation in 2005 to the Labour cataclysm in 2015. Sarwar Sr had represented Glasgow Govan since 1997, becoming the first Muslim elected to Westminster. However, this accolade was tarnished somewhat by various accusations of sleaze during his 13 years in parliament. His post-Westminster life has been more interesting than his time as an MP, as in 2013 he renounced his British citizenship to become the governor of Punjab province in Pakistan, where he had been born. He has represented two different political parties since returning to Pakistan, neither of which could be considered particularly socialist.
In 2010, the younger Sarwar took over as MP. He was shortly thereafter elected as deputy leader of Scottish Labour, rather wisely resigning after the referendum in 2014 and not seeking the leadership. He lost his seat in 2015 but a year later was elected to Holyrood on the Glasgow regional list. He then stood in the leadership election in 2017, losing to Richard Leonard, and is widely expected to stand again the next time a vacancy occurs. Sarwar Jr is a far more polished politician than his father, and a cannier operative than his opponents give him credit for, but he may be too far on Labour’s right to lead the party. His successor as MP for Glasgow Central is Alison Thewliss of the SNP, a capable member of the party’s frontbench team.
Glasgow Central is #95 on Labour’s target list, and although they did not win it back in 2017 as they did with other nearby seats, there are some reasons for them to be optimistic here. Although they of course suffered a massive drop in 2015 of -19%, this was not as dramatic as in other Glasgow seats. Indeed, their share of the vote has not dropped below 33% and in 2019 it held up better than in nearly every other Scottish seat. The large number of students, the sizable working-class population and a decent number of minority voters appear not to have completely abandoned Labour in this seat, and if the party improves in the national polls this may be a seat to watch. This is not to say that it will be easy to win this seat back, but Labour will have to do so to be serious players in Scotland again, and to win a majority at Westminster.
With a white population of only 76%, it is Scotland’s most racially diverse constituency and has a high number of non-Christian adherents, as evidenced by the presence of Glasgow Central Mosque and Scotland’s largest Sikh Gurdwara. Politically speaking, in 2014 this was one of the most pro-independence constituencies with a Yes vote in the 55% range, and in 2016 it had a very high Remain vote of 71%, making it one of the most pro-Remain seats anywhere in the UK.
Like nearly all central belt seats, this is a former Labour stronghold that fell to the SNP in 2015 and is now fairly marginal between the two. In terms of party politics, there is therefore not much to distinguish it from most other seats in the region. There are however some historical curios – Glasgow Central was merged with Glasgow Govan in 2005, so the SNP’s modern success is not without historical precedent as that seat famously elected Margo MacDonald and Jim Sillars in two sensational by-elections in 1973 and 1988, respectively. Additionally, Glasgow Central itself was represented by Prime Minister Andrew Bonar Law, but that is going back nearly a century.
This constituency’s modern boundaries are rather messy, and the seat is therefore a bit incongruous. The Clyde cuts the constituency almost exactly in two and it is tempting to present this seat as a tale of two halves. But really, this constituency should be divided into thirds: the northwest of the seat within the West End and City Centre; the deprived east of the seat (on both sides of the Clyde); and the mixed southwestern part.
This seat’s northwestern-most corner is perhaps its wealthiest area, as it is home to the gorgeous Park Circus which sits on a hill overlooking Kelvingrove Park. It also contains a large portion of the West End which runs from the Kelvingrove Art Gallery, down the trendy, bohemian Argyle Street, and terminates in the Finnieston area. Finnieston is a former working-class area most famous for being the birthplace of Billy Connolly. It is today almost completely gentrified and unrecognisable from when he was born, although the Finnieston Crane still stands next to the Clyde as a monument to Glasgow’s shipbuilding past.
Heading east, we come to the M8 motorway and the Anderston district, which serves as the eastern boundary of the West End. On the other side of the motorway is Glasgow City Centre and some of the city’s busiest and most famous streets which serve as its central business district: Sauchiehall Street, Buchanan Street and St. Vincent Street. Glasgow’s most iconic sights are also here, such as George Square, the Merchant City, Glasgow Cathedral and its Necropolis, the statue of Wellington with a cone on his head and many others. Like most city centres, relatively few people live here, but the Merchant City is known for having many large and luxurious flats. Politically this is a marginal area between Labour and the SNP, but with such a young studenty population the Greens also do well here.
Immediately east of the city centre the character of the constituency shifts very noticeably as we arrive in Glasgow’s infamous East End. This part of the East End, known as the Calton, is one of the poorest in the city and has been blighted by sectarian violence, drugs, and prostitution. Some years ago, a survey showed that life expectancy was lower here than in parts of Iraq and the Gaza Strip, although I would be surprised if things were still that bad. Like everywhere in Glasgow, things have improved a lot here in recent decades, but along with Bridgeton and Dalmarnock it still has a reputation as one of the city’s grimmest areas. Politically, this is an area of strength for the SNP, but it has an extremely low turnout rate and in 2017 there was a huge shock when it returned a Conservative councillor.
On the other side of the Clyde from Glasgow Green lies Glasgow’s Southside and the Gorbals. This was once a famously awful place to live due to overcrowding and is still fairly deprived, but having been redeveloped several times over the decades it has deservedly lost its bad reputation. Further to the south is Govanhill which is less gentrified and redeveloped than the Gorbals, with Govanhill arguably having the worse reputation nowadays. Further still to the south lies Toryglen, a more recently-built estate which is similarly deprived.
Finally, we come to the seat’s southwest corner, which is a socially mixed area containing parts of Govan and Pollokshields. The part of Govan in this seat, more properly known as Kingston, is still a bit rough, but it has seen a lot of regeneration recently, and the area west of the Kingston Bridge in particular has become very gentrified and redevelopment has gathered swift pace. This is evidenced by the presence of BBC Scotland’s HQ and the Glasgow Science Centre. Pollokshields in general is a pleasant area, and especially around Queen’s Park there are some very grand sandstone villas and tenements. Pollokshields is also home to a sizable Pakistani Muslim community, from whence this seat’s most famous political dynasty made its name.
This dynasty consists of Labour’s Mohammed and Anas Sarwar, a father-son duo known more for their ambition than for any devotion to left wing principles, who represented the seat from its re-creation in 2005 to the Labour cataclysm in 2015. Sarwar Sr had represented Glasgow Govan since 1997, becoming the first Muslim elected to Westminster. However, this accolade was tarnished somewhat by various accusations of sleaze during his 13 years in parliament. His post-Westminster life has been more interesting than his time as an MP, as in 2013 he renounced his British citizenship to become the governor of Punjab province in Pakistan, where he had been born. He has represented two different political parties since returning to Pakistan, neither of which could be considered particularly socialist.
In 2010, the younger Sarwar took over as MP. He was shortly thereafter elected as deputy leader of Scottish Labour, rather wisely resigning after the referendum in 2014 and not seeking the leadership. He lost his seat in 2015 but a year later was elected to Holyrood on the Glasgow regional list. He then stood in the leadership election in 2017, losing to Richard Leonard, and is widely expected to stand again the next time a vacancy occurs. Sarwar Jr is a far more polished politician than his father, and a cannier operative than his opponents give him credit for, but he may be too far on Labour’s right to lead the party. His successor as MP for Glasgow Central is Alison Thewliss of the SNP, a capable member of the party’s frontbench team.
Glasgow Central is #95 on Labour’s target list, and although they did not win it back in 2017 as they did with other nearby seats, there are some reasons for them to be optimistic here. Although they of course suffered a massive drop in 2015 of -19%, this was not as dramatic as in other Glasgow seats. Indeed, their share of the vote has not dropped below 33% and in 2019 it held up better than in nearly every other Scottish seat. The large number of students, the sizable working-class population and a decent number of minority voters appear not to have completely abandoned Labour in this seat, and if the party improves in the national polls this may be a seat to watch. This is not to say that it will be easy to win this seat back, but Labour will have to do so to be serious players in Scotland again, and to win a majority at Westminster.
