From the seat's creation until 2009, the constituency was represented by Michael Martin, previously MP for Glasgow Springburn from 1979. Martin was elected Speaker of the House of Commons in October 2000, but in May 2009 he announced that he would be resigning as Speaker on 21 June 2009 because of his perceived role in the MPs' expenses controversy. He was the first Speaker in 300 years to be forced out of office by a motion of no confidence.[1] He also resigned as an MP the following day, resulting in a by-election on 12 November 2009, which was won by Willie Bain of the Labour Party with 59% of the vote.
Glasgow North East and its predecessor constituencies had been represented by MPs from the Labour Party with large majorities for eighty years from the 1935 general election until the 2015 general election, when the seat was gained by the SNP during their landslide victory; which ended 51 years of dominance by Scottish Labour. The change at Glasgow North East was the largest swing recorded at the general election that year of 39.3% from Labour to SNP. At the following snap election, held just two years later, the seat was regained on a 12% swing by the Labour and Co-operative candidate Paul Sweeney with a narrow majority of 242 votes (0.7%). However, the SNP regained the seat with a marginal majority of 7% in 2019.
Glasgow North East is one of six constituencies covering the Glasgow City council area. All are entirely within the council area.
Prior to the 2005 general election, the city area was covered by ten constituencies, two of which straddled the boundaries of other council areas. The North East constituency includes most of the former Glasgow Springburn constituency and a small part of the former Glasgow Maryhill constituency.[3]
A by-election was held in November 2009, caused by the resignation of former Speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin. Labour won fairly comfortably, compared to the surprising SNP win in the neighbouring constituency of Glasgow East in the previous year. The turnout was the lowest in Scottish history.[21]
The most notable feature of the result was the relatively large vote for Arthur Scargill's Socialist Labour Party, in an area where it had very little base. This was considered to be a result of voter confusion (and not the first recorded example of its kind). A large number of traditional Labour Party voters may have voted for the Socialist Labour Party in the absence of a named Labour Party candidate on the ballot paper.
^"A note on the Speakership". Lords of the Blog. Hansard Society. 21 October 2009. Archived from the original on 1 July 2009. Retrieved 21 October 2009.