From Summerston to Woodlands: the election contest in Glasgow North

The Glasgow Times is taking a look at the six constituencies in the city ahead of the General Election.

Glasgow North is a redrawn seat from Summerston in the north, to Woodlands and Woodside in the southern end of the seat taking in Ruchill, Wyndford, Kelvinbridge and North.

Maryhill Road runs through the heart of the constituency, which also includes Byres Road and a chunk of Great Western Road at its eastern end.

(Image: newsquest)

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Glasgow North takes in wealthier areas like part of the west end and parts of the city with higher levels of deprivation and health inequality, like Ruchill and Wyndford

The Common Wheel charity in Ruchill, offers cycle maintenance workshops and art and craft classes for people with mental health issues.

The charity has been running for 23 years and said demand has grown but resources are becoming ever more hard to come by in what has become a competitive landscape.

The organisers said mental health issues and funding for community groups is vital in Glasgow North

Neil McDonald, engineer, explained: “Our founder found it was therapeutic to fix bikes.

People come and learn to strip down bikes and they rebuild them and keep them. We have had more than 1000 people come through.

“It then developed to include art and music projects.”

Richard East, chair, said: “There is more requirement for our services and we have a waiting list to get in.”

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Everyone is referred to Common Wheel either by a GP, health professional or community link worker.

He added: “We are run on grants and have to apply for grants.”

The charity also sells bikes but is dependent on grant funding.

Mr East said: “There is more awareness of mental health and not the culture of shame that used to exist. There is a greater ease of diagnosis.”

He said a big challenge is “certainty of funding” that allows groups to know they will be operating in the future.

He added: “If we know we don’t need to worry about paying salaries in two months time we could take more people through.”

Gill Law, fundraiser said: “We took a massive hit with Brexit and the end of the social Fund and local authority cuts make it difficult.”

Like the other seats in the city, it is shaping up to be a contest between the SNP, who hold the seat, and Labour.

Alison Thewlis is standing for the SNP after her former Glasgow Central constituency disappeared in boundary changes reducing Glasgow's representation from seven to six MPs.

Thewliss was the MP for Central for nine years having won it in 2015 and retaining it in 2017 and 2019.

The challenger from Labour is Martin Rhodes, a former Glasgow City Councillor for the Partick East/Kelvindale ward.

There are seven candidates looking to take the seat, which was held by Patrick Grady of the SNP since 2015.

Grady was suspended by the SNP for six months following sexual misconduct involving “unwanted physical touching” towards a junior member of staff.

The party whip was restored in December 2022 after the suspension but Grady did not seek reselection for the Glasgow North seat.

Also standing are Naveed Asghar for the Conservatives, Helen Burns, Reform UK, Iris Duane, Greens, Nick Durie, Alba and Daniel O’Malley for the Liberal Democrats.

2019 result

Partick Grady                   SNP       16,982

Pam Duncan Glancy     Labour 11,381

Tony Curtis                       Con       3806

Andrew Chamberlain  LibDem  2394

Cass McGregor               Green   1308

Dionne Cocozza             Brexit    320