She was a high-profile candidate, who had been the first female general secretary of the Labour Party at only 26, and had been an aide to disgraced media tycoon Robert Maxwell until his death.

[4] Two other candidates stood; Abi Bremner on a platform opposing the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill, and Duncan Patterson of the Natural Law Party.

The main issue of the campaign was allegations of sectarian bias on Monklands District Council, which included the constituency (see Monklandsgate).

[7] In her victory speech Liddell claimed the SNP had "played the Orange card", something which Alex Salmond strenuously denied.

Ullrich became a Member of the Scottish Parliament for West of Scotland from 1999 to 2003, while Bell later left the Conservative Party for the Liberal Democrats.