GLASGOW South is the old Cathcart seat which is one of the few in the city that had a Conservative MP in living memory.

The seat takes in some of the affluent areas of the south side and goes out to Croftfoot and Castlemilk and also includes Glasgow’s last remaining village, Carmunnock.

In many socio-economic demographic profiles the constituency statistics point to more affluence than most in Glasgow.

The majority of the homes in the constituency are owned with just 25% socially rented from housing associations.

There is a higher than average car ownership. More than half are considered to be in good health and only 20% have a long term health condition or disability.

However, poverty still exists and where it exists it is as severe as anywhere else in the city. In fact it can be masked because statistics show many of the communities to be better off.

Citizens advice analysis shows that the biggest issue was benefits with more than 4,000 instances of people asking for help, more than half of the total visits to the local bureau.

The third biggest issue after debt was tax.

Glasgow South is home to 27% of datazones, small areas of a few streets, that are in the most deprived category.

But 75% of those who sought advice were from those areas.

Since the 1970s it has changed hands between three parties.

From 1964 until 1979 it was held by Conservative, Teddy Taylor, still well remembered, and liked, in many parts of the constituency.

From the 1980s until 2015 it had been sold Labour but now the SNP has a grip on the seat.

From the 1979 election it was Labour for more than 30 years under John Maxton until it passed to Tom Harris in 2001 who held it twice until the SNP’s post referendum wipe-out of Labour in Glasgow in 2015.

Mr Harris, who was the Scottish director of the Vote Leave campaign in 2016, and a long time critic of Jeremy Corbyn, is now encouraging people to vote Conservative.

Stewart McDonald took it for the SNP with a massive swing in a nationalist surge across Scotland in 2015 and held it two years later with a hugely reduced majority.

He is defending a lead of just over 2000 votes. It is once again a fight again between the SNP and Labour.

Mr McDonald said that the cost of living is the key challenge facing people.

He said: “The day to day issues are coming up. Universal credit and the cold shoulder bureaucracy of the DWP and the Home Office and people generally, whether working or not working, trying to deal with the cost of living.

“There is no better example than Castlemilk and it is more pronounced at this time of year.”

Johann Lamont is the Labour Candidate. She is currently a Labour Glasgow MSP and she is campaiging as the alternative to the Tories at Westminster and the SNP at Holyrood.

Ms Lamont said: “I will stand up for our communities and tell the Tories and SNP enough is enough – no more cuts, no more division. For too long, Glasgow has felt the brunt of savage SNP/Tory cuts. I will always champion our city, campaign for much needed investment, and stand up to the Scottish and UK governments to demand a fair deal for our city."

There is still a considerable Tory vote in the seat with almost 20% of the electorate two years ago, when they more than doubled their vote but realistically it won’t be turning blue again this month.

The Tories are hoping the ‘We said no and we meant it’ message will see them win the votes of those who voted against independence in 2014.

It won’t be enough to win the seat given Glasgow South voted yes, but if their message on the union is stronger than Labour’s then it could see it pick up votes on the back of it.

Candidate, Kyle Thornton, is a Glasgow councillor and his upfront about the campaign message.

He said: “My focus is on stopping a second referendum so we can focus on local issues.

“An MP should be a community champion, people want someone who is in the community working for them and acting on their behalf.”

The Liberal Democrats are pinning their hopes on the national picture and their stance on the two constitutional battles persuading people to support them this time.

They were a distant fourth in 2017 with just under 4% of the vote. Two years earlier they fared worse with the Greens standing, pushing them into fifth place with just 2%.

Carole Ford is the party’s candidate. She said there are concerns about health and particularly mental health requiring action but the immediate focus is on teh consitution.

She said: “In this election we are standing on stop Brexit and independence.”

The Greens are fielding a candidate again.

Dan Hutchison is pushing on local issues, like transport.

He said: “Greens will continue to work hard at all levels of government to make the case for a transport service that serves the whole community.”

The Brexit Party has a candidate in Glasgow South also.

Danyaal Raja said it is about democracy.

He said: “In Glasgow South 25% of people voted to leave the European Union and no-one is standing up for them."

Meet the candidates

Stewart McDonald, SNP

“I’ve been trying to bring a supermarket to Castlemilk. People have further to travel and fewer people have a car. We’re close to getting an announcement. The reality of dealing with the welfare state is heavily pronounced. That’s the case also in Mount Florida, Shawlands and Battlefield, but it can be in private rented or owner-occupied homes so less visible.”

Johann Lamont, Labour

“Only Labour can form an alternative government to stop Boris Johnson. A Labour government would end a decade of SNP and Tory cuts and renew investment in our vital public services and infrastructure. We would rebalance the economy so that it does not just work for those at the top but is one that works for all.” 

Kyle Thornton, Conservatives “The biggest issue is that of a second independence referendum. People do not want to go back to that.People want us to start moving on. A lot of people are voting Conservative because of that.”

Carole Ford, LibDems

“The most important issues are the same as for the rest of Scotland. People here that I speak to are very concerned about Brexit and more concerned about independence. On these two big issues we have a coherent policy that both would be detrimental to Scotland.”

Danyaal Raja, Brexit Party

“It is about revitalising democracy. If we were to go into education and health we could have a field day but this election is about changing politics for good. In Glasgow South 25% of people voted to leave the European Union and no-one is standing up for them.”

Dan Hutchison, Greens

“Poor quality and expensive public transport makes life so much harder for many people in the South Side than it needs to be. The Greens have fought a better buses campaign over the last year which finally resulted in an end to Thatcher era bus laws, and means councils will be able to establish their own bus companies.”

Voices on the street

ROSS Galbraith is project manager of Glasgow The Caring City, which is located in Castlemilk and works across Glasgow and Scotland.

The charity witnesses first-hand the level of need in the community and Mr Galbraith has seen a massive change in a short space of time.

Those who are in need of support, he says, have been battered in recent years.

He said: “In 20 years working in this field I have never known the situation to be so bad, where there are so many people in need in our society. 

“The system of benefits is so complicated. There is forced poverty, with people who have  the ability and the desire to work but they are being held in a workless state.

“Five years ago, we used to experience the phone ringing and it was a family looking for help with furniture. Then it was help with clothing or maybe toys for children. Now it is food. That decline has been so rapid.  “People are in the depths of poverty. The sheer scale of poverty is terrifying. There’s a lot of good work happening within the charity sector but we are not even skimming the surface.

“One of the biggest problems just now, with winter and the cold, is homelessness.

“But the issue that is growing the most is mental health. 

“There is a mental health crisis in Glasgow just now. It is so vast. And it is absolutely a by-product of the poverty.  It is a ticking time bomb.

“I believe in honesty. There are people who will polish statistics but this is just the stark reality of what people are facing.  We believe in helping where we can but we are pushed to the limit and our partner organisations are the same. There are people starving, literally starving, in Glasgow in 2019.”