Falkirk threw off reliance upon agriculture in the eighteenth century when it became an iron-founding town. Today the iron industry is no more, but the seat is still home to industrial towns and villages, including Denny, Dunipace and Larbert, which are involved in heavy vehicle assembly, distilling and new light industries.
Left-winger Dennis Canavan held this seat from 1983 until 2000, when he finally hung up his Westminster gloves. He had failed to win the Labour nomination for the seat in the Scottish Parliament election, but refused to accept this and stood as an independent. This got him expelled from the party in March 1999.
His successful election to the Scottish Parliament, with a commanding 55% of the vote, was a major embarrassment to Labour, which mustered only 18.8% of the vote.
Mr Canavan gave up his Westminster seat in 2000, triggering a by-election which was won for Labour by former army major Eric Joyce with a slim majority of 705 votes over the SNP. The turnout was an unsurprisingly low turnout of 36% in a poll held just days before Christmas.