Electorate 69,982 (2015) Created from Eastwood European Parliament constituency Scotland Number of members 1 | Created 2005 Type of constituency County constituency Member of parliament Kirsten Oswald Party Scottish National Party | |
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Replaced by Eastwood, Paisley South, Paisley North | ||
East Renfrewshire is a constituency of the House of Commons, to the south of Glasgow, Scotland. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) using the first-past-the-post system of voting.
Contents
- History
- Constituency profile
- Boundaries and local government areas
- Population and politics
- Elections in the 2010s
- Elections in the 1920s
- Elections in the 1910s
- References
Known as Eastwood until 2005, before 1997 it was the safest Conservative seat in Scotland. In the 1997 Labour landslide, it was won by Jim Murphy who held the seat until 2015. Kirsten Oswald of the Scottish National Party won the seat in the 2015 SNP landslide with a notably high turnout of 81% in this particular constituency.
The constituency has a mostly middle-class electorate and includes affluent areas such as Clarkston, Giffnock and Newton Mearns. Despite this, the constituency does contain some deprived areas such as Barrhead and Neilston which are found along the west of the constituency.
History
The constituency was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election. It was abolished for the 1983 general election, when it was partially replaced by the new Eastwood constituency.
The East Renfrewshire constituency was re-established for the 2005 general election, with the same boundaries as the previous Eastwood constituency. Despite the change of name, it is the only constituency in mainland Scotland whose boundaries were unchanged by the 2005 revision of Scottish constituencies.
Constituency profile
An outer suburb of the Glasgow conurbation and the rural hinterland to the south-west of Glasgow, this is an affluent, middle-class commuter area with a high proportion of owner-occupiers and professionals. Clarkston used to be a dry area until planning permission for the first pub in the area was given in 2006. East Renfrewshire has the largest Jewish population of any seat in Scotland, with almost half of Scotland's Jewish population living in the area.
At the 2014 Scottish independence referendum East Renfrewshire returned a significant majority against the proposal for Scotland to become an independent state. With a voter turnout of 90.4%, 41,690 votes were cast for "No" (63.2%) and 24,287 were cast for "Yes" (36.8%). At the 2016 European Union membership referendum a substantial majority of votes were cast in favour of remaining a member of the European Union in East Renfrewshire, with a turnout of 76.1% there were 39,345 "Remain" votes (74.3%) to 13,596 "Leave" votes (25.7%).
Boundaries and local government areas
As created in 1885 the constituency was one of four covering the area of the county of Renfrewshire (except the burgh of Renfrew and the burgh of Port Glasgow, which were components of Kilmarnock Burghs until 1918). The four constituencies were: East Renfrewshire, West Renfrewshire, Paisley and Greenock. Greenock was enlarged and renamed Greenock and Port Glasgow in 1974.
From 1885 the constituency consisted of the parishes of Eastwood, Cathcart, Mearns and Eaglesham, and part of the parish of Govan.
From 1918 the constituency consisted of "The Upper County District, inclusive of all burghs situated therein, except the burghs of Paisley and Johnstone, together with so much of the burgh of Renfrew as is contained within the parish of Govan in the county of Lanark."
The constituency was abolished for the 1983 general election, eight years after the creation of local government regions and districts in 1975. The new constituency, with revised boundaries, was called Eastwood.
In 1996 the area of the Eastwood constituency became, also, the East Renfrewshire unitary council area.
In 1999 a Scottish Parliament constituency was created with the name and boundaries of the Eastwood Westminster constituency.
In the widespread redistribution of Scottish seats for the 2005 general election, the name of the Eastwood Westminster constituency was changed back to East Renfrewshire.
Population and politics
The constituency is on the borders of Glasgow, and is mostly middle-class residential territory for Glasgow. The area was looked on as safely Conservative before Labour gained the seat in 1997. East Renfrewshire was subsequently viewed as a relatively safe Labour seat until the SNP gained the seat in 2015.
Elections in the 2010s
In 2015 East Renfrewshire became the second most marginal Labour-SNP constituency in Scotland behind Edinburgh South, which was Labour's only Westminster constituency in Scotland at the election.
Elections in the 1920s
Alexander Munro MacRobert was appointed Solicitor General for Scotland on 31 December 1925.