Paisley and Renfrewshire South (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 55°48′50″N 4°29′06″W / 55.814°N 4.485°W / 55.814; -4.485

Paisley and Renfrewshire South
County constituency
for the House of Commons

Outline map

Boundary of Paisley and Renfrewshire South in Scotland.
Current constituency
Created 2005
Member of parliament Mhairi Black (SNP)
Created from Paisley South, Paisley North, and Renfrewshire West
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency Scotland

Paisley and Renfrewshire South is a constituency of the British House of Commons, located in Renfrewshire, Scotland to the southwest of Glasgow. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) at least once every five years using the first-past-the-post system of voting.

The seat was formed in 2005, and was traditionally a safe seat for the Labour Party, who previously had a majority of over 16,000 until the SNP gained the seat in the 2015 General Election. Its first MP was Douglas Alexander, who had been the constituency's MP since 2005 (and for the predecessor seat of Paisley South since 1997). Alexander was the Shadow Foreign Secretary, and has previously held cabinet posts such as Transport Secretary and Scottish Secretary (2006-07; joint), and International Development Secretary (2007-10).

The constituency takes in the southern half of the town of Paisley, as well as the smaller town of Johnstone. The constituency also covers large tracts of rural Renfrewshire, including a number of villages around the many lochs in the area.

Boundaries

This new seat takes the majority of Paisley South with minor additions from neighbouring constituencies.[1] Population areas in this seat include Glenburn, Saucel and Hunterhill, Johnstone and Kilbarchan.

Members of Parliament

Douglas Alexander represented the constituency from its creation in 2005 to 2015; he had previously represented the former constituency of Paisley South since a 1997 by-election.

ElectionMemberParty
2005 Douglas Alexander Labour
2015 Mhairi Black SNP

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Paisley and Renfrewshire South [2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Mhairi Black 23,548 50.9 +32.8
Labour Douglas Alexander 17,864 38.6 –21.0
Conservative Fraser Galloway 3,526 7.6 –2.3
Liberal Democrat Eileen McCartin 1,010 2.2 –7.3
Scottish Socialist Sandra Webster 278 0.6 –0.3
Majority 5,684 12.3
Turnout 46,226 75.4 +9.1
SNP gain from Labour Swing +26.9
General Election 2010: Paisley and Renfrewshire South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Douglas Alexander 23,842 59.6 +7.0
SNP Andrew Doig 7,228 18.1 +0.5
Conservative Gordon McCaskill 3,979 9.9 +1.5
Liberal Democrats Ashay Ghai 3,812 9.5 –8.1
Independent Paul Mack 513 1.3
Scottish Socialist Jimmy Kerr 375 0.9 –1.1
Independent William Hendry 249 0.6
Majority 16,614 41.54
Turnout 39,998 65.36 +2.4
Labour hold Swing +3.27
General Election 2005: Paisley and Renfrewshire South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Douglas Alexander 19,904 52.6 -4.4
Liberal Democrats Eileen McCartin 6,672 17.6 +8.0
SNP Andrew Doig 6,653 17.6 -3.3
Conservative Thomas Begg 3,188 8.4 0.0
Scottish Socialist Iain Hogg 789 2.1 -0.7
Pride in Paisley Party Gordon Matthew 381 1.0 +1.0
Independent Robert Rodgers 166 0.4 +0.4
Socialist Labour Howard Broadbent 107 0.3 +0.3
Majority 13,232 34.9
Turnout 37,860 62.9 +6.0
Labour hold Swing -6.2

References

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