Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 2005 onwards
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Before 1997, the constituency was the safestConservative seat in Scotland.[4][5] In the 1997 Labour landslide, it was won by Jim Murphy who held the seat until Kirsten Oswald of the Scottish National Party was elected in the 2015 SNP landslide. In 2017, the constituency returned to Conservative control for the first time in 20 years, when it was gained by Conservative candidate Paul Masterton. However in the 2019 election Oswald was re-elected, gaining the seat for the SNP once again.
The constituency has a mostly middle-class electorate and includes affluent areas.[6]
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.
From 1885 the constituency consisted of the parishes of Eastwood, Cathcart, Mearns and Eaglesham, and part of the parish of Govan.[7]
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 governmentregions and districts in 1975. The new constituency, with revised boundaries, was called Eastwood.
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.
Constituency profile and voting patterns[]
An outer suburban part of the Glasgow conurbation and the rural hinterland to the south-west of the city, East Renfrewshire is predominantly an affluent, middle-class commuter area with a high proportion of owner-occupiers and professionals. East Renfrewshire has the largest Jewish population of any constituency in Scotland, with almost half of Scotland's Jewish population living in that area.
At the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, East Renfrewshire returned a significant majority against Scottish independence; with a voter turnout of 90.4%, 41,690 votes were cast for "No" (63.2%) and 24,287 for "Yes" (36.8%). At the 2016 European Union membership referendum, a substantial majority of votes were cast in favour of the United Kingdom remaining in 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%).[8]
The area was looked on as a safely Conservative seat before Jim Murphy of the Labour Party gained the seat (then known as Eastwood) during their landslide victory in 1997. East Renfrewshire was then subsequently viewed as a relatively safe Labour seat until the SNP gained the seat in their 2015 landslide victory.
At the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, the Eastwood constituency, covering a majority of the East Renfrewshire parliamentary constituency, returned ConservativeJackson Carlaw as its constituency MSP with a majority of 1,611 votes (4.5%). In 2017, during what would prove to be their best performance at a general election in Scotland for 34 years, the Conservatives subsequently gained the East Renfrewshire seat at the 2017 snap general election; with Paul Masterton being elected with a majority of 4,712 (8.8%) votes over Kirsten Oswald of the Scottish National Party. However, at the 2019 general election; Oswald regained the seat for the SNP with a majority of 5,426 and a 9.8% swing, making the seat a battleground between the SNP and the Conservatives.
^Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. "UK general election data 2015 - results". The Electoral Commission; The Elections Centre, Plymouth University. Retrieved 24 March 2016.