Renfrewshire South (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Renfrewshire South is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. It also forms one of ten constituencies in the West Scotland electoral region, which also elects seven additional members to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Not to be confused with Paisley and Renfrewshire South (UK Parliament constituency).

Renfrewshire South
county constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Renfrewshire South shown within the West Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Current constituency
Created	2011
Party	SNP
MSP	Tom Arthur
Council area	Renfrewshire East Renfrewshire

The constituency was created for the 2011 Scottish Parliament election largely from the former West Renfrewshire constituency, the majority of which went on to form Renfrewshire North and West.

Constituency boundaries and council area

Renfrewshire is represented in the Scottish Parliament by three constituencies: Paisley, Renfrewshire North and West and Renfrewshire South. While the rest of East Renfrewshire is represented by the Eastwood constituency.

The Renfrewshire South constituency was formed from the following local electoral wards:

• In full: Barrhead, Liboside and Uplawmoor and Johnstone North, Kilbarchan, Lochwinnoch and Howwood
• In part: Johnstone South and Elderslie (shared with Paisley), Newton Mearns North and Neilston (shared with Eastwood), Houston, Crosslee and Linwood (shared with Renfrewshire North and West)

Constituency profile

BBC profile:[1]

This is a new constituency, created in 2011, whose towns and villages grew up around housing estates formed during the industrial revolution. Its industry of old consisted of small-scale coal mining and larger-scale thread and cotton factories powered by the Black Cart Water, running north of Johnstone. The seat has within its boundaries the villages of Elderslie - which is reputed to be the birthplace of Sir William Wallace - and Kilbarchan where Scottish political activist Mary Barbour was born. She led the Glasgow rent strike of 1915 and later became the city's first woman councillor.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	2011	Hugh Henry	Labour
	2016	Tom Arthur	SNP

Election results

2010s

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Renfrewshire South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SNP	Tom Arthur	14,272	48.1	+9.6
	Labour Co-op	Paul O'Kane	9,864	33.2	-14.9
	Conservative	Ann Le Blond	4,752	16.0	+5.2
	Liberal Democrats	Tristan Gray	793	2.7	+0.1
Majority			4,408	14.9	N/A
Turnout			29,681	60.1	+6.8
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Renfrewshire South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Hugh Henry	12,943	48.1	-2.9
	SNP	Andrew Doig	10,356	38.5	+7.9
	Conservative	Alistair Campbell	2,917	10.8	-1.7
	Liberal Democrats	Gordon Anderson	702	2.6	-1.7
Majority			2,587	9.6	N/A
Turnout			26,918	53.3	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

Electoral region

See also: West Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

The other nine constituencies of the West Scotland region are Clydebank and Milngavie, Cunninghame North, Cunninghame South, Dumbarton, Eastwood, Greenock and Inverclyde, Paisley, Renfrewshire North and West and Strathkelvin and Bearsden.

The region covers part of the Argyll and Bute council area, the East Dunbartonshire council area, the East Renfrewshire council area, the Inverclyde council area, North Ayrshire council area, the Renfrewshire council area and the West Dunbartonshire council area.

Notes and references

1. 'Renfrewshire South'