West Renfrewshire (Scottish Parliament constituency)

West Renfrewshire was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. Also, however, it is one of nine constituencies in the West of Scotland electoral region, which elected seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Not to be confused with West Renfrewshire (UK Parliament constituency).

West Renfrewshire
Former county constituency for the Scottish Parliament
West Renfrewshire shown within the West of Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Former constituency
Created	1999
Abolished	2011
Council area	Inverclyde
Replaced by	Renfrewshire North and West, and Renfrewshire South

For the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, West Renfrewshire was abolished. Two new seats were created; Renfrewshire North and West, and Renfrewshire South

Electoral region

See also: West of Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

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

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

Constituency boundaries

The West Renfrewshire constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of an existing Westminster constituency. In 2005, however, the Westminster (House of Commons) constituency was divided between new constituencies.[1]

Council areas

The Holyrood constituency covers a western portion of the Renfrewshire council area and an eastern portion of the Inverclyde council area.

The rest of the Renfrewshire area is covered by the Paisley North, Paisley South and Glasgow Govan constituencies. Glasgow Govan is in the Glasgow electoral region.

The Greenock and Inverclyde constituency covers the rest of the Inverclyde area.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1999	Trish Godman	Labour
	2011	constituency abolished: replaced by Renfrewshire North and West, and Renfrewshire South

Election results

2000s

2007 Scottish Parliament election: West Renfrewshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Trish Godman	10,467	35.9	+1.8
	Conservative	Annabel Goldie	8,289	28.5	+4.2
	SNP	Bill Wilson	8,167	28.0	+2.6
	Liberal Democrats	Simon Hutton	2,206	7.6	-2.7
Majority			2,178	7.4	-1.4
Turnout			29,129	58.3	+2.8
	Labour hold		Swing

2003 Scottish Parliament election: West Renfrewshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Trish Godman	9,671	34.1	-3.2
	SNP	Bruce McFee	7,179	25.4	-3.7
	Conservative	Annabel Goldie	6,867	24.3	+3.0
	Liberal Democrats	Alison King	2,902	10.3	+2.4
	Scottish Socialist	Gerry MaCartney	1,683	5.95	N/A
Majority			2,492	8.8	+0.3
Turnout			28,302	55.5	-9.4
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.3

1990s

1999 Scottish Parliament election: West Renfrewshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Trish Godman	12,708	37.4	N/A
	SNP	Colin Campbell	9,815	28.8	N/A
	Conservative	Annabel Goldie	7,243	21.3	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Neal Ascherson	2,659	7.8	N/A
	Independent	Allan McGraw	1,136	3.3	N/A
	Socialist Workers	Patrick Clark	476	1.4	N/A
Majority			2,893	8.5	N/A
Turnout			34,037	64.9	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

Notes and references

1. See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland