Until 1997, the constituency was the
safestConservative seat in Scotland.[4][5] At the 1997 general election, which was a landslide
victory for
Labour, it was won by future Scottish Labour leader
Jim Murphy who held the seat until being defeated by
Kirsten Oswald of the
Scottish National Party at the 2015 general election. In 2017, the constituency returned to Conservative control for the first time in twenty years, when it was won by Conservative candidate
Paul Masterton. However, at the 2019 general election, Oswald regained the seat for the SNP once again.
The constituency has a mostly middle-class electorate and includes affluent areas.[6][7]
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.[8]
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."
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
Greater 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%).[9]
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 or 9.8%, establishing the seat as an SNP-Conservative marginal battleground.
^Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael.
"UK general election data 2015 - results". The Electoral Commission; The Elections Centre, Plymouth University. Retrieved 24 March 2016.