West Renfrewshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

 from 1885 to 1983 and again from 1997 until 2005. In 2005 the constituency was abolished and the area is now represented by Inverclyde

Inverclyde (UK Parliament constituency)

Inverclyde is a parliamentary constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It replaced Greenock and Inverclyde and the Port Glasgow and Kilmacolm areas from West Renfrewshire for the 2005 general election....

, Paisley and Renfrewshire North

Paisley and Renfrewshire North (UK Parliament constituency)

Paisley and Renfrewshire North is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 2005 general election, replacing most of Paisley North and Renfrewshire West....

 and Paisley and Renfrewshire South

Paisley and Renfrewshire South (UK Parliament constituency)

Paisley and Renfrewshire South is a constituency of the British House of Commons, located in Renfrewshire, Scotland to the south-west of Glasgow. It elects one Member of Parliament at least once every five years using the First-past-the-post system of voting.The seat was formed in 2005, and is a...

.

Boundaries

The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885

Redistribution of Seats Act 1885

The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equally populated constituencies, in an attempt to equalise representation across...

 provided that the Western division should consist of "the parishes of Inverkip

Inverkip

Inverkip is a village and parish falling within the Inverclyde council area and historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies about southwest of Greenock on the A78 trunk road...

, Greenock

Greenock

Greenock is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in United Kingdom, and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland...

, Port Glasgow

Port Glasgow

Port Glasgow is the second largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16617 persons...

, Kilmalcolm

Kilmacolm

Kilmacolm is a village and civil parish in the Inverclyde council area and the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies on the northern slope of the Gryffe Valley south-east of Greenock and around west of the city of Glasgow...

, Erskine

Erskine

Erskine is a town in the council area of Renfrewshire, and historic county of the same name, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland.It lies on the southern bank of the River Clyde, providing the lowest crossing to the north bank of the river at Erskine Bridge connecting the town to Old Kilpatrick...

, Inchinnan

Inchinnan

Inchinnan is a small village in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The village is located on the main A8 road between Renfrew and Greenock, just southeast of the town of Erskine.-History:...

, Houston, Kilbarchan

Kilbarchan

Kilbarchan is a village and civil parish in central Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The village's name means "cell of St. Barchan". It is known for its former weaving industry.- History :...

, Lochwinnoch

Lochwinnoch

Lochwinnoch is a village in the council area and historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Lying on the banks of Castle Semple Loch and the River Calder, Lochwinnoch is chiefly a residential dormitory village serving nearby urban centres such as Glasgow and Paisley...

, Renfrew

Renfrew

-Local government:The town of Renfrew gave its name to a number of local government areas used at various times:*Renfrew a town to the west of Glasgow*Renfrewshire, the present unitary local council area in which Renfrew is situatated....

, Abbey

Abbey, Renfrewshire

Abbey or sometimes Abbey Paisley was a civil parish in Renfrewshire, Scotland traditionally centred on the towns of Paisley and Johnstone and including the smaller settlements of Elderslie, Inkerman, Hurlet, Nitshill, the Dovecothall area of Barrhead, and the hamlets of Thorn and Quarrelton, now...

, Neilston

Neilston

Neilston is a village and parish in East Renfrewshire set in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies in the Levern Valley, southwest of Barrhead, south of Paisley, and south-southwest of Renfrew, at the southwestern fringe of the Greater Glasgow conurbation...

, Beith

Beith

Beith is a small town situated in the Garnock Valley in North Ayrshire, Scotland approximately 20-miles south-west of Glasgow. The town is situated on the crest of a hill and was known originally as the "Hill o' Beith" after its Court Hill.-History:-Name:Beith's name is thought to emanate from...

, and Dunlop".

From 1918 the constituency consisted of "The Lower county District, inclusive of all burghs situated therein, except the burgh of Greenock, together with the burgh of Johnstone."

In 1999 with the creation of the devolved

Devolution

Devolution is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to government at a subnational level, such as a regional, local, or state level. Devolution can be mainly financial, e.g. giving areas a budget which was formerly administered by central government...

 Scottish Parliament

Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...

, a Scottish Parliamentary constituency of West Renfrewshire

West Renfrewshire (Scottish Parliament constituency)

West Renfrewshire was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the first past the post method of election...

 was created with the same name and boundaries as the UK Parliament constituency.

Abolition

Under the Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 1983 (SI 1983/422), made under the authority of the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949

House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949

The House of Commons Act 1949 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that provided for the periodic review of the number and boundaries of parliamentary constituencies....

, West Renfrewshire was abolished in 1983. The area of the constituency was divided between Renfrew West and Inverclyde

Renfrew West and Inverclyde (UK Parliament constituency)

Renfrewshire West and Inverclyde was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1983 to 1997.The constituency was created out of, and merged back into, the West Renfrewshire constituency.-Members of Parliament:...

, Paisley North

Paisley North (UK Parliament constituency)

Paisley North was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Paisley in Renfrewshire, Scotland. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system....

 and Paisley South

Paisley South (UK Parliament constituency)

Paisley South was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Paisley in Renfrewshire, Scotland. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system....

.

In 2005, the constituency was again abolished and remains so to the present day. The The Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 2005 (SI 2005/250) made under the authority of the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986

Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986

The Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is the legislation defining the constitution and work of the 4 parliamentary Boundary Commissions in the UK...

 divided the former West Renfrewshire constituency amongst the new Inverclyde

Inverclyde (UK Parliament constituency)

Inverclyde is a parliamentary constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It replaced Greenock and Inverclyde and the Port Glasgow and Kilmacolm areas from West Renfrewshire for the 2005 general election....

, Paisley and Renfrewshire North

Paisley and Renfrewshire North (UK Parliament constituency)

Paisley and Renfrewshire North is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 2005 general election, replacing most of Paisley North and Renfrewshire West....

 and Paisley and Renfrewshire South

Paisley and Renfrewshire South (UK Parliament constituency)

Paisley and Renfrewshire South is a constituency of the British House of Commons, located in Renfrewshire, Scotland to the south-west of Glasgow. It elects one Member of Parliament at least once every five years using the First-past-the-post system of voting.The seat was formed in 2005, and is a...

 constituencies.

MPs 1885–1983

Election		Member	Party
	1885 United Kingdom general election, 1885 -Seats summary:-See also:*List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1885*Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885–1918*Representation of the People Act 1884*Redistribution of Seats Act 1885-References:...	Sir Archibald Campbell, Bt Archibald Campbell, 1st Baron Blythswood Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Campbell, 1st Baron Blythswood FRS was a Scottish Conservative politician....	Unionist
	1892 United Kingdom general election, 1892 The 1892 United Kingdom general election was held from 4 July to 26 July 1892. It saw the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury, win the greatest number of seats, but not enough for an overall majority as William Ewart Gladstone's Liberals won many more seats than in the 1886 general election...	Charles Renshaw Sir Charles Renshaw, 1st Baronet Sir Charles Bine Renshaw, 1st Baronet was a Scottish Unionist Party politician.He was elected at the 1892 as the Member of Parliament for West Renfrewshire, and held the seat until he retired from Parliament at the 1906 general election.He was created a Baronet in 1903, of Coldharbour, Surrey.He...	Unionist
	1906 United Kingdom general election, 1906 -Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1906*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-External links:***-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**...	Sir Thomas Glen Glen-Coats, Bt Sir Thomas Glen-Coats, 1st Baronet Sir Thomas Glen Glen-Coats, 1st Baronet VD was a Scottish businessman and Liberal Party politician.Glen-Coats was a Director of the thread-making firm of J. & P. Coats. He was created a Baronet, of Ferguslie Park in the Parish of Abbey in the County of Renfrew, in 1894. He stood for Renfrewshire...	Liberal Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
	January 1910	James William Greig James William Greig Colonel Sir James William Greig CB, KC, VD was a British barrister and Liberal Party politician. He sat in the House of Commons from 1910 to 1922.- Early life :...	Liberal Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
	1922 United Kingdom general election, 1922 The United Kingdom general election of 1922 was held on 15 November 1922. It was the first election held after most of the Irish counties left the United Kingdom to form the Irish Free State, and was won by Andrew Bonar Law's Conservatives, who gained an overall majority over Labour, led by John...	Robert Murray Robert Murray (Scottish politician) Robert Murray was a Scottish co-operator and politician who served briefly in Parliament as a member of the Labour Party.-Early life:...	Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
	1924 United Kingdom general election, 1924 - Seats summary :- References :* F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987* - External links :* * *...	Archibald Douglas MacInnes Shaw Archibald Douglas MacInnes Shaw Colonel Sir Douglas MacInnes Shaw DSO was a Scottish soldier, businessman and Unionist Party politician. He served in both World Wars, and sat in the House of Commons from 1924 to 1929.- Career :...	Unionist
	1929 United Kingdom general election, 1929 -Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...	Robert Forgan Robert Forgan Robert Forgan was a British politician who was a close associate of Oswald Mosley.-Early life and medical career:The Scottish-born Forgan was the son of a Church of Scotland minister...	Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
	1931 United Kingdom general election, 1931 The United Kingdom general election on Tuesday 27 October 1931 was the last in the United Kingdom not held on a Thursday. It was also the last election, and the only one under universal suffrage, where one party received an absolute majority of the votes cast.The 1931 general election was the...	Henry James Scrymgeour-Wedderburn, later Earl of Dundee Earl of Dundee Earl of Dundee is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1660 for John Scrymgeour, 3rd Viscount Dudhope. At his death in 1668, Duke of Lauderdale declared that the first Earl had no heirs-male, and had the crown seize all of his lands...	Unionist
	1945 United Kingdom general election, 1945 The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...	Thomas Scollan Thomas Scollan Thomas Scollan was a Scottish trade unionist and Labour Party politician.Scollan was an an engineer, and an organiser for Distributive Workers...	Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
	1950 United Kingdom general election, 1950 The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. Despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservatives, the election, held on 23 February 1950 resulted in Labour receiving a slim majority of just five...	John Maclay later Viscount Muirshiel	National Liberal and Conservative National Liberal Party (UK, 1931) The National Liberal Party, known until 1948 as the Liberal National Party, was a liberal political party in the United Kingdom from 1931 to 1968...
	1964 United Kingdom general election, 1964 The United Kingdom general election of 1964 was held on 15 October 1964, more than five years after the preceding election, and thirteen years after the Conservative Party had retaken power...	Norman Buchan Norman Buchan Norman Findlay Buchan was a Labour politician, who represented the West Renfrewshire seat from 1964 until 1983 and the Paisley South seat from 1983 to 1990....	Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
1983 United Kingdom general election, 1983 The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...		constituency abolished

Constituency divided amongst:

• Renfrew West and Inverclyde
  Renfrew West and Inverclyde (UK Parliament constituency)
  Renfrewshire West and Inverclyde was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1983 to 1997.The constituency was created out of, and merged back into, the West Renfrewshire constituency.-Members of Parliament:...
  
  
• Paisley North
  Paisley North (UK Parliament constituency)
  Paisley North was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Paisley in Renfrewshire, Scotland. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system....
  
  
• Paisley South
  Paisley South (UK Parliament constituency)
  Paisley South was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Paisley in Renfrewshire, Scotland. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system....
  
  

MPs 1997–2005

Election		Member	Party
	1997	Tommy Graham Thomas Graham (politician) Thomas "Tommy" Graham is a Scottish former Labour Party politician. A native of Glasgow, Graham worked as an engineer before serving on Strathclyde Regional Council from 1978 to 1987....	Labour then Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...  Scottish Labour
	2001	Jim Sheridan	Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
2005 United Kingdom general election, 2005 The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....		constituency abolished

Constituency divided amongst:

• Inverclyde
  Inverclyde (UK Parliament constituency)
  Inverclyde is a parliamentary constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It replaced Greenock and Inverclyde and the Port Glasgow and Kilmacolm areas from West Renfrewshire for the 2005 general election....
  
  
• Paisley and Renfrewshire North
  Paisley and Renfrewshire North (UK Parliament constituency)
  Paisley and Renfrewshire North is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 2005 general election, replacing most of Paisley North and Renfrewshire West....
  
  
• Paisley and Renfrewshire South
  Paisley and Renfrewshire South (UK Parliament constituency)
  Paisley and Renfrewshire South is a constituency of the British House of Commons, located in Renfrewshire, Scotland to the south-west of Glasgow. It elects one Member of Parliament at least once every five years using the First-past-the-post system of voting.The seat was formed in 2005, and is a...
  
  

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1930s

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1910s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1880s