Paisley South (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Paisley South (Scottish Parliament constituency).

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

Paisley South
Former burgh constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Paisley South in Scotland for the 2001 general election
Subdivisions of Scotland	Renfrewshire
Major settlements	Paisley
1983–2005
Seats	One
Created from	Paisley, West Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire[1]
Replaced by	Paisley & Renfrewshire South Paisley & Renfrewshire North

History

The constituency was created when the former Paisley constituency was divided for the 1983 general election. It was abolished for the 2005 general election, when Paisley was represented by the new constituencies of Paisley & Renfrewshire South and Paisley & Renfrewshire North.

Boundaries

The Renfrew District electoral divisions of Johnstone, Paisley Central, and Paisley Gleniffer.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1983	Norman Buchan	Labour
	1990 by-election	Gordon McMaster	Labour Co-operative
	1997 by-election	Douglas Alexander	Labour
2005		constituency abolished: see Paisley & Renfrewshire South and Paisley & Renfrewshire North

Election results

Elections of the 1980s

General election 1983: Paisley South^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Norman Buchan	15,633	41.4	−9.6
	Liberal	Elspeth M. Buchanan	9,104	24.1
	Conservative	Joseph Knox	7,819	20.7	−9.7
	SNP	James Mitchell	4,918	13.1	−4.3
	Ecology	David Mellor	271	0.7	New
Majority			6,529	17.3
Turnout			37,745	72.5
	Labour win (new seat)

General election 1987: Paisley South^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Norman Buchan	21,611	56.2	+14.8
	Liberal	Alistair Carmichael	5,826	15.1	−9.0
	Conservative	Dorothy Williamson	5,644	14.7	−6.0
	SNP	James Mitchell	5,398	14.0	+0.9
Majority			15,785	41.1	+23.8
Turnout			38,479	75.3	+2.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections of the 1990s

By-election 1990: Paisley South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Gordon McMaster	12,485	46.1	−10.1
	SNP	Iain Lawson	7,455	27.5	+13.5
	Conservative	John Workman	3,627	13.4	−1.3
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Reid	2,660	9.8	−5.3
	Green	Elizabeth Collie	835	3.1	New
Majority			5,030	18.6	−22.5
Turnout			27,062	55.0	−20.3
	Labour hold		Swing	−11.8

General election 1992: Paisley South^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Gordon McMaster	18,202	50.7	−5.5
	SNP	Iain Lawson	8,653	24.1	+10.1
	Conservative	Sheila Laidlaw	5,703	15.9	+1.2
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Reid	3,271	9.1	−6.0
	Natural Law	Stephen Porter	93	0.3	New
Majority			9,549	26.6	−14.5
Turnout			35,922	75.0	−0.3
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1997: Paisley South^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Gordon McMaster	21,482	57.5	+6.8
	SNP	William Martin	8,732	23.4	−0.7
	Liberal Democrats	Eileen McCartin	3,500	9.4	+0.3
	Conservative	Robin Reid	3,237	8.6	−7.3
	Referendum	James Lardner	254	0.7	New
	Scottish Socialist	Sean Clerkin	146	0.4	New
Majority			12,750	34.1	+7.5
Turnout			37,351	69.1	−5.9
	Labour hold		Swing

By-Election 1997: Paisley South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Alexander	10,346	44.1	−13.4
	SNP	Ian Blackford	7,615	32.5	+9.1
	Liberal Democrats	Eileen McCartin	2,582	11.0	+1.6
	Conservative	Sheila Laidlaw	1,643	7.0	−1.6
	ProLife Alliance	John A. Deighan	578	2.5	New
	Scottish Socialist	Frances Curran	306	1.3	+0.9
	Independent	Charles W. McLauchlan	155	0.7	New
	Socialist Labour	Christopher Herriot	153	0.7	New
	Natural Law	Kenneth R. Blair	57	0.2	New
Majority			2,731	11.6	−22.5
Turnout			23,435	42.9	−26.2
	Labour hold		Swing	−11.3

Elections of the 2000s

General election 2001: Paisley South^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Douglas Alexander	17,830	58.4	+0.9
	SNP	Brian Lawson	5,920	19.4	−4.0
	Liberal Democrats	Brian O’Malley	3,178	10.4	+1.0
	Conservative	Andrew Cossar	2,301	7.5	−1.1
	Scottish Socialist	Frances Curran	835	2.7	+2.3
	ProLife Alliance	Patricia Graham	346	1.1	N/A
	Independent	Terence O'Donnell	126	0.4	N/A
Majority			11,910	39.0	+4.9
Turnout			30,536	57.2	−11.9
	Labour hold		Swing