West Renfrewshire (Scottish Parliament constituency)

55°50′57″N 4°34′13″W / 55.849108°N 4.570312°W / 55.849108; -4.570312

West Renfrewshire was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament covering part of the council area of Renfrewshire. It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. West Renfrewshire was abolished for the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, being replaced by the new constituencies of Renfrewshire North and West and Renfrewshire South.

Under the additional-member electoral system used for elections to the Scottish Parliament, West Renfrewshire was one of nine constituencies in the West Scotland electoral region, which elected seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole. Prior to the first periodic review of Scottish Parliament boundaries in 2011, the other eight constituencies of the West of Scotland region were: 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.

The West Renfrewshire constituency was created for the first election to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, using the name and boundaries of the existing Westminster constituency. Ahead of the 2005 United Kingdom general election, House of Commons constituencies were altered, whilst the exisiting Scottish Parliament constituencies were retained.^[1]

West Renfrewshire covered a western portion of the Renfrewshire council area and an eastern portion of the Inverclyde council area. The rest of the Renfrewshire area was covered by the Paisley North, Paisley South and Glasgow Govan constituencies; Glasgow Govan was in the Glasgow electoral region. The Greenock and Inverclyde constituency covered the rest of the Inverclyde area. The boundaries of these other constituencies were also redrawn in 2011.