The constituency was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election. It was abolished for the 1983 general election, when it was partially replaced by the new Eastwood constituency. 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.
As created in 1885 the constituency was one of four covering the area of the county of Renfrewshire. The four constituencies were: East Renfrewshire, West Renfrewshire, Paisley and Greenock. Greenock was enlarged and renamed Greenock and Port Glasgow in 1974. From 1885 the constituency consisted of the parishes of Eastwood, Cathcart, Mearns and Eaglesham, and part of the parish of Govan. 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." The constituency was abolished for the 1983 general election, eight years after the creation of local governmentregions and districts in 1975. The new constituency, with revised boundaries, was called Eastwood. In 1996 the area of the Eastwood constituency became, also, the East Renfrewshire unitary council area. In 1999 a Scottish Parliament constituency was created with the name and boundaries of the Eastwood Westminster constituency. 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 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 seat 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" and 24,287 for "Yes". 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 to 13,596 "Leave" votes. The area was looked on as safely Conservative before the Labour Party gained the seat in their 1997 landslide victory. East Renfrewshire was subsequently viewed as a relatively safe Labour seat until the SNP gained the seat in their 2015 landslide. At the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, the Eastwood constituency, covering a majority of the East Renfrewshire parliamentary constituency, returned Conservative Jackson Carlaw as its constituency MSP with a majority of 1,611 votes. In 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 general election; with Paul Masterton being elected with a majority of 4,712 votes over Kirsten Oswald of the Scottish National Party. However, in the 2019 election Oswald regained the seat for the SNP with a majority of 5,426 or 9.8%, meaning the seat remains a marginal constituency.
