All you need to know about East Renfrewshire election contest

Drew Sandelands

3 July 2024 at 11:10 am·1-min read

Voters will go to the polls tomorrow to elect East Renfrewshire’s next MP, with a potential three-horse race for the seat.

The SNP, Labour and the Conservatives have all had candidates elected to represent the constituency over the past 15 years.

Kirsten Oswald, SNP, won in 2019, with a 5,426 majority over the Conservatives ’ Paul Masterton. Labour were a distant third, picking up 6,855 votes.

Masterton had won in 2017, ahead of Oswald in second place and Blair McDougall, who has returned as Labour’s candidate at this election.

McDougall, campaign director for Better Together during the 2014 independence referendum, is up against incumbent Oswald and Sandesh Gulhane, a GP and Glasgow MSP since 2021.

It is a seat which was previously held by former Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy, who was elected in 2005 and 2010. He had also represented the constituency under its previous name, Eastwood, after being elected in 1997 and 2001.

This seat includes Barrhead, Clarkston, Giffnock, Neilston, Newton Mearns and Thornliebank.

Polling stations will be open from 7am to 10pm on Thursday (July 4), and votes will be counted through the night at Williamwood High School. It is the first general election where people will need identification to vote in person.

A list of accepted forms of ID can be found here: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/voter-id/accepted-forms-photo-id

All the candidates:

Matt Alexander - Reform

Alan Grant - Liberal Democrats

Sandesh Gulhane - Conservative

Blair McDougall - Labour

Kirsten Oswald - SNP

Maria Reid - Scottish Family Party

Karen Sharkey - Greens

Allan Steele - Liberal Party

Colette Walker - Independence for Scotland Party

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