1997 Paisley South by-election

The previous UK Member of Parliament for Paisley South, Gordon McMaster, of the Labour Party; died on 28 July 1997.

The 1997 Paisley South by-election was held on 6 November 1997. It was a safe Labour seat, and despite a swing of 11% to the Scottish National Party; they did not win the constituency.

Result

**1997 Paisley South by-election**^[1]
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 Deighan	578	2.5	New
	Scottish Socialist	Frances Curran	306	1.3	+0.9
	Independent	C. McLauchlan	155	0.7	New
	Socialist Labour	Christopher Herriot	153	0.7	New
	Natural Law	Kenneth Blair	57	0.2	New
Majority			2,731	11.7	−22.4
Turnout			23,435	42.9	−26.2
	Labour hold		Swing	-11.3

General Election result, 1997

General Election 1997: Paisley South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	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