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| This article is part of a series within the Politics of the United Kingdom on the |
| Politics of Scotland |
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The previous Member of Parliament for Paisley South, Gordon McMaster, of the Labour Party; died on 28 July 1997.
A by-election was held on 6 November. It was a very safe Labour seat, and despite a swing of 11% to the Scottish National Party; they did not come close to winning the constituency.
| 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 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 | ||||
