Cunninghame South (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Cunninghame South is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. Also, however, it is one of ten constituencies in the West Scotland electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to ten constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Not to be confused with Cunninghame South (UK Parliament constituency).

Cunninghame South
county constituency
for the Scottish Parliament
Cunninghame South shown within the West Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Current constituency
Created1999
PartyScottish National Party
MSPRuth Maguire
Council areaNorth Ayrshire

Electoral region
See also: West Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

The other nine constituencies of the West Scotland region are Clydebank and Milngavie, Cunninghame North, Dumbarton, Eastwood, Greenock and Inverclyde, Paisley, Renfrewshire North and West, Renfrewshire South and Strathkelvin and Bearsden.

The region covers part of the Argyll and Bute council area, the East Dunbartonshire council area, the East Renfrewshire council area, the Inverclyde council area, North Ayrshire council area, the Renfrewshire council area and the West Dunbartonshire council area.

Constituency boundaries and council area

The Cunninghame South constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of an existing Westminster constituency. In 2005, however, Scottish Westminster (House of Commons) constituencies were mostly replaced with new constituencies.[1]

The rest of the North Ayrshire area is covered by the Cunninghame North constituency.

From the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, the electoral wards used to form this constituency are:

Constituency profile and voting patterns

Constituency profile

The Cunninghame South constituency occupies the southern portion of the North Ayrshire Council area, covering the towns of Kilwinning, Stevenston and Irvine.

Voting patterns

The area has traditionally been represented by the Labour party, with Labour continuously representing the Central Ayrshire and Cunninghame South constituencies at the British Parliament from 1959 until 2015 - when the constituency of Central Ayrshire was won by the Scottish National Party on a 27.7% swing from Labour to SNP. In the Scottish Parliament Cunninghame South was represented by the Labour Party from the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 until 2011, when the seat was gained by the SNP on a 9.9% swing.

Member of the Scottish Parliament
ElectionMemberParty
1999 Irene Oldfather Labour
2011 Margaret Burgess SNP
2016 Ruth Maguire

Election results

2010s
2016 Scottish Parliament election: Cunninghame South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Ruth Maguire 13,416 52.2 +2.4
Labour Joe Cullinane 7,723 30.1 -9.1
Conservative Billy McClure 3,940 15.3 +6.8
Liberal Democrats Ruby Kirkwood 616 2.4 -0.1
Majority 5,693 22.1 +11.5
Turnout 25,798 51.4 +8.6
SNP hold Swing
2011 Scottish Parliament election: Cunninghame South[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Margaret Burgess 10,993 49.8 N/A
Labour Irene Oldfather 8,645 39.2 N/A
Conservative Alistair Haw 1,871 8.5 N/A
Liberal Democrats Ruby Kirkwood 547 2.5 N/A
Majority 2,384 10.6 N/A
Turnout 22,056 42.8 -3.9
SNP win (new boundaries)

2000s
2007 Scottish Parliament election: Cunninghame South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Irene Oldfather 10,270 43.8 -5.2
SNP Duncan Ross 8,102 34.6 +12.2
Conservative Pat McPhee 3,073 13.1 +2.8
Liberal Democrats Iain Dale 1,977 8.4 +1.8
Majority 2,168 9.2 -17.6
Turnout 23,422 46.9 +1.2
Labour hold Swing
2003 Scottish Parliament election: Cunninghame South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Irene Oldfather 11,165 49.0 −3.8
SNP Mike Russell 5,089 22.4 −7.3
Scottish Socialist Rosemary Byrne 2,677 11.8 New
Conservative Andrew Brocklehurst 2,336 10.3 −1.1
Liberal Democrats Iain Dale 1,505 6.6 +0.5
Majority 6,076 26.6 + 3.5
Turnout 22,772 45.7 −10.4
Labour hold Swing

1990s
1999 Scottish Parliament election: Cunninghame South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Irene Oldfather 14,936 52.8 N/A
SNP Mike Russell 8,395 29.7 N/A
Conservative Murray Tosh 3,229 11.4 N/A
Liberal Democrats Stuart Ritchie 1,717 6.1 N/A
Majority 6,541 23.1 N/A
Turnout 28,277 56.1 N/A
Labour win (new seat)

Footnotes
  1. See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland Archived September 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  2. Statement of Persons Nominated North Ayrshire Council
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