North Ayrshire and Arran (UK Parliament constituency)

North Ayrshire and Arran is a constituency of the British House of Commons, located in the south-west of Scotland within the North Ayrshire council area. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) at least once every five years using the first-past-the-post voting system of voting.

North Ayrshire and Arran
constituency
Unknown parliament UK.
North Ayrshire and Arran shown within Scotland.
Subdivisions of ScotlandNorth Ayrshire
Population135,000 (2008, approx.)
Electorate74,985 (approx.)
Major settlementsArdrossan, Dalry, Kilwinning, Largs, Saltcoats, Stevenston
Current constituency
Created2005 (2005)
Member of Parliament / Assembly memberPatricia Gibson (SNP)
Created fromCunninghame North

Once a longtime Conservative seat, the area had been represented by Labour MPs from 1987 until 2015. Patricia Gibson, has held the seat as a SNP member since 2015.

A mostly affluent area, it contains the affluent towns of Largs, Fairlie and West Kilbride to the north, as well as the towns of Ardrossan, Kilbirnie, the Garnock Valley, Kilwinning, Saltcoats and Stevenston to the south. The Isle of Arran and Great Cumbrae are also within the constituency.

Boundaries

The constituency is entirely within the North Ayrshire council area. Part of the same council area is covered by the Central Ayrshire constituency.

The boundaries of North Ayrshire and Arran extend to, and include, Skelmorlie in the north of the council area, Irvine in the south, Beith in the east, and the islands of Arran and Cumbrae in the west.

Constituency profile
A view of Ardrossan

The towns of Skelmorlie, Largs, Fairlie and West Kilbride in the north are affluent commuter towns, while Ardrossan, Saltcoats, Irvine, and Stevenston in the south are rather more industrial, However, regeneration is taking place at Ardrossan Harbour and there has been a rapid increase in new build housing in recent years. Inland, the seat takes in the Garnock valley towns of Dalry, Beith and Kilbirnie, once a centre of steel and textile production long since gone. Tourism is the main industry on Arran and Cumbrae, however the number of holiday homes on the latter has begun to squeeze locals out of the housing market. The seat has two nuclear power stations, Hunterston A nuclear power station (currently being decommissioned) and Hunterston B nuclear power station, as well as a windfarm at Ardrossan.

History

The constituency of North Ayrshire was created in 1868 and was much larger than the present constituency, as it also included the towns of Irvine and Kilmarnock. It returned various Liberal, Liberal Unionist and Conservative MP's, the most well known of whom being Sir Aylmer Hunter-Weston, a general in the First World War who served as MP from 1916-1935 first for North Ayrshire and then for Bute and Northern Ayrshire which was created in 1918. Another well-known MP was Sir Fitzroy Maclean, a major-general in the Second World War who was rumoured to be one of Ian Fleming's inspirations for James Bond.

In 1983, the Cunninghame North constituency was created. From 1911 to 1987, the constituencies containing North Ayrshire returned either Conservative Party or Unionist Party MP's until the 1987 general election when the constituency was lost to the Labour Party. In 2015, the seat was won by the SNP. In the 2017 general election the SNP held the seat with a much reduced majority, with the Conservatives more than doubling their vote share.

Members of Parliament
ElectionMember[1] Party
2005 Katy Clark Labour
2015 Patricia Gibson SNP

Election results

Elections in the 2010s
General election 2019: North Ayrshire and Arran[2][3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Patricia Gibson 23,376 48.5 +9.6
Conservative David Rocks 14,855 30.8 -0.4
Labour Cameron Gilmore 6,702 13.9 -13.6
Liberal Democrats Louise Young 2,107 4.4 +2.0
Scottish Green David Nairn 1,114 2.3 New
Majority 8,521 17.7 +10.0
Turnout 48,154 65.5 +0.7
SNP hold Swing +5.0
General election 2017: North Ayrshire and Arran[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Patricia Gibson 18,451 38.9 -14.3
Conservative David Rocks 14,818 31.2 +16.4
Labour Christopher Rimicans 13,040 27.5 -0.5
Liberal Democrats Mark Dickson 1,124 2.4 +0.7
Majority 3,633 7.7 -17.5
Turnout 47,433 64.8 -6.3
SNP hold Swing -15.4
General election 2015: North Ayrshire and Arran[5][6][7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Patricia Gibson 28,641 53.2 +27.3
Labour Katy Clark 15,068 28.0 -19.4
Conservative Jamie Greene 7,968 14.8 -0.8
UKIP Sharon McGonigal[8] 1,296 2.4 New
Liberal Democrats Ruby Kirkwood 896 1.7 -8.3
Majority 13,573 25.2 N/A
Turnout 53,869 71.1 +9.6
SNP gain from Labour Swing +23.3
General election 2010: North Ayrshire and Arran[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Katy Clark 21,860 47.4 +3.5
SNP Patricia Gibson 11,965 25.9 +7.9
Conservative Philip Lardner 7,212 15.6 -2.8
Liberal Democrats Gillian Cole-Hamilton 4,630 10.0 -6.4
Socialist Labour Louise McDaid 449 1.0 +0.3
Majority 9,895 21.5 -4.1
Turnout 46,116 61.5 +1.6
Labour hold Swing

2010 general election Campaign

The Conservative Party candidate Philip Lardner was dropped as their official candidate and suspended from his job (but later reinstated) as a Primary School teacher following comments he had made, in which (as a Christian) he described homosexuality as "not normal behaviour". As nominations for candidates had closed, however, the Conservatives were unable to replace him. In 2008 he had previously been suspended as a candidate for the same seat by the Conservatives over claims he made racist remarks, but was later reinstated as the candidate for this seat and exonerated by the Party. Lardner is recorded by the BBC as an "Independent", due to him being "disowned" by the Conservative Party prior to polling day, however, on the actual ballot paper he was still described as a "Scottish Conservatives & Unionist".[10]

The Labour Party chose Katy Clark, the incumbent MP and former trade union official to re-contest the seat. Clark is considered to be quite a left-wing Labour MP as she voted against replacing Trident and is a member of the Scottish Campaign for Socialism.

The Scottish National Party narrowly won the seat of Cunninghame North during the 2007 Scottish parliamentary election and wished to capitalise on this success during the general election. They chose 41-year-old retired English teacher Cllr Patricia Gibson to contest the seat.

The Liberal Democrats chose primary teacher Gillian Cole-Hamilton and Louise McDaid of the Socialist Labour Party also contested the seat as she has done for several elections.

Percentage vote change and percentage swing for the 2005 results are based on notional results on how this constituency would have performed in the 2001 UK General Election.

Elections in the 2000s
General election 2005: North Ayrshire and Arran[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Katy Clark 19,417 43.9 -4.5
Conservative Stewart Connell 8,121 18.4 +0.9
SNP Tony Gurney 7,938 18.0 -3.0
Liberal Democrats George White 7,264 16.4 +7.6
Scottish Socialist Colin Turbett 780 1.8 -1.4
UKIP John Pursley 382 0.9 +0.9
Socialist Labour Louise McDaid 303 0.7 -0.5
Majority 11,296 25.6 -1.9
Turnout 44,205 59.9 -0.8
Labour hold Swing -2.7

References
  1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "A" (part 3)
  2. "Forthcoming ElectionsMinimize". North Ayrshire Council. North Ayrshire Council. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  3. "Ayrshire North & Arran parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". Retrieved 2019-12-14.
  4. "Ayrshire North & Arran parliamentary constituency - Election 2017 - BBC News". BBC News. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  5. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  6. http://www.north-ayrshire.gov.uk/news/UKParliamentaryElectionsNorthAyrshireandArran.aspx 18Aug15
  8. <http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/2015guide/ayrshirenorthandarran/
  9. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  10. "General Election Results 2010". North Ayrshire Council. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
  11. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
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