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.

Once a longtime Conservative stronghold, the area had been represented by Labour MPs from 1987 until 2015. Patricia Gibson, held the seat as an SNP member from 2015 to 2024. In 2024 the seat was won by Irene Campbell of Labour.

It contains the 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 was created by the Fifth Review of UK Parliament constituencies for the 2005 general election and is entirely within the North Ayrshire council area. Part of the same council area is covered by the Central Ayrshire constituency.

The constituency boundaries were defined in accordance with the ward structure in place on 30 November 2004. Under the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the boundaries were unchanged.

Further to reviews of local government ward boundaries which came into effect in 2007 and 2017, but did not affect the parliamentary boundaries, the contents of the constituency are now defined as comprising the following wards or part wards of North Ayrshire Council, as they existed on 1 December 2020:

• In full: Stevenston, Ardrossan and Arran, Dalry and West Kilbride, Kilbirnie and Beith, North Coast and Cumbraes, Saltcoats.
• In part: Kilwinning (all except small area in southeast of ward).

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

Constituency profile

File:Ardrossan Scotland.jpg

A view of Ardrossan

The seat takes in many towns and villages which have some very affluent areas and more working class areas, The towns of Skelmorlie, Largs, Fairlie and West Kilbride in the north are affluent commuter towns, while Ardrossan, Saltcoats, 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. Kilwinning which is North Ayrshire's second largest town in the south of the constituency has many very affluent areas as well as working class areas but while the constituency maybe seen as working class as a whole, It is considered mixed due to the wealthy and working class areas within it

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 to 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. Labour held the seat until the 2015 general election when it 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, but this was partially reversed in 2019. At the 2024 election, Labour recaptured the seat from third place, as both the SNP and Conservative vote share slumped.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	2005	Katy Clark	Labour
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	2015	Patricia Gibson	SNP
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	2024	Irene Campbell	Labour

Election results

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: North Ayrshire and Arran

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Irene Campbell	Template:Replace	39.8
		Patricia Gibson	13,270	31.4
		Todd Ferguson	5,954	14.1
		Michael Mann	3,415	8.1
		Cara McKee	1,327	3.1
		Gillian Cole-Hamilton	1,005	2.4
		Ian Gibson	238	0.6
		James McDaid	232	0.5
Majority			3,551	8.4
Turnout			42,262	58.6
Registered electors			72,176
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing	+21.5

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: North Ayrshire and Arran

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Patricia Gibson	Template:Replace	48.5
		David Rocks	14,855	30.8
		Cameron Gilmore	6,702	13.9
		Louise Young	2,107	4.4
		David Nairn	1,114	2.3
Majority			8,521	17.7
Turnout			48,154	65.5
	hold		Swing	+5.0

General election 2017: North Ayrshire and Arran

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Patricia Gibson	Template:Replace	38.9
		David Rocks	14,818	31.2
		Christopher Rimicans	13,040	27.5
		Mark Dickson	1,124	2.4
Majority			3,633	7.7
Turnout			47,433	64.8
	hold		Swing	-15.4

General election 2015: North Ayrshire and Arran

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Patricia Gibson	Template:Replace	53.2
		Katy Clark	15,068	28.0
		Jamie Greene	7,968	14.8
		Sharon McGonigal	1,296	2.4
		Ruby Kirkwood	896	1.7
Majority			13,573	25.2
Turnout			53,869	71.1
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing	+23.3

General election 2010: North Ayrshire and Arran

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Katy Clark	Template:Replace	47.4
		Patricia Gibson	11,965	25.9
		Philip Lardner	7,212	15.6
		Gillian Cole-Hamilton	4,630	10.0
		Louise McDaid	449	1.0
Majority			9,895	21.5
Turnout			46,116	61.5
	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 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".

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

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Katy Clark	Template:Replace	43.9
		Stewart Connell	8,121	18.4
		Tony Gurney	7,938	18.0
		George White	7,264	16.4
		Colin Turbett	780	1.8
		John Pursley	382	0.9
		Louise McDaid	303	0.7
Majority			11,296	25.6
Turnout			44,205	59.9
	hold		Swing	-2.7

External links

• North Ayrshire and Arran UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2005 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
• North Ayrshire and Arran UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK