Central Ayrshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Central Ayrshire | |
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County constituency for the House of Commons |
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Boundary of Central Ayrshire in Scotland for the 2005 general election.
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Subdivisions of Scotland | North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire |
Current constituency | |
Created | 2005 |
Member of parliament | Philippa Whitford (SNP) |
Created from | Cunninghame South, Ayr |
1950–1983 | |
Replaced by | Cunninghame South |
Overlaps | |
Scottish Parliament | South of Scotland |
European Parliament constituency | Scotland |
Central Ayrshire is a constituency of the British House of Commons, located in the south-west of Scotland within the North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire council areas. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) at least once every five years using the first-past-the-post system of voting.
The seat has mostly belonged to the Labour Party since the 1950s, with the former MP Brian Donohoe having represented the seat since its creation in 2005, and was MP for the predecessor seat of Cunninghame South since 1992. Until the 2015 General Election in which the SNP's Philippa Whitford was elected with a majority of 13,589.
A diverse seat, it contains the more working class towns of Irvine and parts of Kilwinning to the north, as well as the more affluent towns of Troon and Prestwick to the south. The constituency also includes some rural villages such as Dundonald and Tarbolton.
Contents
Boundaries
As created in 1950 the constituency merged parts of the Bute and Northern Ayrshire and Kilmarnock constituencies. Following the Representation of the People Act 1948 the Central Ayrshire constituency between 1950 and 1955 consisted of Irvine, Kilwinning, Stewarton, Troon, Kilbirnie and part of the district of Kilmarnock.[1] When abolished in 1983 the constituency was largely replaced by Cunninghame South, with Troon and its surrounding area forming part of the Ayr constituency.
The constituency was re-established in 2005, centred around the historic burgh of Irvine which was designated in the 1970s as a Glasgow overspill new town. Irvine is among the most deprived parts of Scotland and made up mostly of social housing, with patches of suburban developments around Perceton, central Irvine and in parts of Girdle Toll. The affluent coastal towns of Prestwick and Troon join the town as part of the constituency as well as outlying rural areas located south and east of Troon and Prestwick: these areas have held a considerable level of support for Conservative candidates locally and as part of the Ayr constituency in the Scottish parliament. Labour, and more recently[when?] the SNP, have performed strongly in west Troon, south and east Prestwick and in the former Mossblown, Annbank and St. Quivox electoral ward. Heathfield in Ayr north also forms part of the constituency: this area is relatively small and has elected Labour councillors locally.
Since the 2005 general election aspects of the Ayr, Cunninghame South and Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley constituencies were grouped together to form the Ayrshire Central constituency: it takes up the majority of former the Cunninghame South constituency, around half of the former Ayr constituency and a group of villages which formed part of the former Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley constituency. The constituency incorporates the electoral wards of Kilwinning (part: excludes the majority of the electoral ward west of the river Garnock and north of the B778, and B785: it effectively covers the south east of the town of Kilwinning and rural areas east of the river Lugton), Irvine West, Irvine East, Kyle, Troon, Prestwick, and the northern elements of the Maybole, North Carrick and Coylton electoral ward covering the stretch of the B744 from Belston to Annbank and the Auchincruive Agricultural College.[2] The constituency also cuts into the Ayr North electoral ward with its southern boundaries following Seaforth Road and Lochside Road to include Healthfield.
Members of Parliament
MPs 1950–1983
Election | Member[3] | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
1950 | Archie Manuel | Labour | |
1955 | Douglas Spencer-Nairn | Unionist | |
1959 | Archie Manuel | Labour | |
1970 | David Lambie | Labour | |
1983 | constituency abolished: see Cunninghame South |
MPs 2005–present
Election | Member[3] | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
2005 | Brian Donohoe | Labour | |
2015 | Philippa Whitford | Scottish National Party |
Elections
Elections in the 2010s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SNP | Philippa Whitford | 26,999 | 53.2 | +34.1 | |
Labour | Brian Donohoe | 13,410 | 26.4 | -21.3 | |
Conservative | Marc Hope[6] | 8,803 | 17.3 | -3.0 | |
Liberal Democrat | Gordon Bain[7] | 917 | 1.8 | -10.1 | |
Scottish Green | Veronika Tudhope[8] | 645 | 1.3 | N/A | |
Majority | 13,589 | 26.8 | n/a | ||
Turnout | 50,774 | 72.5 | +8.3 | ||
SNP gain from Labour | Swing | +27.7 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Brian Donohoe | 20,950 | 47.7 | +1.3 | |
Conservative | Maurice Golden | 8,943 | 20.4 | -1.8 | |
SNP | John Mullen | 8,364 | 19.0 | +7.5 | |
Liberal Democrat | Andrew Chamberlain | 5,236 | 11.9 | -4.1 | |
Socialist Labour | James McDaid | 422 | 1.0 | -0.1 | |
Majority | 12,007 | 27.3 | |||
Turnout | 43,915 | 64.2 | +1.1 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +1.5 |
Elections in the 2000s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Brian Donohoe | 19,905 | 46.4% | -2.8 | |
Conservative | Garry Clark | 9,482 | 22.1% | -4.1 | |
Liberal Democrat | Iain Kennedy | 6,881 | 16.1% | +9.7 | |
SNP | Jahangir Hanif | 4,969 | 11.6% | -3.0 | |
Scottish Socialist | Denise Morton | 820 | 1.9% | -1.0 | |
Socialist Labour | Robert Cochrane | 468 | 1.1% | +0.5 | |
UKIP | Jim Groves | 346 | 0.8% | +0.7 | |
Majority | 10,423 | 24.3% | |||
Turnout | 42,871 | 62.5 | +1.0 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +0.7 |
Elections in the 1970s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | David Lambie | 27,438 | 51.13 | ||
Conservative | R Wilkinson | 15,734 | 29.32 | ||
SNP | Ian Macdonald | 5,596 | 10.43 | ||
Liberal | I Clarkson | 4,896 | 9.12 | ||
Majority | 11,704 | 21.82 | |||
Turnout | 79.75 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | David Lambie | 21,188 | 45.09 | ||
Conservative | Miss M. Carse | 11,633 | 24.75 | ||
SNP | L. Anderson | 11,533 | 24.54 | ||
Liberal | J. Watts | 2,640 | 5.62 | ||
Majority | 9,555 | 20.33 | |||
Turnout | 79.28 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | David Lambie | 23,639 | 48.99 | ||
Conservative | R Gavin | 17,362 | 35.98 | ||
SNP | L Anderson | 7,255 | 15.03 | ||
Majority | 6,277 | 13.01 | |||
Turnout | 82.08 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | David Lambie | 24,536 | 52.40 | ||
Conservative | Ian Bruce Lang | 19,569 | 41.79 | ||
SNP | A MacDonald | 2,383 | 5.09 | ||
Independent | T Menzies | 339 | 0.72 | ||
Majority | 4,967 | 10.61 | |||
Turnout | 80.56 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing |
Elections in the 1960s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
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Labour | Archibald Manuel | 24,035 | 57.68 | ||
Conservative | John Corrie | 17,637 | 42.32 | ||
Majority | 6,398 | 15.35 | |||
Turnout | 82.12 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Archibald Manuel | 23,999 | 56.44 | ||
Conservative | GR Rickman | 18,523 | 43.56 | ||
Majority | 5,476 | 12.88 | |||
Turnout | 84.19 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing |
Elections in the 1950s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Archibald Clark Manuel | 21,901 | 51.99 | ||
Unionist | Douglas Spencer-Nairn | 20,225 | 48.01 | ||
Majority | 1,676 | 3.98 | |||
Turnout | 86.69 | ||||
Labour gain from Unionist | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unionist | Douglas Spencer-Nairn | 19,713 | 50.21 | ||
Labour | Archibald Clark Manuel | 19,546 | 49.79 | ||
Majority | 167 | 0.43 | |||
Turnout | 83.33 | ||||
Unionist gain from Labour | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Archibald Clark Manuel | 21,003 | 52.10 | ||
Unionist | William Rankine Milligan | 19,310 | 47.90 | ||
Majority | 1,693 | 4.20 | |||
Turnout | 86.26 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Archibald Clark Manuel | 18,792 | 48.96 | ||
Unionist | William Rankine Milligan | 16,830 | 43.85 | ||
Liberal | Charles Jack Coleman | 2,760 | 7.19 | ||
Majority | 1,962 | 5.11 | |||
Turnout | 85.56 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing |
References
- ↑ [1] Boundary Commission for Scotland
- ↑ [2] Boundary Commission for Scotland
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "A" (part 3)[self-published source][better source needed]
- ↑ election result http://www.south-ayrshire.gov.uk/documents/central%20ayrshire%20results.pdf 8Aug15
- ↑ [3]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.irvinetimes.com/news/kilwinning/articles/2015/01/15/521405-green-party-name-central-ayrshire-candidate/
- ↑ Whitaker's Almanack 1977
- ↑ Whitaker's Almanack 1963