North Ayrshire and Arran (UK Parliament constituency)

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North Ayrshire and Arran
County constituency
North Ayrshire and Arran shown within Scotland
Created: 2005
MP: Katy Clark
Party: Labour
Type: House of Commons
Council areas: North Ayrshire
EP constituency: Scotland

North Ayrshire and Arran is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This constituency was created for the 2005 general election from the old Cunninghame North constituency, plus five wards from the old Cunninghame South constituency. The results of both of these constituencies in the last general election are listed below.

Contents

[edit] 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, Kilwinning in the south, Beith in the east, and the islands of Arran and Cumbrae in the west.

[edit] Profile

The towns of Skelmorlie, Largs, Fairlie and West Kilbride in the north are affluent commuter towns, while Ardrossan, Saltcoats, Stevenston and Kilwinning in the south are rather more industrial and beset with relatively high unemployment. 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.

[edit] Members of Parliament

The current MP is Katy Clark. There have been no previous members of parliament for this new constinuency. The previous seat of Cunninghame North, which this constinuency includes, was held by Brian Wilson. Brian Donohoe, who previously held Cunninghame South, is now the elected Member for Central Ayrshire.

[edit] Election results

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

General Election 2005: North Ayrshire and Arran
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Katy Clark 19417 43.9 -4.5
Conservative Stewart Connell 8121 18.4 +0.9
Scottish National Party Tony Gurney 7938 18.0 -3.0
Liberal Democrats George White 7264 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 11296 25.6 -1.9
Turnout 44205 59.9 -0.8
Labour hold Swing -2.7
General Election 2001: Cunninghame North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Brian Wilson 15,571 46.0 -4.2
Scottish National Party Campbell Martin 7,173 21.2 +2.8
Conservative Richard Wilkinson 6,666 19.7 -3.7
Liberal Democrats Ross Chmiel 3,060 9.0 +3.5
Scottish Socialist Sean Scott 964 2.9 N/A
Socialist Labour Louise McDaid 382 1.1 -0.1
Majority 8,398 24.8
Turnout 33,816 61.5 -12.6
Labour hold Swing
General Election 2001: Cunninghame South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Brian Donohoe 16,424 58.4 -4.3
Scottish National Party Bill Kidd 5,194 18.5 -2.3
Conservative Pam Paterson 2,782 9.9 -0.2
Liberal Democrats John Boyd 2,094 7.4 +2.9
Scottish Socialist Rosemary Byrne 1,233 4.4 N/A
Socialist Labour Bobby Cochrane 382 1.4 N/A
Majority 11,230 39.9
Turnout 28,109 56.2 -15.3
Labour hold Swing

[edit] See also


UK Parliament constituencies in Scotland
Labour

Aberdeen North | Aberdeen South | Airdrie and Shotts | Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock | Central Ayrshire | Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill | Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East | Dumfries and Galloway | Dundee West | East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow | East Lothian | East Renfrewshire | Edinburgh East | Edinburgh North and Leith | Edinburgh South | Edinburgh South West | Falkirk | Glasgow Central | Glasgow East | Glasgow North | Glasgow North West | Glasgow South | Glasgow South West | Glenrothes | Inverclyde | Kilmarnock and Loudoun | Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath | Lanark and Hamilton East | Linlithgow and East Falkirk | Livingston | Midlothian | Motherwell and Wishaw | North Ayrshire and Arran | Ochil and South Perthshire | Paisley and Renfrewshire North | Paisley and Renfrewshire South | Rutherglen and Hamilton West | Stirling | West Dunbartonshire

Liberal Democrat

Argyll and Bute | Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk | Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross | Dunfermline and West Fife | East Dunbartonshire | Edinburgh West | Gordon | Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey | North East Fife | Orkney and Shetland | Ross, Skye and Lochaber | West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine

SNP

Angus | Banff and Buchan | Dundee East | Moray | Na h-Eileanan an Iar | Perth and North Perthshire

Conservative and Unionist

Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale

Speaker

Glasgow North East

Scotland European constituency: Labour (2) | SNP (2) | Conservative and Unionist (2) | Liberal Democrats (1)