- Cunninghame North (Scottish Parliament constituency)
-
Not to be confused with Cunninghame North (UK Parliament constituency).
Cunninghame North Scottish Parliament
county constituency
Cunninghame North shown within the West Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland Created 1999 MSP Kenneth Gibson Council area North Ayrshire Party SNP Cunninghame North is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament. It elects one MSP by the first past the post method of election once every four years. Currently, the constituency comprises of the towns of Saltcoats, Ardrossan, Dalry, West Kilbride, Largs, Kilbirnie, Beith, as well as the Isle of Arran and the isle of Great Cumbrae, all within the North Ayrshire council area in south-west Scotland. Historically the seat was safe Conservative territory, before going to Labour in 1987 and falling to the SNP in 2007.
It is also one of nine constituencies in the West of Scotland electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
From the Scottish Parliament election, 2011 this seat will be affected by minor boundary changes. It will remain named "Cunninghame North" [1]
Contents
Electoral region
- See also West of Scotland Scottish Parliament region
The other eight constituencies of the West of Scotland region are Dumbarton, Clydebank and Milngavie, Eastwood, Greenock and Inverclyde, Paisley North, Paisley South, Strathkelvin and Bearsden and West Renfrewshire.
The region covers the West Dunbartonshire council area, the East Renfrewshire council area, the Inverclyde council area, most of the Renfrewshire council area, most of the East Dunbartonshire council area, part of the Argyll and Bute council area and part of the North Ayrshire council area.
Constituency boundaries
The Cunninghame North 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, the Westminster (House of Commons) constituency was abolished in favour of new constituencies.[2]
From the Scottish Parliament election, 2011, the electoral wards used to form this constituency are;
- In full; Saltcoats and Stevenston, Ardrossan and Arran, Dalry and West Kilbride, Kilbirnie and Beith, North Coast and Cumbraes
Council area
The Holyrood constituency covers a north-western portion of the North Ayrshire council area, and includes the Isle of Arran. The rest of the North Ayrshire area is covered by the Cunninghame South constituency, which is within the South of Scotland electoral region.
Members of the Scottish Parliament
Kenneth Gibson of the Scottish National Party presently holds this seat. With a majority of just 48 over his nearest rival at the 2007 election, this was the most marginal seat in Holyrood. However, at the 2011 election, Gibson increased his majority over the Labour candidate to 6,117.[3]
Election Member Party 1999 Allan Wilson Labour 2003 2007 Kenneth Gibson Scottish National Party 2011 Election results
Scottish Parliament election, 2011: Cunninghame North Party Candidate Votes % ±% SNP Kenneth Gibson 15,539 52.6 +21.9 Labour Allan Wilson 9,422 31.9 -1.3 Conservative Maurice Golden 4,032 13.7 -4.4 Liberal Democrats Malika Punukollu 543 1.8 -4.2 Majority 6,117 20.7 Turnout 29,536 51.8 SNP hold Swing 10.3% Lab to SNP Scottish Parliament election, 2007: Cunninghame North Notes: Green background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list.
Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member.
A
or 
denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.Party Candidate Votes % ±% Party Votes % ±% SNP Kenneth Gibson 9,295 30.7 +3.7 9,995 32.8 +10.0 Labour Allan Wilson9,247 30.6 -8.3 8,947 29.4 Conservative Philip Lardner 5,466 18.1 -1.3 5,240 17.2 -2.2 Liberal Democrats Lewis Hutton 1,810 6.0 -2.2 1,873 6.2 -1.0 Scottish Green 910 3.0 -1.89 Scottish Senior Citizens 737 2.4 -0.3 Solidarity 584 1.9 +1.9 Scottish Christian 459 1.5 +1.5 BNP 432 1.4 +1.4 Christian Peoples 218 0.7 +0.7 NHSFirst 230 0.8 +0.8 Socialist Labour 190 0.6 -1.3 Scottish Unionist 185 0.6 -0.1 Scottish Socialist 149 0.5 -5.5 UKIP 151 0.5 -0.1 Scottish Voice 82 0.3 +0.3 Scottish Jacobite 67 0.2 +0.2 Socialist Equality 18 0.1 +0.1 SNP gain from Labour Majority 48 0.1 Scottish Parliament election, 2003: Cunninghame North Party Candidate Votes % ±% Labour Allan Wilson 11,142 38.92 -3.99 SNP Campbell Martin 7,755 27.09 -1.49 Conservative Peter Ramsay 5,542 19.36 -0.49 Liberal Democrats John Boyd 2,333 8.15 -0.51 Scottish Socialist Sean Scott 1,859 6.49 +6.49 Majority 3,387 11.83 -2.50 Turnout 28,631 51.76 -8.20 Labour hold Swing Scottish Parliament election, 1999: Cunninghame North Party Candidate Votes % ±% Labour Allan Wilson 14,369 42.90 N/A SNP Kay Ullrich 9,573 28.58 N/A Conservative Mike Johnston 6,649 19.85 N/A Liberal Democrats Calum Irving 2,900 8.66 N/A Majority 4,796 14.32 Turnout Labour hold Swing Controversy
The high number of rejected votes was particularly significant in Cunninghame North where the majority (48) was far smaller than the number of rejected papers (over 1,000). Additionally, ballot papers carried by boat from the Isle of Arran were damp when they arrived raising suggestions they may not have been transported securely. There were also questions about a discrepancy in the number of ballot papers that left Arran and the number that arrived at the count, though the returning officer later announced that a manual recount found no discrepancy.[5] Allan Wilson, the former member for Cunninghame North was said to be discussing with his solicitor a potential legal challenge to the Cunninghame North result[6] but no election petition was lodged.[7]
Notes and references
- ^ Scottish Parliament Constituencies Order OPSI
- ^ See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland
- ^ "Scotland elections". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/election2011/constituency/html/36085.stm.
- ^ Statement of Persons Nominated North Ayrshire Council
- ^ Carrell, Severin (7 May 2007). "Blow to SNP coalition hopes as Lib Dems spurn independence deal". London: The Guardian. http://politics.guardian.co.uk/scotland/story/0,,2074046,00.html. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
- ^ "Holyrood vote may face challenges". BBC. 6 May 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6629093.stm. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
- ^ No Labour challenge over election BBC Online, 25 May 2007
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