Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. Also, it is one of nine constituencies in the South Scotland electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley
county constituency
for the Scottish Parliament
Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley shown within the South Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Current constituency
Created2011
PartyScottish National Party
MSPWillie Coffey
Council areaEast Ayrshire
Created fromKilmarnock and Loudoun

The seat was created for the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, following the redrawing and renaming of the old Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency which had been in the Central Scotland region.

Electoral region
See also: South Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

The other eight constituencies of the South Scotland region are Ayr, Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Clydesdale, Dumfriesshire, East Lothian, Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Galloway and West Dumfries and Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale.

The region covers the Dumfries and Galloway council area, part of the East Ayrshire council area, part of the East Lothian council area, part of the Midlothian council area, the Scottish Borders council area, the South Ayrshire council area and part of the South Lanarkshire council area.

Constituency boundaries and council area
Wards of the Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley Scottish Parliament constituency as of 2011.

East Ayrshire is represented in the Scottish Parliament by two constituencies: Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley and Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley.

The electoral wards in the Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley constituency are:

Constituency profile and voting patterns

Constituency profile

The Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley constituency is a part-urban part-rural constituency located along the northern half of the East Ayrshire council area. Towards the south-west of the constituency is the town of Kilmarnock and its adjoining towns and villages. Kilmarnock is a former industrial town which is mostly made up of social housing, with some suburban housing towards the western end of the town. To the east of the town, along the valley of the River Irvine, is a string of industrial towns and villages such as Galston and Newmilns located within the parish of Loudoun. The region was once dependent upon the manufacture of textiles before the industry's collapse throughout the mid-20th Century. The north of the constituency is mostly made up of farmlands, with the historic town of Stewarton lying directly north of Kilmarnock along the Annick Water.

Voting patterns

At Westminster the Kilmarnock constituency - later renamed to Kilmarnock and Loudoun - was a predominantly Labour-voting constituency which continuously returned Labour MP's to Parliament from 1945 until 2015. The constituency was one of thirteen constituencies in the United Kingdom to elect a pro-coalition National Labour MP to Parliament at the 1931 UK general election, and one of only eight to elect a National Labour MP at the 1935 UK general election. At the Scottish Parliament the constituency has gradually developed into an SNP stronghold, with SNP MSP Willie Coffrey gaining the constituency from Labour's Margaret Jamieson in 2007 and building upon his majority in both 2011 and 2016, taking the constituency with a 32.5% majority over Labour's Dave Meechan in 2016. The equivalent Westminster seat of Kilmarnock and Loudoun was gained by the SNP's Alan Brown from Labour's Cathy Jamieson on a swing of 25.9% at the 2015 UK general election.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

As Kilmarnock and Loudoun

ElectionMemberParty
1999 Margaret Jamieson Scottish Labour Party
2003
2007 Willie Coffey Scottish National Party

As Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley

ElectionMemberParty
2011 Willie Coffey Scottish National Party
2016

Election results

2010s
2016 Scottish Parliament election: Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley
Party Candidate Votes % ±
SNP Willie Coffey 19,047 55.4 +2.1
Labour Dave Meechan 7,853 22.8 −11.6
Conservative Brian Whittle 6,597 19.2 +8.8
Liberal Democrats Rebecca Plenderleith 888 2.6 +0.7
Majority 11,194 32.6 +13.7
Turnout 34,385 54.9 +4.4
SNP hold Swing +6.8
2011 Scottish Parliament election: Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley
Party Candidate Votes % ±
SNP Willie Coffey 16,964 53.3 +10.5
Labour Matt McLaughlin 10,971 34.4 -4.4
Conservative Grant Fergusson 3,309 10.4 -1.9
Liberal Democrats Robbie Simpson 614 1.9 -4.3
Majority 5,993 18.9 N/A
Turnout 31,858 50.5 N/A
SNP win (new seat)
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References
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