Cunninghame South (Scottish Parliament constituency)

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

Not to be confused with Cunninghame South (UK Parliament constituency).

Cunninghame South
county constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Cunninghame South shown within the West Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Current constituency
Created	1999
Party	Scottish National Party
MSP	Ruth Maguire
Council area	North Ayrshire

Electoral region

See also: West Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

The other nine constituencies of the West Scotland region are Clydebank and Milngavie, Cunninghame North, Dumbarton, Eastwood, Greenock and Inverclyde, Paisley, Renfrewshire North and West, Renfrewshire South and Strathkelvin and Bearsden.

The region covers part of the Argyll and Bute council area, the East Dunbartonshire council area, the East Renfrewshire council area, the Inverclyde council area, North Ayrshire council area, the Renfrewshire council area and the West Dunbartonshire council area.

Constituency boundaries and council area

The Cunninghame South 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, Scottish Westminster (House of Commons) constituencies were mostly replaced with new constituencies.[1]

The rest of the North Ayrshire area is covered by the Cunninghame North constituency.

From the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, the electoral wards used to form this constituency are:

• In full: Irvine West, Irvine East, Kilwinning
• In part: Saltcoats and Stevenston (shared with Cunninghame North)

Constituency profile and voting patterns

Constituency profile

The Cunninghame South constituency occupies the southern portion of the North Ayrshire Council area, covering the towns of Kilwinning, Stevenston and Irvine.

Voting patterns

The area has traditionally been represented by the Labour party, with Labour continuously representing the Central Ayrshire and Cunninghame South constituencies at the British Parliament from 1959 until 2015 - when the constituency of Central Ayrshire was won by the Scottish National Party on a 27.7% swing from Labour to SNP. In the Scottish Parliament Cunninghame South was represented by the Labour Party from the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 until 2011, when the seat was gained by the SNP on a 9.9% swing.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1999	Irene Oldfather	Labour
	2011	Margaret Burgess	SNP
	2016	Ruth Maguire

Election results

2010s

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Cunninghame South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SNP	Ruth Maguire	13,416	52.2	+2.4
	Labour	Joe Cullinane	7,723	30.1	-9.1
	Conservative	Billy McClure	3,940	15.3	+6.8
	Liberal Democrats	Ruby Kirkwood	616	2.4	-0.1
Majority			5,693	22.1	+11.5
Turnout			25,798	51.4	+8.6
	SNP hold		Swing

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Cunninghame South[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SNP	Margaret Burgess	10,993	49.8	+15.2
	Labour	Irene Oldfather	8,645	39.2	-4.6
	Conservative	Alistair Haw	1,871	8.5	-4.6
	Liberal Democrats	Ruby Kirkwood	547	2.5	-5.9
Majority			2,384	10.6	N/A
Turnout			22,056	42.8	-3.9
	SNP win (new boundaries)

2000s

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Cunninghame South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Irene Oldfather	10,270	43.8	-5.2
	SNP	Duncan Ross	8,102	34.6	+12.2
	Conservative	Pat McPhee	3,073	13.1	+2.8
	Liberal Democrats	Iain Dale	1,977	8.4	+1.8
Majority			2,168	9.2	-17.6
Turnout			23,422	46.9	+1.2
	Labour hold		Swing

2003 Scottish Parliament election: Cunninghame South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Irene Oldfather	11,165	49.0	−3.8
	SNP	Mike Russell	5,089	22.4	−7.3
	Scottish Socialist	Rosemary Byrne	2,677	11.8	New
	Conservative	Andrew Brocklehurst	2,336	10.3	−1.1
	Liberal Democrats	Iain Dale	1,505	6.6	+0.5
Majority			6,076	26.6	+ 3.5
Turnout			22,772	45.7	−10.4
	Labour hold		Swing

1990s

1999 Scottish Parliament election: Cunninghame South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Irene Oldfather	14,936	52.8	N/A
	SNP	Mike Russell	8,395	29.7	N/A
	Conservative	Murray Tosh	3,229	11.4	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Stuart Ritchie	1,717	6.1	N/A
Majority			6,541	23.1	N/A
Turnout			28,277	56.1	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

Footnotes

1. See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland Archived September 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
2. Statement of Persons Nominated North Ayrshire Council