Constituency profile The Cunninghame North constituency covers a diverse mix of areas located towards the northern half of the North Ayrshire Council area, rising from the working class towns of
Ardrossan and
Saltcoats in the south-west up to the coastal towns of
Fairlie,
Skelmorlie,
Largs and
West Kilbride in the north-west. West of here, across the
Firth of Clyde, sits the Island communities of
Arran and
Cumbrae, which are covered by the constituency. Along the east of the constituency is the more working-class
Garnock Valley which comprises
Kilbirnie,
Beith and
Dalry, towns which once specialised in the production of steel and textiles before the industries collapse across the 20th Century. The constituency is mostly working-class in nature, although this is contrasted by the affluence enjoyed in the more rural parts of the constituency and in areas such as Arran, Fairlie, Skelmorlie, West Kilbride and patches of Largs. The constituency returned a high unemployment rate of 6.4% at the 2011 census compared to the Scottish average of 4.8%.
Voting patterns Throughout the early 20th Century Cunninghame North was a safe
Unionist seat at the British Parliament, carried by the Scottish Unionists (and later the Scottish Conservatives) consistently as
Bute and Northern Ayrshire from
1918 until the constituency's abolishment in
1983, where the newly established
Cunninghame North seat was narrowly won by Conservative
John Corrie with a majority of 4.1%. In
1987 the constituency went Labour with a majority of 10.4%, with the Conservatives gradually losing ground in the constituency, eventually falling behind the Scottish National Party in
2001. Since then the Westminster seat of Cunninghame North, later
North Ayrshire and Arran, had consistently returned Labour MP's to the British Parliament until being won by the SNP in 2015 on a swing of 23.3%. At the Scottish Parliament the Cunninghame North constituency voted Labour in both 1999 and 2003 before being won by the SNP's Kenneth Gibson by 48 votes in 2007, with some stipulating that had a set of damaged and rejected ballots from the Isle of Arran been counted the result might have been a Labour hold. In 2011 and 2016 Kenneth Gibson managed to build upon his narrow majority, bringing him ahead by 27.3% in 2016 - where the Conservatives marginally overtook the Labour Party into second place in the constituency for the first time since
1983. The Conservative Party derive most of their support from the affluent resort towns of West Kilbride, Fairlie, Skelmorlie and Largs along the north-west coast of the constituency, as well as from the Isle of Arran, and rural and suburban areas in Garnock Valley. The SNP are strongest in the more populated parts of the constituency, in the towns of Ardrossan, Saltcoats and Kilbirnie, as well as parts of Largs, Dalry and the Isle of Cumbrae. Dalry, Kilbirnie, Ardrossan and Saltcoats are historically stronger areas for the Labour Party which have since voted SNP. == Members of the Scottish Parliament ==