Ayr (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Ayr (Scottish Parliament constituency) or Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock (UK Parliament constituency).

For 1708–1950 constituency, see Ayr Burghs (UK Parliament constituency).

Ayr
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Ayr in Scotland for the 1997 general election.
Subdivisions of Scotland	Ayrshire
1950–2005
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock Central Ayrshire
Created from	Ayr District of Burghs Kilmarnock South Ayrshire

Ayr was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 to 2005. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election.

Boundaries

The constituency was created by merging the Ayr burgh and Prestwick burgh components of the Ayr District of Burghs constituency with parts of the South Ayrshire and Kilmarnock constituencies.

1950 to 1974: The civil parishes of Ayr, Prestwick, Tarbolton and Symington.^[1]^[2]

Chart of Ayr election results since October 1974.

1974 to 1983: The civil parishes of Ayr (except rural area around Ayr Hospital), Prestwick, Tarbolton and Symington.^[3]

1983 to 1997: The towns of Ayr (except the council estate of Kincaidston), Prestwick and Troon plus the villages of Dundonald, Loans, Monkton, Tarbolton and Symington.^[4]

1997 to 2005: The 1995 South Ayrshire electoral wards of Dundonald; East Kyle; Fort; Lochside and Craigie; Heathfield; Kingscase; Newton; Seafield; St Cuthbert's; St Nicholas; Troon Central; Troon East; Troon West; Wallacetown and Whitletts, covering Dundonald, Loans, Monkton, Prestwick, Symington, Tarbolton, Troon and the north and west of Ayr. This change led to a substantial alteration in the demographic of the constituency with the Labour Party being the prime beneficiaries.^[5]

2005 onwards: In 2005 the constituency was divided between the Central Ayrshire and Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock constituencies. This had a significant impact on the Conservative party by dividing their support in Ayr, Prestwick and Troon into two separate, predominantly Labour-voting constituencies, neither of which attained any considerable level of support for the Conservatives to match that of the Labour party. The town of Ayr joined two-thirds of the former Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley constituency to form Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock, with the remaining portion of the former Ayr constituency (based in Prestwick, Troon, Dundonald and Loans) joining Irvine, Annbank, Auchincruive, east Kilwinning and the remainder of Kyle to form Central Ayrshire.^[6]^[7]

At the Scottish Parliament the Ayr constituency has existed since the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. The constituency retained the same boundaries as that of the former Ayr constituency at Westminster (1997-2005) until the 2011 First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries. The constituency is currently composed of the electoral wards of Ayr West, Ayr East, Ayr North, Prestwick and Troon, covering the towns of Ayr, Prestwick and Troon.^[8] The constituency has been represented by Conservative MSP John Scott since a by-election in 2000.

Constituency profile and voting patterns

Main article: Ayr (Scottish Parliament constituency) § Constituency profile and voting patterns

Member of Parliament

	Member	Party	Notes
1950	Sir Thomas Moore, Bt.	Conservative	Previously MP for Ayr Burghs
1951
1955
1959
1964	George Younger	Conservative	Later Viscount Younger of Leckie; Cabinet minister 1979-89
1966
1970
February 1974
October 1974
1979
1983
1987
1992	Phil Gallie	Conservative	Later an MSP for South of Scotland 1999-2007
1997	Sandra Osborne	Labour	Subsequently MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock
2001	Sandra Osborne	Labour	Subsequently MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock
2005	constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Ayr
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Unionist	Sir Thomas Cecil Russell Moore	21,094	58.64
	Labour	John Pollock	14,880	41.36
Majority			6,214	17.27
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Ayr
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Unionist	Sir Thomas Cecil Russell Moore	21,985	58.34
	Labour	J M Janet Auld	15,702	41.66
Majority			6,283	16.67
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Ayr
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Unionist	Sir Thomas Cecil Russell Moore	20,006	59.06
	Labour	J M Janet Auld	13,866	40.94
Majority			6,140	18.13
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Ayr ^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Unionist	Sir Thomas Cecil Russell Moore	19,659	54.67
	Labour	Alexander Mark Hughes Eadie	16,303	45.33
Majority			3,356	9.33
	Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964: Ayr
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Unionist	George Kenneth Hotson Younger	20,047	52.22
	Labour	Alexander Mark Hughes Eadie	18,346	47.78
Majority			1,701	4.43
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Ayr
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	George Kenneth Hotson Younger	19,988	50.61
	Labour	Charles E O'Halloran	19,504	49.39
Majority			484	1.23
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Ayr
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	George Kenneth Hotson Younger	22,220	52.68
	Labour	James Mark Craigen	17,770	42.13
	SNP	Leslie Anderson	2,186	5.18
Majority			4,450	10.55
Turnout				81.46
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Ayr ^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	George Kenneth Hotson Younger	21,626	50.46
	Labour	JA McFadden	16,528	38.56
	SNP	CD Calman	4,706	10.98
Majority			5,098	11.89
Turnout			41,268	83.15
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Ayr ^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	George Kenneth Hotson Younger	17,487	42.4
	Labour	Robin S. Stewart	14,268	34.6
	SNP	Miss Elizabeth Ann Robinson	6,902	16.7
	Liberal	Neil Murray Tosh	2,611	6.3
Majority			3,219	7.8
Turnout			41,268	79.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1979: Ayr ^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	George Kenneth Hotson Younger	18,907	43.3	+0.9
	Labour	Keith McDonald	16,139	37.0	+2.4
	Liberal	Richard McDougal Mabon	4,656	10.7	+4.4
	SNP	John McGill	3,998	9.2	−7.5
Majority			2,768	6.3
Turnout			43,700	79.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.8

Elections in the 1980s

George Younger

General Election 1983: Ayr
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	George Kenneth Hotson Younger	21,325	42.8
	Labour	Keith McDonald	13,338	26.8
	Liberal	Charles Gilchrist Brodie	12,740	25.6
	SNP	Ian Roy Goldie	2,431	4.9
Majority			7,987	16.0
Turnout			49,834	76.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

In 1987 Ayr became the most marginal Westminster constituency in Scotland and the fourth most marginal constituency in the United Kingdom, being won by Conservative George Younger by 182 votes.

General Election 1987: Ayr
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	George Kenneth Hotson Younger	20,942	39.4	−3.4
	Labour	Keith McDonald	20,760	39.1	+12.3
	Liberal	Keith William Moody	7,859	14.8	−10.6
	SNP	Colin Traynor Weir	3,548	6.7	+1.8
Majority			182	0.3
Turnout			53,109	79.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	−7.9

Elections in the 1990s

In 1992 Ayr remained the most marginal constituency in Scotland and fourth most marginal constituency in the United Kingdom, being won by Conservative Phil Gallie with a majority of 85 votes.

General Election 1992: Ayr
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Philip Roy Gallie	22,172	40.8	+1.4
	Labour	Alastair George Osborne	22,087	40.6	+1.5
	SNP	Mrs Barbara Anne Mullin	5,949	10.9	+4.2
	Liberal Democrat	John Alan Boss	4,067	7.5	−7.3
	Natural Law	Richard B. Scott	132	0.2	N/A
Majority			85	0.2
Turnout			54,407	83.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

In 1997 Sandra Osborne became the first female MP to represent the Ayr constituency at the British Parliament, and Ayr's first ever Labour MP.

General Election 1997: Ayr
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Sandra Currie Osborne	21,679	48.4	+7.8
	Conservative	Philip Roy Gallie	15,136	33.8	−7.0
	SNP	Ian Blackford	5,625	12.6	+1.7
	Liberal Democrat	Miss Clare Alison Hamblen	2,116	4.7	−2.8
	Referendum	John Charles Enos	200	0.4	N/A
Majority			6,543	14.6	N/A
Turnout			44,756	80.0	−3.0
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+7.4

Elections in the 2000s

Sandra Osborne

General Election 2001: Ayr
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Sandra Currie Osborne	16,801	43.6	−4.9
	Conservative	Philip Roy Gallie	14,256	37.0	+3.2
	SNP	Jim Mather	4,621	12.0	−0.6
	Liberal Democrat	Stuart David Richie	2,089	5.4	+0.7
	Scottish Socialist	James Scott Stewart	692	1.8	N/A
	UKIP	Joseph William Smith	101	0.3	N/A
Majority			2,545	6.6
Turnout			38,560	69.3	−10.7
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.1

References

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "A" (part 3)

Westminster constituencies of Scotland

1708 to 1832 1832 to 1868 1868 to 1885 1885 to 1918 1918 to 1950 1950 to 1955 1955 to 1974 1974 to 1983 1983 to 1997 1997 to 2005

Current constituencies (2005 to present)

Aberdeen North Aberdeen South Airdrie & Shotts Angus Argyll & Bute Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock Banff & Buchan Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross Central Ayrshire Coatbridge, Chryston & Bellshill Cumbernauld, Kilsyth & Kirkintilloch East Dumfries & Galloway Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale Dundee East Dundee West Dunfermline & West Fife East Dunbartonshire East Kilbride, Strathaven & Lesmahagow East Lothian East Renfrewshire Edinburgh East Edinburgh North & Leith Edinburgh South Edinburgh South West Edinburgh West Falkirk Glasgow Central Glasgow East Glasgow North Glasgow North East Glasgow North West Glasgow South Glasgow South West Glenrothes Gordon Inverclyde Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey Kilmarnock & Loudoun Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath Lanark & Hamilton East Linlithgow & East Falkirk Livingston Midlothian Moray Motherwell & Wishaw Na h-Eileanan an Iar North Ayrshire & Arran North East Fife Ochil & South Perthshire Orkney & Shetland Paisley & Renfrewshire North Paisley & Renfrewshire South Perth & North Perthshire Ross, Skye & Lochaber Rutherglen & Hamilton West Stirling West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine West Dunbartonshire

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Burgh constituencies	Aberdeen North Aberdeen South Coatbridge and Airdrie Dundee East Dundee West Dunfermline Burghs Edinburgh Central Edinburgh East Edinburgh Leith Edinburgh North Edinburgh Pentlands Edinburgh West Glasgow Bridgeton Glasgow Camlachie Glasgow Cathcart Glasgow Central Glasgow Gorbals Glasgow Govan Glasgow Hillhead Glasgow Kelvingrove Glasgow Maryhill Glasgow Pollok Glasgow Scotstoun Glasgow Shettleston Glasgow Springburn Glasgow Tradeston Glasgow Woodside Greenock Kirkcaldy Burghs Paisley Stirling and Falkirk Burghs

County constituencies	Argyll Ayr Banffshire Berwick and East Lothian Bothwell Bute and Northern Ayrshire Caithness and Sutherland Central Ayrshire CC Clackmannan and Eastern Stirlingshire Dumfriesshire East Aberdeenshire East Dunbartonshire East Fife East Renfrewshire Galloway Hamilton Inverness Kilmarnock Kinross and Western Perthshire Lanark Midlothian and Peebles Moray and Nairn Motherwell North Angus and Mearns North Lanarkshire Orkney and Zetland Perth and East Perthshire Ross and Cromarty Roxburgh and Selkirk Rutherglen South Angus South Ayrshire West Aberdeenshire West Dunbartonshire West Fife West Lothian West Renfrewshire West Stirlingshire Western Isles

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