Ayr (Scottish Parliament constituency)

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Constituency
Current constituency

Ayr 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, however, it is one of nine constituencies in the South 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.

Electoral region

See also South of Scotland Scottish Parliament region

The other eight constituencies of the South of Scotland region are Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Clydesdale, Cunninghame South, Dumfries, East Lothian, Galloway and Upper Nithsdale, Roxburgh and Berwickshire and Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale.

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

Constituency boundaries and council area

The Ayr 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.

The Holyrood constituency covers a northern portion of the South Ayrshire council area. The rest of the council area is covered by the Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley constituency, which also covers a southern portion of the East Ayrshire council area.

Boundary review

See Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions from 2011

Following their First Periodic review into constituencies to the Scottish Parliament in time for the 2011 elections, the Boundary Commission for Scotland has recommended alterations to the existing Ayr constituency.

The newly shaped Ayr takes in the three Ayr electoral wards of North, East, and West, in addition to covering Troon and Prestwick.

Members of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
style="background-color: Template:Scottish Labour Party/meta/color" |	1999	Ian Welsh	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Scottish Conservative Party/meta/color" |	2000 by-election	John Scott	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Scottish Conservative Party/meta/color" |	2003
style="background-color: Template:Scottish Conservative Party/meta/color" |	2007

Election results

Scottish Parliament election, 2007: Ayr

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Scott	12,619	40.7	0.0
	Labour	John Duncan	8,713	28.1	−6.6
	SNP	Iain White	7,592	25.6	11.7
	Liberal Democrats	Stuart Ritchie	1,714	5.6	0.0
Majority			3,906	12.5
Turnout			31, 025	55.9	−1.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Scottish Parliament election, 2003: Ayr
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Scott	12,865	40.72	+2.72
	Labour	Rita Miller	10,975	34.74	−3.36
	SNP	James Joseph Dornan	4,334	13.72	−5.78
	Liberal Democrats	Stuart David Ritchie	1,769	5.60	+1.20
	Scottish Socialist	James Scott Stewart	1,648	5.22	n/a
Majority			1,890	5.98	n/a
Turnout			31591	57.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Ayr Scottish Parliament 2000 By-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Scott	12,580	39.4
	SNP	Jim Mather	9,236	29.0
	Labour	Rita Miller	7,054	22.1
	Scottish Socialist	James Stewart	1,345	4.2
	Liberal Democrats	Stuart Ritchie	800	2.5
	Scottish Green	Gavin Corbett	460	1.4
	The Radio Vet	William Botcherby	186	0.6
	UKIP	Alistair McConnachie	113	0.4
	ProLife Alliance	Robert Graham	111	0.4
	Independent (politician)	Kevin Dillion	15	0.1
Majority			3,344
Turnout			31,900
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Scottish Parliament election, 1999: Ayr
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ian Welsh	14,263	38.1	N/A
	Conservative	Phil Gallie	14,238	38.0	N/A
	SNP	Roger Mullin	7,291	19.5	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Elaine Morris	1,662	4.4	N/A
Majority			25	0.1	N/A
Turnout			37454		N/A
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A