North Ayrshire Council 2022

Although the name may seem self-explanatory, North Ayrshire is unique amongst Central Belt council areas for including major inhabited islands in the form of Arran and Cumbrae. These were historically in the Clyde islands county of Buteshire, before being aligned with Ayrshire (and split from Bute) in the 70’s. That has given a real mix of communities, from the industrialised new town of Irvine, to the popular resort town of Largs, and the dispersed island communities on Arran.

Historically, this was a bit more Conservative leaning in the north around Largs, whereas the southern portion around Irvine went Labour – it wouldn’t be until 1987 that Labour held both the Westminster seats. At the Scottish Parliament both seats started out with Labour, until the SNP very narrowly won the northern half in 2007, before more securely holding both from 2011. Westminster success would follow in their 2015 landslide, with both constituencies covering the area remaining SNP since.

In the previous local government arrangements, the area went by the name of Cunninghame, which is preserved in the Scottish Parliament constituencies. Though usually dominated by Labour, this was one of the districts where the SNP won a lead, but no majority, in 1977. Otherwise the largest opposition bloc for most of the period were the Conservatives, though in common with the rest of Scotland they withered somewhat by the time the rebranded unitary North Ayrshire arrived in the 90’s, which was consistently majority Labour in the FPTP era.