With election day upon us, here is a brief overlook at the voting history of the four Ayrshire constituencies.

Ayr

Historically, Ayr has always held a higher level of strong support for the Conservative Party in comparison to other regions in Scotland. This was the case until the General Election in 1997 when the constituency boundaries were changed adjoining Cumnock and Doon Valley alongside Carrick. This move greatly altered the demographics of Ayr, benefitting the Labour Party.

However, the 2000s and 2010s have seen the Conservative Party triumph once more as the highest number of Conservative votes for Ayr were recorded in 2016. The 16,183 votes cast for the Conservative party was a steady increase of around 4.1%.

Cunninghame North

Cunninghame North was once a Labour dominated constituency, in 1987 the party won the majority of local votes. Things changed in 2007 when Cunninghame North voted SNP, making them the smallest majority in the country.

Unlike Ayr, the Conservatives have never won the majority in Cunninghame North. However, it is worth noting that they had a steady increase of 10.9% in 2016, overtaking the Labour Party and bringing them to second place in the constituency for the first time since 1983. Currently, Cunninghame North has a strong SNP hold.

Cunninghame South

Cunninghame South has traditionally been strongly represented by the Labour Party. However, in 2011 support for the Labour Party started to decrease when the SNP won the majority with 10,993 votes cast in their favour.

Support for the SNP has continued in Cunninghame South. In 2016, 52.2% of the votes were cast for the SNP, meaning that a total of 13,416 were now in favour of the SNP.

Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley

Labour represented Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley strongly until 2011 when support changed swiftly from Labour to SNP.

Despite the SNP having previously performed rather poorly in Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley they were still able to secure the constituency in 2011 with 2,581 votes, decreasing Labour’s overall hold.