Cunninghame North Scottish Parliament county constituency
Cunninghame North shown within the West of Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Created:	1999
MSP:	Kenneth Gibson
Party:	SNP
Council area:	North Ayrshire

Cunninghame North is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. Also, however, it is one of nine constituencies in the West 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.

Contents 1 Electoral region 2 Constituency boundaries 2.1 Council area 3 Members of the Scottish Parliament 4 Election results 4.1 Controversy 5 Notes and references

[edit] Electoral region

See also West of Scotland Scottish Parliament region

The other eight constituencies of the West of Scotland region are Dumbarton, Clydebank and Milngavie, Eastwood, Greenock and Inverclyde, Paisley North, Paisley South, Strathkelvin and Bearsden and West Renfrewshire.

The region covers the West Dunbartonshire council area, the East Renfrewshire council area, the Inverclyde council area, most of the Renfrewshire council area, most of the East Dunbartonshire council area, part of the Argyll and Bute council area and part of the North Ayrshire council area.

[edit] Constituency boundaries

The Cunninghame North 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, the Westminster (House of Commons) constituency was abolished in favour of new constituencies.^[1]

[edit] Council area

The Holyrood constituency covers a north-western portion of the North Ayrshire council area, and includes the Isle of Arran. The rest of the North Ayrshire area is covered by the Cunninghame South constituency, which is within the South of Scotland electoral region.

[edit] Members of the Scottish Parliament

Kenneth Gibson of the Scottish National Party presently holds this seat. With the SNP gaining a majority of just 48 in 2007, this is currently the most marginal seat at Holyrood.

Election		Member	Party
	1999	Allan Wilson	Labour
	2003
	2007	Kenneth Gibson	Scottish National Party

[edit] Election results

Scottish Parliament election, 2007: Cunninghame North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Kenneth Gibson	9,295	30.7	+3.6
	Labour	Allan Wilson	9,247	30.6	-8.3
	Conservative	Philip Lardner	5,466	18.1	-1.3
	Independent	Campbell Martin	4,423	14.6	+14.6
	Liberal Democrats	Lewis Hutton	1,810	6.0	-2.1
Majority			48	0.2	-11.63
Turnout			30,241	54.1	+2.34
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing	6.0

Scottish Parliament election, 2003: Cunninghame North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Allan Wilson	11,142	38.92	-3.99
	SNP	Campbell Martin	7,755	27.09	-1.49
	Conservative	Peter Ramsay	5,542	19.36	-0.49
	Liberal Democrats	John Boyd	2,333	8.15	-0.51
	Scottish Socialist	Sean Scott	1,859	6.49	+6.49
Majority			3,387	11.83	-2.50
Turnout			28,631	51.76	-8.20
	Labour hold		Swing

Scottish Parliament election, 1999: Cunninghame North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Allan Wilson	14,369	42.90	N/A
	SNP	Kay Ullrich	9,573	28.58	N/A
	Conservative	Mike Johnston	6,649	19.85	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Calum Irving	2,900	8.66	N/A
Majority			4,796	14.32
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

[edit] Controversy

The high number of rejected votes was particularly significant in Cunninghame North where the majority (48) was far smaller than the number of rejected papers (over 1,000). Additionally, ballot papers carried by boat from the Isle of Arran were damp when they arrived raising suggestions they may not have been transported securely. There were also questions about a discrepancy in the number of ballot papers that left Arran and the number that arrived at the count, though the returning officer later announced that a manual recount found no discrepancy.^[2] Allan Wilson, the former member for Cunninghame North was said to be discussing with his solicitor a potential legal challenge to the Cunninghame North result^[3] but no election petition was lodged.^[4]

[edit] Notes and references

1. ^ See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland
2. ^ "Blow to SNP coalition hopes as Lib Dems spurn independence deal". The Guardian. 7 May 2007. http://politics.guardian.co.uk/scotland/story/0,,2074046,00.html. Retrieved 2007-05-25. 
3. ^ "Holyrood vote may face challenges". BBC. 6 May 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6629093.stm. Retrieved 2007-05-25. 
4. ^ No Labour challenge over election BBC Online, 25 May 2007

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