# Ayr (UK Parliament constituency)

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.
1974 to 1983: The civil parishes of Ayr (except rural area around Ayr Hospital), Prestwick, Tarbolton and Symington.
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.
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.
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.
At the 2017 general election Conservative candidate Bill Grant gained the Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock constituency with a 2,774 vote majority over the SNP's Corri Wilson.
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. The constituency had been represented by Conservative MSP John Scott since a by-election in 2000, until 2021 when the SNP won for the first time.

## Members of Parliament

| Election | Member | Party | Notes |
| 1950 | constituency created, see Ayr Burghs and South Ayrshire | constituency created, see Ayr Burghs and South Ayrshire | constituency created, see Ayr Burghs and South Ayrshire |
| 1950 | Sir Thomas Moore, Bt. | Conservative | Previously MP for Ayr Burghs |
| 1964 | George Younger | Conservative | Later Viscount Younger of Leckie; Cabinet minister 1979–1989 |
| 1992 | Phil Gallie | Conservative | Later an MSP for South of Scotland 1999–2007 |
| 1997 | Sandra Osborne | Labour | First female MP to represent Ayr Subsequently, MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock |
| 2005 | constituency abolished, see Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock and Central Ayrshire | constituency abolished, see Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock and Central Ayrshire | constituency abolished, see Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock and Central Ayrshire |

## Election results
### Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Ayr :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Unionist | Thomas Moore | 21,094 | 58.64 | |
| | Labour | John Pollock | 14,880 | 41.36 | |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 6,214 | 17.28 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 35,974 | | |
| | Unionist win (new seat) | Unionist win (new seat) | Unionist win (new seat) | Unionist win (new seat) | Unionist win (new seat) |
General election 1951: Ayr :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Unionist | Thomas Moore | 21,985 | 58.34 |
| | Labour | Jenny Auld | 15,702 | 41.66 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 6,283 | 16.68 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 37,687 | |
| | Unionist hold | Unionist hold | Swing | |
General election 1955: Ayr :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Unionist | Thomas Moore | 20,006 | 59.06 |
| | Labour | Jenny Auld | 13,866 | 40.94 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 6,140 | 18.12 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 33,872 | |
| | Unionist hold | Unionist hold | Swing | |
General election 1959: Ayr :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Unionist | Thomas Moore | 19,659 | 54.67 |
| | Labour | Alex Eadie | 16,303 | 45.33 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 3,356 | 9.34 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 35,962 | |
| | Unionist hold | Unionist hold | Swing | |

### Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Ayr :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Unionist | George Younger | 20,047 | 52.22 |
| | Labour | Alex Eadie | 18,346 | 47.78 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,701 | 4.44 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 38,393 | |
| | Unionist hold | Unionist hold | Swing | |
General election 1966: Ayr :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | George Younger | 19,988 | 50.61 |
| | Labour | Charles E O'Halloran | 19,504 | 49.39 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 484 | 1.22 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 39,492 | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | |

### Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Ayr :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | George Younger | 22,220 | 52.68 | |
| | Labour Co-op | James Craigen | 17,770 | 42.13 | |
| | SNP | Leslie Anderson | 2,186 | 5.18 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 4,450 | 10.55 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 42,176 | 81.46 | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
General election February 1974: Ayr :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Conservative | George Younger | 21,626 | 50.46 |
| | Labour | JA McFadden | 16,528 | 38.56 |
| | SNP | CD Calman | 4,706 | 10.98 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 5,098 | 11.90 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 41,268 | 83.15 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | |
General election October 1974: Ayr :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | George Younger | 17,487 | 42.4 | −8.1 |
| | Labour Co-op | Robin S. Stewart | 14,268 | 34.6 | −4.0 |
| | SNP | Elizabeth Ann Robinson | 6,902 | 16.7 | +5.7 |
| | Liberal | Neil Murray Tosh | 2,611 | 6.3 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 3,219 | 7.8 | −4.1 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 41,268 | 79.4 | −3.7 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
General election 1979: Ayr :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | George 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 | Majority | Majority | 2,768 | 6.3 | −1.5 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 43,700 | 79.8 | +0.4 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | −0.8 | |

### Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Ayr :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | George Younger | 21,325 | 42.8 | −2.2 |
| | Labour | Keith McDonald | 13,338 | 26.8 | −9.7 |
| | Liberal | Chic Brodie | 12,740 | 25.6 | +14.9 |
| | SNP | Ian Goldie | 2,431 | 4.9 | −2.9 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 7,987 | 16.0 | +9.7 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 49,834 | 76.7 | −3.1 |
| | Conservative hold | 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 | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | George Younger | 20,942 | 39.4 | −3.4 |
| | Labour | Keith McDonald | 20,760 | 39.1 | +12.3 |
| | Liberal | Keith Moody | 7,859 | 14.8 | −10.8 |
| | SNP | Colin Weir | 3,548 | 6.7 | +1.8 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 182 | 0.3 | −15.7 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 53,109 | 79.9 | +3.2 |
| | Conservative hold | 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 | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Phil Gallie | 22,172 | 40.8 | +1.4 |
| | Labour | Alastair Osborne | 22,087 | 40.6 | +1.5 |
| | SNP | Barbara Mullin | 5,949 | 10.9 | +4.2 |
| | Liberal Democrats | John Boss | 4,067 | 7.5 | −7.3 |
| | Natural Law | Richard B. Scott | 132 | 0.2 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 85 | 0.2 | −0.1 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 54,407 | 83.0 | +3.1 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | −0.05 | |
In 1997 the boundaries of the Ayr seat were altered. Below is the notional result from the 1992 general election using the 1997 boundaries.
General election 1992: Ayr Notional :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | | 19,312 | 42.6 | +2.0 |
| | Conservative | | 17,417 | 38.4 | −2.4 |
| | SNP | | 5,057 | 11.2 | +0.3 |
| | Liberal Democrats | | 3,382 | 7.5 | 0.0 |
| | Natural Law | | 132 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,895 | 4.2 | N/A |
| | Labour gain from Conservative | Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | | |
General election 1997: Ayr :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Sandra Osborne | 21,679 | 48.4 | +5.8 |
| | Conservative | Phil Gallie | 15,136 | 33.8 | −4.6 |
| | SNP | Ian Blackford | 5,625 | 12.6 | +1.4 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Clare Hamblen | 2,116 | 4.7 | −2.8 |
| | Referendum | John Enos | 200 | 0.4 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 6,543 | 14.6 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 44,756 | 80.0 | −3.0 |
| | Labour gain from Conservative | Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | +5.2 | |

### Elections in the 2000s

General election 2001: Ayr :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Sandra Osborne | 16,801 | 43.6 | −4.8 |
| | Conservative | Phil Gallie | 14,256 | 37.0 | +3.2 |
| | SNP | Jim Mather | 4,621 | 12.0 | −0.6 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Stuart Richie | 2,089 | 5.4 | +0.7 |
| | Scottish Socialist | James Stewart | 692 | 1.8 | New |
| | UKIP | Joseph Smith | 101 | 0.3 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 2,545 | 6.6 | −8.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 38,560 | 69.3 | −10.7 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | −4.1 | |