The boundaries of North Ayrshire and Arran extend to, and include, Skelmorlie in the north of the council area, Kilwinning in the south, Beith in the east, and the islands of Arran and Cumbrae in the west.
Profile
The towns of Skelmorlie, Largs, Fairlie and West Kilbride in the north are affluent commuter towns, while Ardrossan, Saltcoats, Stevenston and Kilwinning in the south are rather more industrial and beset with relatively high unemployment. However, regeneration is taking place at Ardrossan Harbour and there has been a rapid increase in new build housing in recent years. Inland, the seat takes in the Garnock valley towns of Dalry, Beith and Kilbirnie, once a centre of steel and textile production long since gone. Tourism is the main industry on Arran and Cumbrae, however the number of holiday homes on the latter has begun to squeeze locals out of the housing market. The seat has two nuclear power stations, Hunterston A nuclear power station (currently being decommissioned) and Hunterston B nuclear power station, as well as a windfarm at Ardrossan.
Members of Parliament
The current MP is Katy Clark. There have been no previous members of parliament for this new constinuency. The previous seat of Cunninghame North, which this constinuency includes, was held by Brian Wilson. Brian Donohoe, who previously held Cunninghame South, is now the elected Member for Central Ayrshire.
Note that percentage vote change and percentage swing for the 2005 results are based on notional results on how this constinuency would have performed in the 2001 UK General Election.
