2012 North Ayrshire Council election

2012 North Ayrshire Council election
All 30 seats to North Ayrshire Council; 16 seats needed for a majority
Council Leader before election; David O'Neill; (Labour); No overall control	Council Leader after election ; William Gibson; (SNP); No overall control

The 2012 North Ayrshire Council election took place on 3 May 2012 to elect members of North Ayrshire Council. The election used the eight wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with each ward electing three or four councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation, with 30 Councillors being elected.

The election saw the Scottish National Party make further advances by gaining four seats to become the largest party on the Council while also increasing their vote share significantly. Labour lost one seat to become the second-largest party on the Council. Independents gained a seat to have a total of six members. The Conservatives lost two-thirds of their former seats, while the Liberal Democrats were wiped out, losing both their seats.

Following the election, the SNP formed a minority administration on the Council. This replaced the previous Labour minority administration which existed from 2007 to 2012. This was also the first time Labour had not been part of the administration on the council for over 30 years.

Election result

2012 North Ayrshire Council election result
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SNP	12	4	0	4	40.0	35.6	14,623	6.1
	Labour	11	0	1	1	36.7	31.4	12,906	1.0
	Independent	6	2	1	1	20.0	19.0	7,808	2.1
	Conservative	1	0	2	2	3.3	9.3	3,834	4.1
	Liberal Democrats	0	0	2	2	0.0	1.6	655	5.1
	Socialist Labour	0	0	0		0.0	1.1	443	0.6
	Scottish Socialist	0	0	0		0.0	0.9	378	0.4
	UKIP	0	0	0		0.0	0.5	221	New
	Scottish Senior Citizens	0	0	0		0.0	0.4	163	New
	TUSC	0	0	0		0.0	0.1	51	New
Total		30						41,082

Source: ^[1]

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2007. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

Ward results

Irvine West

Labour (2) and the SNP (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the SNP gained one seat from the Conservatives.

Irvine West - 4 seats
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	SNP	Matthew Brown (incumbent)	31.6	1,624
	Labour	Ian Clarkson (incumbent)	26.8	1,374
	Labour	David O'Neill (incumbent)	13.5	691	720	950	958	995	1,039
	Conservative	Pat McPhee (incumbent)	12.0	614	634	652	653	657	682	683	773
	SNP	Ruth Maguire^{[note 1]}	5.2	265	695	704	713	730	769	770	840	945
	Liberal Democrats	Gordon Bain	4.8	246	272	283	289	300	330	331
	Independent	Derek Owen	3.6	187	197	202	216	231
	Socialist Labour	Bobby Cochrane	1.6	81	92	112	123
	TUSC	Ian Kerr	1.0	51	61	65
Electorate: 14,793 Valid: 5,133 Spoilt: 157 Quota: 1,027 Turnout: 34.7%

Source: ^[3]

Irvine East

Labour (2) and the SNP (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the SNP gained one seat from the Liberal Democrats.

Irvine East - 4 seats
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	SNP	Joan Sturgeon (incumbent)	20.6	1,045
	SNP	Marie Burns	18.1	917	941	941	960	998	1,039
	Labour	Irene Oldfather	15.0	763	764	766	782	819	851	854	1,032
	Labour	John Easdale	12.7	643	643	645	652	673	697	700	874	886	1,098
	Independent	Tom Barr (incumbent)	10.6	537	538	542	558	604	742	746	763	765
	Labour	David Logan	8.1	413	413	415	428	445	452	454
	Conservative	Chris Barr	7.4	377	377	377	377	409
	Liberal Democrats	Ruby Kirkwood (incumbent)	5.2	263	263	263	267
	Scottish Socialist	Denise Morton	1.7	89	89	98
	Socialist Labour	James McDaid	0.5	27	27
Electorate: 14,994 Valid: 5,074 Spoilt: 116 Quota: 1,015 Turnout: 33.8%

Source: ^[4]

Kilwinning

Labour (2) and the SNP (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election while independent candidate Robert Steel gained a seat from the Liberal Democrats.

Kilwinning - 4 seats
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
	SNP	John Ferguson (incumbent)	29.2	1,440
	Labour	Joe Cullinane	21.3	1,054
	Independent	Robert Steel	14.1	695	720	722	735	754	771	946	966	1,092
	Labour	Donald Reid	10.6	525	533	548	548	557	559	590	867	909	929	1,012
	Conservative	Scott Gallacher	7.3	363	369	370	372	373	385	398	407
	Labour	Helen Hainey	5.6	279	295	335	337	341	352	373
	Independent	Colin Hedley	5.1	254	268	270	293	299	319
	SNP	Iain Walker	3.0	148	489	490	490	501	511	532	547	568	581
	Liberal Democrats	Stuart Gardiner	1.7	82	88	90	90	90
	Scottish Socialist	Andy Jones	1.1	54	60	61	63
	Independent	Philip Hogg	0.9	45	47	47
Electorate: 13,087 Valid: 4,939 Spoilt: 157 Quota: 988 Turnout: 37.7%

Source: ^[5]

Saltcoats and Stevenston

Labour (2), the SNP (1) and independent councillor Ronnie McNicol retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Saltcoats and Stevenston - 4 seats
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Labour	Jim Montgomerie	36.2	1,926
	SNP	Willie Gibson (incumbent)	23.4	1,244
	Independent	Ronnie McNicol (incumbent)	13.2	703	771	789	796	816	884	993	1,210
	Labour	Alan Munro (incumbent)	10.1	540	1,124
	SNP	Nan Wallace	9.0	481	510	642	650	667	688	729
	Conservative	David Rocks	3.6	193	198	199	201	205
	Scottish Senior Citizens	Jimmy Miller	3.1	163	210	216	225	239	282
	Socialist Labour	Debbie Anderson	1.4	76	91	94	100
Electorate: 15,274 Valid: 5,326 Spoilt: 138 Quota: 1,066 Turnout: 34.9%

Source: ^[6]

Ardrossan and Arran

The SNP, Labour and independent councillor John Hunter retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the SNP gained one seat from former independent councillor Margie Currie.

Ardrossan and Arran - 4 seats
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	SNP	Tony Gurney (incumbent)	17.6	982	986	998	1,033	1,048	1,081	1,095	1,149
	SNP	John Bruce	15.0	837	841	868	889	918	1,109	1,113	1,157
	Independent	John Hunter (incumbent)	14.2	792	796	833	895	1,025	1,191
	Labour	Peter McNamara (incumbent)	12.9	721	730	738	770	812	871	881	1,414
	Labour	Loretta Gardner	11.8	659	667	692	720	750	793	798
	Independent	Marc A. Head	10.5	588	595	609	620	714
	Conservative	David Tate	8.8	491	507	551	561
	Scottish Socialist	Campbell Martin	4.2	235	237	250
	UKIP	Gordon Niven Allison	3.9	221	227
	Liberal Democrats	Nick Smith	1.1	64
Electorate: 13,674 Valid: 5,590 Spoilt: 106 Quota: 1,119 Turnout: 40.9%

Source: ^[7]

Dalry and West Kilbride

Independent councillor Elizabeth McLardy retained the seat she had won at the previous election while the SNP and independent councillor Robert Barr each gained a seat from Labour and the Conservatives. In 2007, Cllr Barr had been elected as a Conservative candidate but later left the party.

Dalry and West Kilbride - 3 seats
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Independent	Robert Barr (incumbent)	29.4	1,278
	SNP	Catherine McMillan	22.6	982	1,010	1,018	1,041	1,077	1,084	1,340
	Independent	Elizabeth McLardy (incumbent)	19.6	853	884	899	929	1,117
	Labour	John Reid (incumbent)	16.0	697	729	737	765	810	815
	Conservative	Davina Saunders	9.8	425	447	450	450
	Socialist Labour	Louise McDaid	2.2	94	97	99
	Independent	John Willis	0.5	24	41
Electorate: 9,513 Valid: 4,353 Spoilt: 47 Quota: 1,089 Turnout: 45.8%

Source: ^[8]

Kilbirnie and Beith

The SNP, Labour and independent councillor Jean Highgate retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Kilbirnie and Beith - 3 seats
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	SNP	Anthea Dickson (incumbent)	24.8	1,101	1,107	1,121
	Independent	Jean Highgate (incumbent)	17.1	758	767	804	804	910	947	1,000	1,368
	SNP	Craig Wilson	17.1	762	763	771	778	807	853	886
	Labour	John Bell (incumbent)	17.0	756	765	773	773	785	1,370
	Labour	Allan Wilson	16.2	721	727	731	731	745
	Conservative	Ted Nevill	5.1	228	228	231	231
	Independent	Josh McCormick	1.7	77	81
	Socialist Labour	Tristan Lindsay	0.9	41
Electorate: 10,662 Valid: 4,444 Spoilt: 97 Quota: 1,112 Turnout: 41.7%

Source: ^[9]

North Coast and Cumbraes

The SNP (2), Labour (1) and the Conservatives (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

North Coast and Cumbraes - 4 seats
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6
	SNP	Alan Hill (incumbent)	27.4	1,705
	Labour	Alex Gallagher (incumbent)	18.4	1,144	1,167	1,197	1,281
	Conservative	Tom Marshall	18.4	1,143	1,161	1,173	1,176	1,182	1,599
	SNP	Alex McLean^{[note 2]}	17.5	1,090	1,441
	Independent	Ian Murdoch	16.3	1,017	1,050	1,103	1,126	1,137
	Socialist Labour	James Anderson	2.0	124	128	137
Electorate: 13,226 Valid: 6,223 Spoilt: 97 Quota: 1,245 Turnout: 47.0%

Source: ^[11]

By-elections

2014 North Coast and Cumbraes by-election

North Coast and Cumbraes by-election (30 October 2014) - 1 seat
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5
	SNP	Grace McLean	38.7	2,021	2,045	2,156	2,279	2,966
	Independent	Drew Cochrane	22.8	1,190	1,234	1,411	2,000
	Conservative	Toni Dawson	21.5	1,125	1,174	1,296
	Labour	Valerie Reid	13.2	691	711
	UKIP	Meilan Henderson	3.6	192
Electorate: 14,052 Valid: 5,219 Spoilt: 45 Quota: 2,610 Turnout: 37.5%

Source: ^[12]

2016 Irvine West by-election

Irvine West by-election (11 August 2016) - 1 Seat
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6
	SNP	Robin Sturgeon	37.5	1,164	1,168	1,207	1,226	1,277
	Labour	Louise McPhater	33.1	1,029	1,046	1,060	1,118	1,301	1,697
	Conservative	Angela Stephen	20.6	639	650	655	658
	Socialist Labour	Bobby Cochrane	4.2	131	133	146
	Scottish Green	Josh McCormick	3.0	94	100
	Liberal Democrats	Nick Smith	1.5	48
Electorate: 14,849 Valid: 3,105 Spoilt: 46 Quota: 1,553 Turnout: 20.9%

Source: ^[13]

Notes

^ Irvine West SNP councillor Ruth Maguire was elected as a MSP for Cunninghame South at the 2016 Scottish Parliament election. She resigned her council seat on 25 May 2016 and a by-election was held on 11 August 2016 which was won by Labour's Louise McPhater.^[2]
^ North Coast and Cumbraes SNP councillor Alex McLean died on 1 August 2014.^[10] A by-election was held on 30 October 2014 and was won by his widow Grace McLean, also of the SNP.

References

^ Teale, Andrew. "Local Elections Archive Project - 2017 - North Ayrshire". Retrieved 18 January 2024.
^ Ruth Maguire resigns as North Ayrshire councillor to focus on MSP role - triggering by-election for Irvine West seat, Irvine Times, 26 May 2016
^ "Declaration of Results Ward 01 - Irvine West" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
^ "Declaration of Results Ward 02 - Irvine East" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
^ "Declaration of Results Ward 03 - Kilwinning" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
^ "Declaration of Results Ward 04 - Saltcoats and Stevenston" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
^ "Declaration of Results Ward 05 - Ardrossan and Arran" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
^ "Declaration of Results Ward 06 - Dalry and West Kilbride" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
^ "Declaration of Results Ward 07 - Kilbirnie and Beith" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
^ Councillor Alex McLean, North Ayrshire Council, 6 August 2014 (archived version, 2014)
^ "Declaration of Results Ward 08 - North Coast and Cumbraes" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
^ "Declaration of Results Ward 08 - North Coast and Cumbraes" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 20 October 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
^ "Election Results Ward 1 Irvine West" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2024.

[3] Irvine West SNP councillor Ruth Maguire was elected as a MSP for Cunninghame South at the 2016 Scottish Parliament election. She resigned her council seat on 25 May 2016 and a by-election was held on 11 August 2016 which was won by Labour's Louise McPhater.^[2]

[12] North Coast and Cumbraes SNP councillor Alex McLean died on 1 August 2014.^[10] A by-election was held on 30 October 2014 and was won by his widow Grace McLean, also of the SNP.

[LEAP-1] Teale, Andrew. "Local Elections Archive Project - 2017 - North Ayrshire". Retrieved 18 January 2024.

[2] Ruth Maguire resigns as North Ayrshire councillor to focus on MSP role - triggering by-election for Irvine West seat, Irvine Times, 26 May 2016

[4] "Declaration of Results Ward 01 - Irvine West" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2024.

[5] "Declaration of Results Ward 02 - Irvine East" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2024.

[6] "Declaration of Results Ward 03 - Kilwinning" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2024.

[7] "Declaration of Results Ward 04 - Saltcoats and Stevenston" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2024.

[8] "Declaration of Results Ward 05 - Ardrossan and Arran" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2024.

[9] "Declaration of Results Ward 06 - Dalry and West Kilbride" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2024.

[10] "Declaration of Results Ward 07 - Kilbirnie and Beith" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2024.

[11] Councillor Alex McLean, North Ayrshire Council, 6 August 2014 (archived version, 2014)

[13] "Declaration of Results Ward 08 - North Coast and Cumbraes" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2024.

[14] "Declaration of Results Ward 08 - North Coast and Cumbraes" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 20 October 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2024.

[15] "Election Results Ward 1 Irvine West" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2024.

[1]

[note 1]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[note 2]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[2]

[10]

v t e Council elections in North Ayrshire
Cunninghame District Council	1974 1977 1980 1984 1988 1992 Abolished
North Ayrshire Council	1995 1999 2003 2007 2012 2017 2022
Strathclyde Regional Council	1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 Abolished

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