 | 'Our nation, having discovered oil, got poorer not richer.' Shadow Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Minister, Kenny MacAskill MSP, January 2001. |  |
| 'Our nation, having discovered oil, got poorer not richer.' Shadow Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Minister, Kenny MacAskill MSP, January 2001. | |
Labour were breathing a sigh of relief as they held on to the Irvine North ward of North Ayrshire Council with their majority cut from 264 from to 61 over the Scottish National Party. There was a swing of 4.0 % from Labour to the Scottish National party and a swing of 23.1 % from the Socialist Labour Party to the Scottish Socilaist party.
The town of Irvine lies by the coast to the north of Ayr and west of Kilmarnock. It is part of the Cunninghame South parliamentary constituency and the town is split into several wards including, Irvine West, Irvine Townhead, Irvine Vineburgh & Woodlands South, Irvine North and Irvine Landward. All five wards are held by Labour with the Scottish National Party between 159 and 516 votes behind.
Irvine was originally in the Cunninghame District of Strathclyde Regional Council. In 1988, Cunninghame District council was composed of 24 Labour councillors, 4 Conservatives, one Moderate and one Independent. In the 1992, five wards changed hands with the SNP making three gains from Labour, and the Tories winning a ward from Labour and a ward from the Independent. This gave Labour 20 councillors for 43.8 % of the vote, the SNP three for 24.3 %, the Tories six with 24.0 %, and the Moderate one ward for 3.0 % of the vote. Irvine North was held by Labour's Joseph McKinney who took 508 votes (59.6 %), giving him a 164 majority (19.2 %) over the SNP's Nicola Sturgeon who won 344 votes (40.4 %). Since May 1999, Nicola Sturgeon has been an SNP MSP for Glasgow.
In 1995, Cunninghame District Council became North Ayrshire Unitary Council. The number of wards in the new Council stayed constant at 30. Labour won no less than 26 wards (86.7 %) with just 55.8 % of the vote, while the Scottish National Party, who took 24.8 % of the vote won just one seat (3.3 %). The other two seats were won by a Conservative (for 11.8 %) and one Independent (4.6 %). In a two way fight, Irvine North was won by the District Councillor, Labour's Joseph McKinney with 760 votes (65.2 %) giving him a 355 majority (30.5 %) over the Scottish National Party's Kenneth Mackenzie who took 405 votes (34.8 %).
In 1999, there was a 7.5 % swing from Labour to the SNP in North Ayrshire. Despite this, there was only one SNP gain from Labour who won no less than 25 of the wards (83.3 %) with 47.7 % of the vote while the Scottish National Party, who took 31.7 % of the vote won just two seats (6.7 %). The other three seats were divided between two Conservatives (with 18.6 % of the votes) and one Independent (with 2.0 %).
North Ayrshire Council is a prime example of why a system of PR is needed for council elections and why Labour councillors will continue to fight with any means in their power against attempts to introduce a fair voting system. Under the D'Hondt system of PR, Labour would have won 14 seats, the SNP 10, and the Tories 5 seats and the Independent one, thus producing an interesting basis for a coalition-run council, or a minority administration rather than the current elected dictatorship where Labour have an overall majority of 20 councillors.
In 1999, Irvine North was retained by Cllr Joseph McKinney with a 264 majority over the SNP's John Gray. The Socialist Labour Party's James McDaid achieved one of the party's best results when he came third with 23.1 % of the vote, while Tory Mark Menzies trailed with 4.4 %.
Labour held on to the ward in the by-election with 385 votes giving them a 61 majority over the Scottish National Parrty. The swing from Labour to SNP was 4.0 %.
The big swing in Irvine North was from the Socialist Labour Party to the Scottish Socialist Party. Arthur Scargill's SSP had done well in many parts of Scotland in the 1999 council and Scottish Parliamentary elections, coming 9 th in the South of Scotland d'Hondt list. However, since the election of Tommy Sheridan as an MSP, the SSP has gained the ascendance. In Irvine North the SSP came a close third with 300 votes, while the SLP came a poor fourth with just 48. The result represented a swing of 23.1 % from the SLP to the SSP.
The turnout was 30.6 %, down from 52.2 % in 1999.
Following the by-election, the political composition of North Ayrshire Council remains unchanged at 25 Labour, two Scottish National Party, two Conservatives and one Independent.
I am grateful to Cllr Rob Munn for information on the by-election.
SNP South of Scotland MSP Michael Russell has said that the Òwriting is on the wallÓ for Labour's administration in North Ayrshire Council, following this week's Irvine North by-election, in which the SNP slashed LabourÕs majority in the ward to just 61 votes. Mr Russell commented:
'People in Irvine North, as elsewhere in North Ayrshire are tiring of LabourÕs old regime. In a ward where Labour until recently had half the vote, that vote has been cut to barely more than a third. That means for every person who voted for the Labour candidate, there were two who voted against him.
'This is a strong warning for Labour here that they cannot take the voters for granted, even in what have traditionally been their strongest areas. One other lesson is that the SNP is clearly the only way to unseat Labour, and that a vote for Tommy Sheridan's SSP only splits the vote and lets the same old Labour crowd back in again.
'The Labour administration on the Council is unpopular, and its reign is coming to an end.'
Cock-a-hoop Labour rounded on the Scottish Nationalists after their win in a miserable poll of just 30 per cent.
Cunninghame South MP Brian Donohoe and MSP Irene Oldfather said the result showed the SNP bandwagon had run into the buffers and that the Nats' policy of "opposing everything and offering nothing," had been rejected by the voters.
But the Nats hit back claiming Labour had only held on to the seat "by the skin of their teeth." Former council leader Drew Duncan won with 385 votes in a five-way fight which saw a turnout of just 30 per cent.
The SNP came second, followed by the Scottish Socialists, Socialist Labour and the Tories.
Immediately after the result, Mr Donohoe said the SNP Tartan Tory bandwagon had run into the buffers at full tilt.
He said: "Given that the SNP have now lost every election in all parts of Cunninghame South since 1992, it is obvious that their Tartan Tory separatism is not wanted in this part of the world.
"People much prefer to elect a good socialist candidate like Drew Duncan who will stand up for their interests on the council." Mrs Oldfather said the voters of Irvine North had rejected the SNP's negative policies of "opposing everything and offering nothing." She said: "This result demonstrates that Labour's support in Irvine North remains solid." SNP spokesman Mike Russell said Labour had lost 2,000 voters compared to the last election.
He said: "This wasn't a victory. This was a warning to Labour. They hung on by the skin of their teeth.
"The voters deserted them in droves. The opportunity is there to change this council.
"People in Irvine North as elsewhere in North Ayrshire are tiring of Labour's old regime.
"In a ward where Labour until recently had half the votes, that has been cut to barely more than a third.
"That means for every person who voted for Labour there were two who voted against their candidate.
"It proves if you vote Scottish Socialist you end up with Labour and the likes of David O'Neill.
"It was a bad night for Labour and a bad night for the people of Irvine North."
| 8 th February 2001 | 6 th May 1999 | ||||||
| Drew Duncan |  |
385 | 35.3 % | Joseph McKinney | |
808 | 43.3 % |
| David Leishman |  |
324 | 29.8 % | John Gray | |
544 | 29.2 % |
| Jim Byrne |  |
300 | 27.5 % | James McDaid |  |
431 | 23.1 % |
| Bobby Cochrane | |
48 | 4.4 % | Mark Menzies |  |
83 | 4.4 % |
| Scott Gallacher | |
32 | 2.9 % | ||||
| Lab hold | Lab maj. | 61 | 5.5 % | Lab win | Lab maj. | 264 | 14.1 % |
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