Candidates and Constituency Assessments

'Are his (Lord Hutton's) conclusions on restricting the use of unverifiable sources in British journalism based on sound law and, if applied, would they constitute a threat to the freedom of the press in this country?' Gavyn Davies, who resigned as Chairman of the Board of Governors on the 28 th January 2004.

Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock

Candidates

	Labour	Sandra Osborne MP
	Scottish National Party	Charles 'Chick' Brodie
	Conservative & Unionist	Mark Jones
	Liberal Democrat	Colin Waugh
	Scottish Socialist Party	Murray Steele
	Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party	Donald Sharp
	UK Independence Party	Bryan McCormack
	Socialist Labour Party	James McDaid

Candidates

The Labour candidate is Sandra Osborne, currently MP for Ayr. She was born in Paisley in 1956 and was educated at Camphill High School, Anniesland College, Jordanhill College, and Starthclyde University. Osborne was a member of Kyle & Carrick District Council from 1990 until 1995 and of South Ayrshire Council from 1994 until 1997, representing Whitletts with 85.8 % of the vote. Osborne's husband, Alasdair came withing 85 votes of beating Tory Phil Gallie in 1992. Sandra Osborne won Ayr from the Tories in 1997 after favourable boundary changes which gave the new Ayr seat a notional Labour majority of 1,895. Osborne won Ayr with a 6,543 majority over the Tories in 1997 and sw this cut to 2,545 in 2003. The Scottish Parliamentary seat with the same boundaries proved to be less solid - 1999 the Labour majority was cut to 25, and in 2000 the Tories won the seat with a majority of 3,344 over the SNP with Labour in third place, while in 2003, the Tories held the seat with a majority of 1,890 over Labour. The boundary changes are extremely favourable to Osborne with the new seat Ayr seat being based largely on Carrick, Cumnock & Doon Valley and Labour's notional vote is more than twice that of the Tories.

The SNP candidate is Chic Brodie who has fought several Parliamentary campaigns, and living in Ayr he fought the old Ayr constituency previously in 1983 as a member of the SDP /Liberal Alliance when he came within a few hundred votes of overtaking Labour. He is currently Convener of the Law branch in Dundee. He was born in Dundee, was educated at Morgan Academy Dundee and is a Maths graduate of St Andrew's University. Chic is a company doctor, director and consultant. He has a wide range of business experience having been UK Financial Director of a large computer company to running companies in Europe and being involved in his own organisations. He and Mary live variously between homes in Ayr and Dundee. Chic's passions apart from his children and grandchildren are golf, jokes and reading biographies.

The Tory candidate here is now Mark Jones. Mark was a Councillor of the London Borough of Redbridge and served as the Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock Young Conservative Chairman. He is also a past Chairman of the Orkney Constituency and a member of the Conservative Party's Scottish Council.

The Lib Dem candidate is Colin Waugh, who was born in 1955 and educated at Aberdeen university and the London School of Economics. He lives in Ayr and has worked for Shearson Lehman Brothers, as US Economics correspondent for Scotland on Sunday, for the International Red Cross, for International Organisation for Migration and for Galter International Fund. His interests include investment in Africa, malaria and HIV control and prevention and econic migrant financial remittances.

The SSP candidate is Murray Steele who works for East Ayrshire Council Benefits Agency and is an active trade unionist in the public service union, Unison. Murray is opposed to the means testing of benefits and wants to see a basic state pension of £160 a week. Murray was a SSP council candidate in Auchenleckstood in 2003 and also contested Carrick, Cumnock & Doon Valley in the 2003 Scottish Parliamentary Elections, coming fourth with 4.99 %.

The Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party candidate is Donald Sharpe.

The Socialist Labour Party candidate is James McDaid.

The UK Independence Party candidate is Bryan McCormack who was born in Ayr in 1966 and educated at Heathfield Primary School & Prestwick Academy. Having previously been involved in the Labour Party & Trade Union Movement, Bryan joined UKIP in 2004 and started up the Ayrshire Branch. Currently employed by First Scotrail, Bryan lives in Kilwinning with his wife Nicky and their two cats, Elijah & Ezekiel. He was recently appointed as the Official Spokesman for UKIPScotland.

Notional 2001 result

Logo	Party	Denver			Baxter
		Votes	%		Votes	%
	Labour	23,941	51.33 %		23,888	47.84 %
	Conservative & Unionist	11,554	24.77 %		12,047	25.64 %
	Scottish National Party	6,385	13.69 %		4,433	13.69 %
	Liberal Democrat	3,354	7.19 %		3,152	6.71 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	1,094	2.35 %		1,141	2.48 %
	Others	315	0.68 %		328	0.70 %
Notional Labour win	Notional Labour majority	12,387	26.56 %		11,841	25.20 %

Local Government wards in the constituency

This constituency consists of seven of the 18 wards from the old Ayr constituency, nine of the 20 wards from the old Carrick, Cumnock & Doon Valley constituencies, and three wards that were split between the two constituencies.