Ayr was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

 from 1950 to 2005. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP)

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 by the first-past-the-post

First-past-the-post

First-past-the-post voting refers to an election won by the candidate with the most votes. The winning potato candidate does not necessarily receive an absolute majority of all votes cast.-Overview:...

 system of election

Election

An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...

.

History

The constituency was created by merging the Ayr burgh

Ayr

Ayr is a town and port situated on the Firth of Clyde in south-west Scotland. With a population of around 46,000, Ayr is the largest settlement in Ayrshire, of which it is the county town, and has held royal burgh status since 1205...

 and Prestwick burgh

Prestwick

Prestwick is a town in South Ayrshire on the south-west coast of Scotland, about south-west of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr, the centre of which is about south...

 components of the Ayr District of Burghs

Ayr Burghs (UK Parliament constituency)

Ayr Burghs was a district of burghs constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1800 and of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1950...

 constituency with parts of the South Ayrshire

South Ayrshire (UK Parliament constituency)

South Ayrshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 until 1983, when it was abolished...

 and Kilmarnock

Kilmarnock (UK Parliament constituency)

Kilmarnock was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

 constituencies.

For the 1997 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1997

The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...

, the boundaries of the constituency were substantially altered in a move which saw the suburbs of Alloway

Alloway

Alloway is best known as the birthplace of Robert Burns, and as where he set his poem "Tam o' Shanter"....

 and Doonfoot being transferred to the Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley

Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley (UK Parliament constituency)

Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1983 until 2005...

 constituency. This change led to a substantial alteration in the demographic of the constituency with the Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 being the main beneficiaries.

In 2005 the constituency was divided between the new Central Ayrshire

Central Ayrshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Central Ayrshire is a constituency of the British House of Commons, located in the south-west of Scotland within the North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire council areas...

 and Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock

Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock (UK Parliament constituency)

Ayr, Carrick, and Cumnock is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 2005 general election from parts of the old Ayr and Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley constituencies....

 constituencies.

The Scottish Parliament constituency of Ayr

Ayr (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Ayr is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...

, which was created in 1999, continues in existence unaltered.

Member of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1950 United Kingdom general election, 1950 The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. Despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservatives, the election, held on 23 February 1950 resulted in Labour receiving a slim majority of just five...	Sir Thomas Moore Sir Thomas Moore, 1st Baronet Sir Thomas Cecil Russell Moore, 1st Baronet CBE was a long-serving British Conservative Party politician. He was elected Member of Parliament for Ayr Burghs in a 1925 by-election, and served until his retirement in 1964, when he was succeeded by George Younger. Moore was created a Baronet, of... , Bt.	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...	Previously MP for Ayr Burghs Ayr Burghs (UK Parliament constituency) Ayr Burghs was a district of burghs constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1800 and of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1950...
	1964 United Kingdom general election, 1964 The United Kingdom general election of 1964 was held on 15 October 1964, more than five years after the preceding election, and thirteen years after the Conservative Party had retaken power...	George Younger George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie George Kenneth Hotson Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie KT KCVO TD PC was a British politician and banker....	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...	Later Viscount Younger of Leckie Viscount Younger of Leckie Viscount Younger of Leckie, of Alloa in the County of Clackmannan, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1923 for the Unionist politician Sir George Younger, 1st Baronet. He had already been created a Baronet, of Leckie in the County of Clackmannan, in the Baronetage of... ; Cabinet minister 1979-89
	1992 United Kingdom general election, 1992 The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...	Phil Gallie Phil Gallie Philip Roy Gallie was a British politician who served as a Conservative Member of Parliament for Ayr from 1992 to 1997 and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the South of Scotland region from 1999 to 2007...	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...	Later an MSP Member of the Scottish Parliament Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...  for South of Scotland South of Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region) South of Scotland is one of the eight electoral regions of the Scottish Parliament which were created in 1999. Nine of the parliament's 73 first past the post constituencies are sub-divisions of the region and it elects seven of the 56 additional-member Members of the Scottish Parliament...  1999-2007
	1997 United Kingdom general election, 1997 The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...	Sandra Osborne Sandra Osborne Sandra Currie Osborne is a Scottish Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock since 2005. She was first elected in 1997, and resigned from a government job in 2003 over the Iraq War. She was a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee from 2005–10...	Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...	Subsequently MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock (UK Parliament constituency) Ayr, Carrick, and Cumnock is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 2005 general election from parts of the old Ayr and Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley constituencies....
	2005 United Kingdom general election, 2005 The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....	constituency abolished

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1950s