2012 East Ayrshire Council election

Elections to East Ayrshire Council were held on 3 May 2012, the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. The election is the second using 9 new wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, each ward elected three or four councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation. The new wards replaced 32 single-member wards which used the plurality (first past the post) system of election.

2012 East Ayrshire Council election

← 2007 3 May 2012 (2012-05-03) 2017 →
All 32 seats to East Ayrshire Council 17 seats needed for a majority
Registered	92,817
Turnout	40.4%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Douglas Reid Maureen McKay Tom Cook Party SNP Labour Conservative Leader's seat Kilmarnock West and Crosshouse Kilmarnock North Kilmarnock West and Crosshouse Last election 14 seats, 39.2% 14 seats, 41.1% 3 seats, 12.8% Seats before 14 15 3 Seats won 15 14 2 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 14,518 15,190 4,134 Percentage 39.5 41.4 11.3 Swing 0.3% 0.3% 1.5%
The 9 multi-member wards
Council Leader before election Douglas Reid SNP Council Leader after election Douglas Reid SNP

Election result

2012 East Ayrshire Local Election Result

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SNP	15	1	0	1	46.9	39.5	14,518	0.3
	Labour	14	1	1		43.8	41.4	15,190	0.3
	Conservative	2	0	1	1	6.3	11.3	4,134	1.5
	Independent	1	1	1		3.1	7.6	2,806	2.5
	Liberal Democrats	0	0	0		0.0	0.2	68	New
Total		32						36,716

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.^[1][2]

Seats changing hands

Seat	2007			2012
	Party		Member	Party		Member
Annick		Conservative	Rose-Ann Cunninghame		Independent	Ellen Freel
Ballochmyle		Labour	Jimmy Kelly		SNP	Stephanie Primrose
Doon Valley		Independent	Jim Sutherland		Labour	Elaine Dinwoodie

Ward summary

Results of the 2012 East Ayrshire Council election by ward

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	SNP		Labour		Conservative		Lib Dem		Independent
Annick		1		1		0		0		1	3
Kilmarnock North		2		1		0					3
Kilmarnock West and Crosshouse		2		1		1				0	4
Kilmarnock East and Hurlford		2		2		0					4
Kilmarnock South		2		1		0					3
Irvine Valley		2		1		1				0	4
Ballochmyle		2		2		0					4
Cumnock and New Cumnock		1		3		0				0	4
Doon Valley		1		2		0				0	3
Total		15		14		2		0		1	32

Ward results

Annick

The SNP and Labour retained the seats they had won at the previous election while independent candidate Ellen Freel gained a seat from the Conservatives

Annick – 3 members

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Labour	John McGhee (incumbent)	24.4	1,021	1,032	1,060
	SNP	Eòghann MacColl	22.7	947	957	1,327
	Conservative	Rose-Ann Cunninghame (incumbent)	20.9	873	886	907	941	943
	Independent	Ellen Freel	19.4	810	827	858	960	965	1,394
	SNP	John MacKay (incumbent)	11.0	461	465
	Liberal Democrats	Greg Foster	1.6	68
Electorate: 9,497   Valid: 4,180   Spoilt: 57   Quota: 1,046   Turnout: 44.0%

Source: ^[3][4]

Kilmarnock North

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

Kilmarnock North – 3 members

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	SNP	Helen Coffey (incumbent)	44.7	1,475
	Labour	Maureen McKay (incumbent)	35.7	1,176
	Conservative	Ian Grant	11.6	383	417	476
	SNP	Andrew Hershaw[note 1]	8.0	263	817	921
Electorate: 9,324   Valid: 3,297   Spoilt: 40   Quota: 825   Turnout: 35.4%

Source: ^[6][7]

Kilmarnock West and Crosshouse

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

Kilmarnock West and Crosshouse – 4 members

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	SNP	Iain Linton (incumbent)	24.3	1,210
	SNP	Douglas Reid (incumbent)	20.7	1,032
	Labour	Lillian Jones	20.6	1,025
	Conservative	Tom Cook (incumbent)	16.6	828	864	869	870	980	1,171
	Labour	Dave Meechan	10.4	516	554	559	582	709
	Independent	Andi McCann	7.5	375	417	423	424
Electorate: 12,199   Valid: 4,986   Spoilt: 136   Quota: 998   Turnout: 40.9%

Source: ^[8][9]

Kilmarnock East and Hurlford

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

Kilmarnock East and Hurlford – 4 members

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	SNP	John Campbell (incumbent)	25.4	1,126
	Labour	Gordon Cree (incumbent)	23.8	1,054
	Labour	Drew McIntyre (incumbent)	22.2	984
	SNP	James Buchanan (incumbent)[note 2]	21.3	944
	Conservative	Rob Murray	7.4	326
Electorate: 11,311   Valid: 4,434   Spoilt: 142   Quota: 887   Turnout: 39.2%

Source: ^[11][12]

Kilmarnock South

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

Kilmarnock South – 3 members

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Labour	John Knapp (incumbent)	37.6	1,250
	SNP	Jim Todd (incumbent)	23.8	791	814	822	949
	SNP	Hugh Ross (incumbent)	22.1	735	759	789	924
	Labour	Ronnie Scott	12.5	417	743	785
	Conservative	Alyson Holden	4.1	135	138
Electorate: 8,288   Valid: 3,328   Spoilt: 93   Quota: 833   Turnout: 40.2%

Source: ^[13][14]

Irvine Valley

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

Irvine Valley – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Labour	George Mair	29.7	1,423
	SNP	Alan Brown (incumbent)[note 3]	26.1	1,252
	Conservative	John McFadzean	17.9	857	896	940	942	1,188
	SNP	Bobby McDill (incumbent)	17.7	847	961
	Independent	May Anderson	7.1	339	451	541	547
Electorate: 11,401   Valid: 4,718   Spoilt: 72   Quota: 944   Turnout: 41.4%

Source: ^[16][17]

Ballochmyle

Labour retained two of the three seats they had won at the previous election while the SNP held their only seat and gained one seat from Labour.

Ballochmyle – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	SNP	Jim Roberts (incumbent)	25.4	1,109
	Labour	Neil McGhee (incumbent)	23.3	1,018
	Labour	David Shaw (incumbent)	18.5	810	827	857
	Labour	Neil Murray	11.3	496	510	622	628	704
	SNP	Stephanie Primrose	10.6	462	665	670	671	735	869
	Conservative	Nick Martin	8.0	348	352	353	354
Electorate: 10,995   Valid: 4,243   Spoilt: 131   Quota: 849   Turnout: 38.6%

Source: ^[18][19]

Cumnock and New Cumnock

Labour (3) and the SNP retained the seats that they had won at the previous election.

Cumnock and New Cumnock – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Labour	Eric Ross (incumbent)	23.8	987
	SNP	Kathy Morrice (incumbent)	21.6	894
	Labour	Barney Menzies (incumbent)	19.5	809	892
	Labour	Billy Crawford (incumbent)	14.8	612	672	677	741	744	763	800	945
	Independent	Ian Allan	7.4	308	310	311	314	352	409	475
	Conservative	James Boswell	5.0	206	208	209	210	215
	SNP	Craig Murray	4.3	180	185	253	255	258	286
	Independent	David Fraser	1.4	59	62	63	64
Electorate: 10,947   Valid: 4,055   Spoilt: 89   Quota: 812   Turnout: 37.0%

Source: ^[20][21]

Doon Valley

The SNP and Labour retained the seats they had won at the previous election while Labour gained one seat from independent councillor Jim Sutherland. In 2007, independent candidate Drew Filson was elected as an SNP councillor but subsequently left the party. A by-election held following the death of Cllr Sutherland in 2009 was won by Labour.

Doon Valley – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Labour	Elaine Dinwoodie (incumbent)	33.1	1,171
	SNP	John Bell	22.3	790	812	832	950
	Independent	Ian Borthwick	13.8	488	501	540	680	708
	Independent	Drew Filson (incumbent)	12.1	427	465	491
	Labour	Moira Pirie (incumbent)	11.9	421	590	613	719	734	984
	Conservative	Irene Grant	5.0	178	181
Electorate: 8,855   Valid: 3,475   Spoilt: 61   Quota: 869   Turnout: 39.2%

Source: ^[22][23]

By-elections from 2012–2017

Kilmarnock North

Kilmarnock North by-election (27 March 2014) – 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	SNP	Elaine Cowan	44.2	1,334	1,358	1,473	2,042
	Labour	Scott Thomson	37.4	1,130	1,147	1,320
	Conservative	Ian Grant	16.3	493	501
	Green	Robin Tatler	2.0	61
Electorate: 9,657   Valid: 3,018   Spoilt: 19   Quota: 1,510   Turnout: 35.6%

Source: ^[24]

Irvine Valley

Irvine Valley by-election (1 October 2015) – 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2
	SNP	Elena Whitham	49.8	1,797	1,832
	Conservative	Susan McFadzean	24.5	865	884
	Labour	Alex Walsh	23.8	860	884
	Green	Jen Broadhurst	2.4	88
Electorate: 11,570   Valid: 3,610   Spoilt: 42   Quota: 1,805   Turnout: 31.2%

Source: ^[25]

Kilmarnock East and Hurlford

Kilmarnock East and Hurlford by-election (26 January 2017) – 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	SNP	Fiona Campbell	48.7	1,461	1,471	1,531
	Labour	Dave Meechem	29.4	881	893	1,122
	Conservative	Jon Herd	20.1	602	608
	Scottish Libertarian	Stephen McNamara	1.8	53
Electorate: 11,266   Valid: 2,997   Spoilt: 33   Quota: 1,449   Turnout: 26.6%

Source: ^[26][27]

Notes

1. Kilmarnock North councillor Andrew Hershaw died on 31 December 2013.^[5] A by-election was held on 27 March 2014.
2. Kilmarnock East and Hurlford councillor James Buchanan died on 28 October 2016 after a short illness.^[10] A by-election was held on 26 January 2017.
3. Irvine Valley councillor Alan Brown was elected as MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun on 7 May 2015.^[15] He resigned his council seat on 17 July 2015 and a by-election was held on 1 October 2015.