Cunninghame North is a coastal and rural seat with declining traditional industries. Mining used to take place inland in the Garnock Valley, centred on Kilbirnie, Dalry and Beith, but all the pits have now closed. Textiles are also in decline, and the major industries in the seat today are tourism and agriculture. The resort of Largs and the Isle of Arran are the two most popular tourist destinations.
Cunninghame North and its predecessor seat of North Ayrshire & Bute were held by the Conservatives from 1918 until 1987 when Brian Wilson, who chaired the ‘Labour Vote No’ campaign in 1979, won this constituency from John Corrie, now MEP for the West Midlands.
Before the last general election this seat was seen as a Labour/Conservative marginal, but Mr Wilson increased his majority from 7.3% to 26.8%.
In the 1999 Scottish Parliament elections, Labour’s Allan Wilson, now deputy sports and culture minister, had a comfortable victory with a 14.3% majority over the SNP. This election also marked the further demise of the Conservatives' fortunes in this area, with their relegation into third place behind the SNP with only 19.8% of the vote.