at the 2014 scottish independence referendum irvine went against the national trend where 28 out of 32 council areas voted against the proposal for scotland to become an independent state on a margin of 55.3% no to 44.7% yes. in the irvine west electoral ward 6,543 votes were cast in favour of independence compared with 6,397 votes cast against the proposal, with a vote share of 50.56% "yes" to 49.44% "no". in irvine east there were 7,111 "yes" votes and 6,811 "no" votes, on a vote share of 51.08% yes to 48.92% no. for irvine as a whole there were 13,654 "yes" votes and 13,208 "no" votes, breaking down to 50.83% yes to 49.17% no.