BOTH North Ayrshire constituencies in Holyrood are now represented by the SNP after Kenneth Gibson held the Cunninghame North seat and Margaret Burgess took Cunninghame South from Labour.

The Labour Party experienced their poorest performance in Scotland for at least 80 years at last week's election, with 51,592 voters across the two North Ayrshire seats on Thursday giving the SNP 26,532 votes and Labour 18,067.

"This campaign has gone to show that a positive campaign works, not just in Scotland, but here in Cunninghame North. Our vision of Scotland has been a positive one, a dynamic one, one that looks to the future rather than the past and one that has captured the imagination of the majority of people in this constituency," said Mr Gibson.

In what was expected to be a closer SNP-Labour contest, Mr Gibson put a massive gap between he and Labour's Allan Wilson, emerging with 52.6 per cent of votes cast in Cunninghame North.

Meanwhile, in Cunninghame South, the SNP's Margaret Burgess spectacularly toppled 'class of 99' MSP Irene Oldfather who had represented the constituency since devolution.

A thrilled Mrs Burgess said: "The public know that we in the Scottish National Party will always put Scotland first and I pledge to so the same for my constituents. I won't let them down." For the full story see this week's Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald.