Ahead of tomorrow's election, the four constituency candidates for Cunninghame North give their final statements to voters

Here, Kenneth Gibson, Jamie Greene, Johanna Baxter and Charity Pierce give their final statements ahead of polling stations opening across North Ayrshire.

Kenneth Gibson - Scottish National Party

Scotland’s people know the SNP Government is delivering in challenging financial circumstances. The most recent, March, Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, found 73 per cent of respondents trust the SNP Government, while only 23 per cent trust the UK Government. Across the 28 member European Union Scotland has the most trusted government.

When the UK Tory Government tried to cut Scotland’s budget by £7,000 million in exchange for new powers promised pre-referendum, we refused and they eventually caved in. When steel and shipbuilding faced closure, we stepped in.

The SNP always works to make Scotland stronger.

In 2011 the opposition talked much about crime. Not now it’s at a 41 year low and knife crime in North Ayrshire has fallen 85 per cent under the SNP, thanks to our hard-working police officers. We abolished automatic early release for violent offenders, brought in by the Tories and continued under Labour.

Hospital mortality has declined 34.2 per cent at Crosshouse; educational standards, the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development confirm, have improved and Scotland has free prescriptions, eye tests, dental check-ups and free personal and nursing care, unlike in England. We extended the free bus pass to injured veterans.

Looking forward, our Cancer Strategy will invest £100million to improve prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment and aftercare. The integration of health and social care, allocated a £250million budget this year, will dramatically improve the lives of our most vulnerable citizens.

Investment in skills, boosting productivity, innovation, improving infrastructure by building the Dalry Bypass, Woodlands View Hospital, new schools and new homes, whilst regenerating our towns, boosting exports and promoting better wages will secure prosperity and employment.

Our most transformative infrastructure project is the expansion of early learning and childcare.

Having increased it from 412.5 to 600 hours a year, we will almost double that to 1,140, ensuring youngsters the very best start in life.

As the campaign closes, a disappointment was the unwillingness of opposition candidates to engage. I was the only candidate at every hustings meeting.

The Tory and Lib Dem candidates didn’t appear at any!

Interestingly, this has also been a campaign where Labour offered no criticism of the Tories or cuts imposed on Scotland’s budget, attacking the SNP instead.

Who can forget Labour and Tory MPs in January last year voting together to impose a further £30,000 million of public spending cuts; cuts we vigorously oppose. Fighting for Scotland is what we do. Find out more at: www.snp.org/manifesto.

Jamie Greene - Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party

“Don’t just hope for a better Scotland, vote for one” are the words adorning the huge billboard near my house in Dalry. My response is simple: “Dear SNP, You’ve had nine years to make Scotland better. Why should we trust you now?”

People don’t want to “hope”, they want to see. All due respect to our local MSP, Mr Gibson, for his years of public office in North Ayrshire, but he equally has had nine years to make our constituency better.

I’ve knocked on many doors, from Skelmorlie to Saltcoats, this past 18 months asking people what they want from me. The responses are strikingly similar. They want action not words.

You told me you want to see our local economy revitalised. That means more local jobs being created and new businesses opening shop here.

You also told me you want GP waiting times reduced, safer streets and more control given back to local policing.

You don’t want to pay more tax than the rest of the UK but you want your tax money spent wisely.

Many of you don’t want another divisive, distracting referendum on independence, or the Named Person Scheme being forced upon you. You want pot holes filled and local council cuts reversed. With your vote, I can deliver.

Complacency is the unfortunate inevitability of being in power for too long. The SNP blames Westminster for any and all failings on its watch, be it the widening attainment gap in education, failings in the NHS, or a failed centralisation of our police forces. I was inspired to give up my job and run for Parliament because Scotland needs a government which is held to account and challenged on its decisions. My track record in holding the SNP to account has been evident in the pages of this paper.

This Holyrood election is important. You have two votes. In one, you will elect your local MSP and complacency is not on my agenda for North Ayrshire and Arran.

With the other, whilst many of you have never voted Conservative in your life, you’ve told me that you will give us your PARTY vote this time round. Why? Because Ruth Davidson and the Scottish Conservatives are up to the task of being a credible opposition to the SNP.

- To say NO to another independence referendum.

- To ensure Holyrood has a strong opposition.

- To say NO to Named Person.

- To make sure Scotland is not the highest taxed part of the UK.

Vote for Jamie Greene and the Scottish Conservatives.

Johanna Baxter - Scottish Labour Party

Scotland is in danger of becoming a one party state. The only way to prevent that in Cunninghame North is to vote Labour because we are the only party with a chance of challenging the SNP.

I was born and brought up in Saltcoats, where my dad had a shop, and I live in Skelmorlie with my husband Mark. It was Ardrossan Academy that taught me the power of politics to change people’s lives and as a trade union official I’ve fought for the rights of working people on a daily basis.

I’m standing because I want a better future for our community and that’s why I’ve been running a campaign to save our ferries from privatisation.

Our ferries are a lifeline, not a luxury, for local people whose jobs, businesses and communities rely on them.

And this issue speaks to so much of what is wrong with the SNP’s current approach.

When challenged about the jobs at risk through the tendering of CalMac, the SNP has sought to excuse their actions by blaming others, when they could have used the powers of the Parliament and the Teckal ruling to prevent it.

If SERCO win the bid CalMac will cease to exist and once the service is off the order books it won’t come back.

A Scottish Labour government won’t let that happen – we will halt the tendering process immediately.

I will always stand up for the people of this constituency and fight for the inward investment we need to protect and create jobs.

We will invest £100m per year over the lifetime of the next parliament to make the delivery of universal superfast broadband a national infrastructure priority.

We’ll create a new skills, training and economic development agency, Skills Scotland, to support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. And I’ll fight to ensure the long-promised Dalry by-pass is delivered.

We will ensure no-one is paid below the living wage and we will invest in our children’s education, because that’s the soundest economic investment we can make.

We’ll stop all cuts to education, bring back the 50p top rate for those earning over £150,000 a year and use that money to create a Fair Start Fund which would deliver a £2,429,000 investment in schools and nurseries across North Ayrshire.

Now is not the time for more of the same. Use both votes for Labour and I will deliver real change now.

Charity Pierce - Scottish Liberal Democrats

“Everywhere we have been during this campaign, people have come up to Scottish Liberal Democrats to say how pleased they are that our party is campaigning strongly on education.

People are voting Liberal Democrat for the first time based on our bold and positive programme for Scotland. We are clearly broadening our support.

Scotland used to have one of the best education systems in the world. But it has slipped down the international rankings.

That is not good enough for me. It is certainly not good enough for our children. We need action right now to turn this around.

Liberal Democrats want to invest half a billion pounds a year to get Scottish education back to

being the best again. Our penny for education would add a penny onto each tax band - a modest investment for a whopping big return.

Our plan for that transformational investment in education would expand free childcare to every family with a two, three or four-year old.

This would save families a huge amount of money and make sure parents can go back to work or work more if they want to.

We would introduce a new pupil premium worth £190 million a year, with extra money for kids who need the help most.

This Lib Dem policy is already in place in England and Wales and we know it works.

In just three years it clearly reduced the attainment gap between children from well-off and children from poorer backgrounds.

Children in Scotland should not miss out so we will introduce it up here.

Finally we would invest £108 million in our colleges to end the scandal that has seen more than 150,000 places lost on the SNP’s watch.

Politics is about priorities. The Tories are campaigning for tax cuts for the rich and cuts to services for everyone else.

Labour are a mess, and the SNP are gearing up for a second independence push.

These are the wrong priorities for Scotland. This will not help Scotland be the best again.

Liberal Democrats have made our top priority clear.

It is investing in the future and supporting education.

If you agree it is time that we got serious about helping children get the best start in life then you need to vote Liberal Democrat on May 5.”