Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley


Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley is a county constituency of the Scottish Parliament covering part of the council area of East Ayrshire. Under the additional-member electoral system used for elections to the Scottish Parliament, it elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the first past the post method of election. It is also one of ten constituencies in the South Scotland electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the ten constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
The seat was created for the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, following the redrawing and renaming of the old Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency which had been in the Central Scotland region. It has been held continuously by Willie Coffey of the Scottish National Party, who was previously the member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun.

Electoral region

Following the second periodic review of Scottish Parliament boundaries in 2025, the other nine constituencies of the South Scotland region are: Ayr; Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley; Clydesdale; Dumfriesshire; East Kilbride; Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire; Galloway and West Dumfries; Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse; and Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale. The region covers the whole of the council areas of Dumfries and Galloway, Scottish Borders, and South Ayrshire council areas; and parts of the council areas of East Ayrshire, Midlothian, and South Lanarkshire. By population it is now the largest of Scotland's eight electoral regions.
Prior to the 2025 review, there were nine constituencies in the South Scotland region. Besides Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, the other eight constituencies were: Ayr; Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley; Clydesdale; Dumfriesshire; East Lothian; Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire; Galloway and West Dumfries; and Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale. The region covered the Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire, Scottish Borders and South Ayrshire council areas in full and parts of the East Lothian, Midlothian and South Lanarkshire council areas.

Constituency boundaries and council area

East Ayrshire is represented in the Scottish Parliament by three constituencies: Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley; Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley; and Cunninghame South, the latter also covering part of North Ayrshire and lying within the West Scotland electoral region.
The seat was created in 2011 by the First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries. At the Second Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries undertaken by Boundaries Scotland ahead of the 2026 Scottish Parliament election changes were made, with the villages of Dunlop and Stewarton being transferred to the Cunninghame South constituency in order to address differences in electorate size between the two seats. The electoral wards of East Ayrshire Council used in the current creation of Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley are:

Constituency profile

The Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley constituency is a part-urban part-rural constituency located along the northern half of the East Ayrshire council area. Towards the south-west of the constituency is the town of Kilmarnock and its adjoining towns and villages. Kilmarnock is a former industrial town which is mostly made up of social housing, with some suburban housing towards the western end of the town. To the east of the town, along the valley of the River Irvine, is a string of industrial towns and villages such as Galston and Newmilns located within the parish of Loudoun. The region was once dependent upon the manufacture of textiles before the industry's collapse throughout the mid-20th Century.