A LOOK AT THE BIG FOUR

John Martin Fulton • Published 7 Apr 2010 09:26

Share this

Central Ayrshire's main election candidates

WITH the General Election campaign beginning in earnest this week, the Times takes a look at the candidates for the "big four" standing in Central Ayrshire.

Sitting Labour MP Brian Donohoe goes into his fifth general election boasting a majority of over 10,000 - a significant margin and the 21st safest Labour seat in Scotland.

The 61-year-old held the Cunninghame South seat for 13 years before boundary changes created Central Ayrshire in 2005. Since then he has become a part of the Labour Government, working under Transport Minister Lord Adonis as a Parliamentary Private Secretary for the past two years.

Kilwinning-born SNP candidate John Mullen was announced as his party's candidate in 2007 as the country braced itself for a snap election.

He has been involved in all local and national SNP campaigns since joining the party in 2004 and acted as campaign coordinator for Central Ayrshire at the European Election 2009.

Kilwinning Liberal Democrat councillor Andrew Chamberlain also faces Mr Donohoe after spending the last three years representing the town as one of the youngest members on North Ayrshire Council.

The councillor will turn 28 three days before the expected day of the General Election.

He is the first Lib Dem councillor to be elected in Kilwinning since the creation of North Ayrshire Council and the unitary authority in the mid-90s. The Lib Dems were placed third in the 2005 General Election, securing just over 16 percent of the public vote.

Another young candidate, 29-year-old Maurice Golden, will be making a bid for the Central Ayrshire seat on behalf of the Conservatives.

Mr Golden is the face of a seemingly new breed of Tories, being an Environmental Campaigns Manager for Keep Scotland Beautiful.

He has experience of standing for both council and the Scottish Parliament, and most recently fought for the Glenrothes by-election - coming third

The Conservatives came in second spot behind Labour in 2005, with over 22 percent of the vote.

This article appeared in Irvine Times 07 Apr 10

Follow @irvinetimes

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.