THE results are in and Ayrshire is very much a sea of yellow as the SNP picked up all four constituencies in what was a great night locally for Nicola Sturgeon’s party.

Incumbent MPs Patricia Gibson, Dr Philippa Whitford and Alan Brown won re-election and former Councillor and policeman Allan Dorrans wrestled Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock back from the grasp of the Conservative Party after Bill Grant had picked up the seat last time around.

Across the country the SNP gained seats with the Conservatives heading to victory as the biggest party in Westminster.

Labour have suffered a major loss and the Liberal Democrats, although they increased their share of the vote in Ayrshire, have also suffered, including leader Jo Swinson losing her seat.

Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock was always going to be the most interesting of the four Ayrshire constituencies with a race too close to call between the Tories and the SNP. The latter managed to gain the seat back from the Conservatives and overturn the near 3,000 vote majority in a close contest with Labour languishing in third place in what was once a safe seat, the same could be said for the whole of Ayrshire as in 2010 all four constituencies returned Labour MPs before the 2015 wipe out.

Allan Dorrans, with 20,272 votes, overcame his Conservative counterpart in Martin Dowey by 2,329 of votes to give a 9.4 per cent swing to the SNP. Dowey received 17,943 votes with Duncan Townson of Labour getting 6,219 and the Lib Dems’ Helena Bongard getting 2,158 of votes in fourth place in a night that saw Jo Swinson’s party making gains of between 2 and 3 per cent of the voter share. Perhaps not a surprise they didn’t perform better considering none of the four candidates live in Ayrshire.

In North Ayrshire and Arran, Patricia Gibson once again fought off the challenge from teacher David Rocks and the Conservatives where she received 23,376 of votes for a majority of 8,521 with Rocks on 14,855 followed by Labour’s Cameron Gilmore on 6,702, the Lib Dems’ Louise Young on 2,107 with David Nairn, the only Scottish Green candidate in Ayrshire, garnering 1,114 votes.

Central Ayrshire was a tighter affair as Dr Whitford fought of the challenge from former professional goalkeeper Derek Stillie and Labour’s only female councillor on North Ayrshire Council, Louise McPhater. Philippa Whitford was returned last time around with a majority of just over 1,200 but she has blown away the competition with 21,486 votes ­- an increased majority of 5,304. Ayr United goalkeeper Stillie got 16,182, Councillor McPhater received 6,583 votes and the Lib Dems’ Emma Farthing won 2,283 votes.

Kilmarnock and Loudon was the most comfortable majority in Ayrshire going in to this election with Alan Brown enjoying over 12,659 more votes than his closest rivals in both the Conservatives and Labour who were less than 3,000 votes apart.

With five candidates, the Lib Dems and the Libertarians were on the ballot paper, it always looked likely that Alan Brown would be returned as the MP for third time and that was the case as he was elected with 24,216 votes with The Tories and Caroline Hollins coming in second on 11,557 votes and the third place went to Labour and Kevin McGregor with 9,009 votes. The Lib Dems came fourth with 2,444 votes and Libertarian Stef Johnstone got only 405 votes in fifth place.

For full reaction from all of your MPs, pick up your paper next week.