Local Politics

Wemyss Bay is part of the Inverclyde constituency for the Westminster Parliament, and part of the Greenock & Inverclyde constituency for the Scottish Parliament.

MP McKenzie | MSP McNeil | Regional MSPs
Councillors | European MEPs for Scotland | 2014 Referendum

MP Iain McKenzie

Iain McKenzie of the Labour Party is MP for Inverclyde, following his victory in a by-election held on 30th June 2011. David Cairns was MP for our constituency until his death on 9th May 2011.

Contact details/web sites:
- Constituency Office: 01475 791820.
- House of Commons: 0207 219 8446.
- Address: Parliamentary Office, 20 Union Street, Greenock, PA16 8JL
- Web site
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Iain McKenzie

Election results:
- 2011 By-Election
- 2010 General Election
- 2005 General Election
- 2001 General Election

Iain McKenzie, MP for Inverclyde

Inverclyde By-Election 2011

UK General Election 2010

David Cairns, of the Labour party, was elected as MP for Inverclyde for the 3rd time at the 2010 General Election, increasing his majority of 14,416. Following his victory, he gave wemyssbay.net the following comments:

"It's a tremendous honour to be re-elected as the local Member of Parliament. I want everyone in Wemyss Bay to know that I am their MP, regardless of how they cast their vote, and that I will do my best to represent them.

"I've been the MP for nine years now and I like to think that I am a 'well kent face' in the village. I intend to carry on with regular surgeries at the community centre, pop into the local school and be of as much help to villagers as I can.

"My priorities for Inverclyde are regeneration, protecting front-line services and helping to bring new jobs to the area. Much of the funding for regeneration is locked in so we will continue to see new schools, new offices and new facilities springing up around Inverclyde.

"A hung parliament is not the outcome I would have wanted, but I won't let that get in the way of representing you at Westminster."

Links:
Full General Election 2010 results from the BBC
Photos from Inverclyde result - Inverclyde Now

UK General Election 2005

The number of constituencies in Scotland was reduced from 72 to 59 at the 2005 election. This meant that various constituencies in Scotland were altered to allow for this reduction. The constituency for Wemyss Bay changed from 'Greenock & Inverclyde' to just 'Inverclyde'.

At the 2005 election, David Cairns was once again elected as MP for the area. He gave us the following comments following his victory:

"Being elected to represent the new constituency of Inverclyde is the greatest honour of my life. I want to thank everyone who voted for me, particularly in the village of Wemyss Bay, and I promise that I will continue to make the interests of villagers one of my top priorities.

"I want to be the Member of Parliament for everyone in Inverclyde, including those who did not vote for me, and I hope that I can be of service to the entire community of Inverclyde.

"Employment is an important issue for us here in Inverclyde and one of the first things I want to do is clarify the position on the threatened job losses at IBM and Ferguson's. There's a huge amount to be done in the new constituency and I'm really looking forward to the challenge of representing the whole of Inverclyde."

Links:
Full General Election 2005 results from the BBC

The MP elected in 1997 was Dr. Norman Godman who decided to retire at the 2001 general election in June. Five candidates sought to take his place but it was David Cairns who was the clear winner with a majority of 9,890.

Following his victory in the 2001 election, David told wemyssbay.net, "I feel deeply privileged to be elected as the first ever local person to represent Greenock & Inverclyde. I am well aware that Wemyss Bay has its own special needs and concerns, and I fully intend to play an active part in the life of the community. To those who voted for me may I say thank-you. To those who did not, I would like to say that I want to represent you as well, to the very best of my ability."

UK General Election 2001 and 1997

MSP Duncan McNeil

Contact Details:
- Duncan McNeil

Address:
The Parliamentary Office
20 Union Street
Greenock
Inverclyde PA16 8JL

Telephone/Fax numbers:
Telephone: 01475 791820
Fax: 01475 791821
Textphone: 01475 791 824

The office is opened Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

Scottish Election 2011

Scottish Election 2007

Scottish Election 2003

Scottish Election 1999

Regional MSPs

Scottish Election 2011 - West of Scotland Region

Greenock & Inverclyde is part of the West of Scotland region and the regional MSPs, elected in the 2011 election on May 5th, are:

Scottish Election 2007

Greenock & Inverclyde is part of the West of Scotland region and the regional MSPs, elected in the 2007 election on May 3rd, are:

Scottish Election 2003

The turnout was 257176, just over 50% of the electorate.

Scottish Election 1999

The regional MSPs elected after the 1999 election were:

• Colin Campbell (SNP)
• Fiona McLeod (SNP)
• Mr Lloyd Quinan (SNP)
• Mrs Kay Ullrich (SNP)
• Miss Annabel Goldie (Conservative)
• John Young (Conservative)
• Ross Finnie (Lib Dems)

Councillors - Inverclyde South West

Council Election - May 3rd 2012

The councillors elected for Wemyss Bay as part of Inverclyde South West (Ward 6) in May 2012 are once again Gerry Dorrian of the Labour Party, Innes Nelson of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Ciano Rebecchi of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

Contact Details:

Gerry Dorrian Labour Email: Gerry Dorrian Labour Councillor Council Web Page Tel: 01475 794771 or 07946 458833	Innes Nelson SNP Email: Innes Nelson SNP Councillor Council Web Page Tel: 01475 520092. (First elected at June 2009 by-election - view results)	Ciano Rebecchi Liberal Democrats Email: Ciano Rebecchi Lib Dems Councillor Council Web Page Tel: 01475 786628 (home) 01475 634123 (business) 07747 006732 (mobile)
Councillors can also be contacted through Inverclyde Council: Inverclyde Council, Municipal Buildings, Clyde Square, Greenock PA15 1LY. Tel: 01475 712020. Fax: 01475 712010.

After the 2012 election, the Labour party had the most councillors in Inverclyde Council with 10 councillors. The SNP went up 1 to 6 councillors while the Liberal Democrats were reduced to 2 councillors. The Conservative party have 1 councillor and there is 1 independent.

Changes to councillors between 2007 and 2012:

• Please note that since the 2007 election, Ken Ferguson SNP sadly passed away and Innes Nelson SNP won a 2009 by-election to replace him.
• Lib-Dem councillor George White switched to the Liberal party, seemingly in late 2010 or early 2011.
• Labour councillor Charles McCallum became an independent.
• Neither George White or Charles McCallum were re-elected in 2012.

Council Election 2007

After the 2007 election, the Labour party had the most councillors in Inverclyde Council with 9 councillors. The SNP came from nowhere to go into second place with 5 councillors while the Liberal Democrats were reduced dramatically in numbers to just 4 councillors. The Conservative party have 1 councillor and Independent candidate Ronnie Ahlfeld was also elected to represent Inverclyde West (Ward 5).

*Please note that the 1 independent councillor elected in 2003, Michael McCormick, who represented the Ladyburn and Bridgend ward after the 2003 election, announced he was joining the Labour party in June 2006, giving them a total of 7 councillors. Source: Scottish Labour website

Ward Changes from 2007

From the 2007 election, Wemyss Bay is now part of the Inverclyde South West ward (Ward 6). Inverclyde Council was previously split into 20 wards but important changes have been introduced from the 2007 election. The number of wards within Inverclyde was reduced from 20 to 6. These wards will be known as 'multi-member' wards because there will be 3 or 4 councillors representing each ward, instead of just 1.

All of the 3 or 4 councillors serving in the same ward are elected on an equal level with no one of the councillors having seniority over the others. You can contact any of the councillors representing your ward if you wish to raise an issue with them.

Single Transferable Vote (STV) system (from 2007)

A new voting system was also introduced at the 2007 election. Instead of selecting a single candidate with an X, voters are asked to rank candidates within the ward in order of preference, using a 1, 2, 3 etc.

If your first choice has already won enough votes to be elected, or if they are eliminated by having the least number of votes, then your vote is transferred to your second choice and potentially onto your third choice etc until all three or four candidates have been elected, depending on how many councillors are to represent your ward.

Council Election 2003

The councillor for Wemyss Bay (Ward 20) after the 2003 election was Eric Forbes, a Liberal Democrat and a resident of Wemyss Bay.

He succeeded the former rector of Greenock Academy, Robert Campbell, who also represented the Liberal Democrats. At the 2003 election, the Liberal Democrats won overall control of Inverclyde Council with 13 councillors.

The results for Inverclyde Council in full for 2003 were as follows:

European Parliament: Scotland

For the purposes of the European Parliament Scotland is seen as one large constituency. Scotland is represented by 6 MEPs. Parties win a number of MEPs equal to their share of the vote in each region.

European Election 2014

The Scottish results in the 2014 election on May 22nd were:

The MEPs elected to represent Scotland were:

Source of results: BBC and Edinburgh Council.

European Election 2009

The Scottish results in the 2009 election on June 4th were:

The MEPs elected to represent Scotland were:

The UK results in the 2009 election on June 4th were:

Source of results: BBC web site

European Election 2004

The Scottish results in the 2004 election on June 10th were:

The MEPs elected to represent Scotland were:

The UK results in the 2004 election on June 10th were:

Further information about the European Elections can be found at the following web sites:

About My Vote:

• About My Vote home page

BBC web site:

• Q&A: European elections 2009
• Vote 2004
• Information about the European Parliament (from 2001)
• What the parties stand for (2004)
• European Election: Scotland (2004)
• Q&A:10 June 2004 elections

2014 Referendum

On 18th September 2014, Scotland voted on the question of, 'Should Scotland become an independent country?' The referendum was won overall by the No vote with 55%, with Yes winning 45% of the vote.

In Inverclyde the vote was as follows:

KEY:
ASPP: All Scotland Pensioners Party
ASJH: Action to Save St John's Hospital ATP: Anti-Trident Party
BBB: Ban Bankers Bonuses
BNP: British National Party
CON: Conservative Party
CPA: Christian People's Alliancey
CPB: Communist Party of Britain
EPA: Equal Parenting Alliance
FSP: Free Scotland Party
GRN: Green Party
HEP: Had Enough Party
IND: Independent
IGV: Independent Green Voice
LAB: Labour Party
LD: Liberal Democrats
MEP: Member of European Parliament
NPG: Nine Percent Growth Party
OPV: Operation Christian Vote
OTH: Other
PC: Plaid Cymru
PEAP: Peace Party Non-violence, Justice, Environment
PLP: Pro Life Party
PPUK: Pirate Party UK
PUB: The Publican Party
RESP: Respect - The Unity Coalition
SACL: Scotland Against Crooked Lawyers
SCHP: Scottish Christian Party
SENT: Scottish Enterprise Party
SEP: Socialist Equality Party
SJP: Scottish Jacobite Party
SLP: Socialist Labour Party
SNHS: Save Our NHS Group
SNP: Scottish National Party
SOL: Solidarity
SPA: Scottish People's Alliance
SSCU: Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party
SSP: Scottish Socialist Party
SUP: Scottish Unionist Party
SV: Scottish Voice
SWW: Scottish Wind Watch
UKIP: UK Independence Party
WIT: Adam Lyal's Witchery Tour Party