Patricia Gibson was this morning re-elected as the MP for North Ayrshire and Arran, holding off the Conservatives and Labour

The SNP MP received 18,451 votes with the Tories in second with 14,818, Labour in third with 13,040 and the Lib Dems in fourth on 1,124. 

Speaking after the election result, Patricia Gibson said: "It's been a hard fought campaign, we have worked very hard in this election, we have went round and we have spoken to voters, we've chapped doors and we've engaged with the public and the campaign, from our perspective, has been extremely positive. 

"The SNP will always be a strong voice for Scotland and we will always put Scotland first. The other parties both stood on a platform of urging the voters to reject the SNP and making this election about a referendum. Two things I would say about that is that the voters have comprehensively decided not to reject the SNP.

"The other thing I would say about a referendum is that this election is not and never has been about a referendum."

David Rocks, the Conservative candidate said: "It has been so unpredictable and I really thought that if we gained more of the votes and come a strong third, that would be wonderful, but to really push Labour, who have been the dominant party here for all of my lifetime, we've always been a distant second or third and to push Labour into third place, and come within three and a bit thousand of the SNP, is an incredible feat here in North Ayrshire and I think it comes from several issues; a strong national message, a very positive Scottish Conservative and Unionist message and it does come just a few weeks after we returned seven Conservative councillors, so we really are in a surge here and this has proved." 

Christopher Rimicans of Labour said: "I don't think the result is disappointing, if you look at the result from 2015 we've increased our vote share in the area and what we've done is that we've fought a very hard campaign and nationally it's looking like a very good result and we can be very proud of what we've achieved. I'm going to continue to fight for change, for social justice and for equality across our community, I've been an active campaigner for years and I'll continue to be so."