Two Ayrshire Parliamentary constituencies are now ranked amongst Scotland's worst areas for child poverty, new figures have revealed.

Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock and North Ayrshire & Arran were ranked eighth and ninth respectively out of the 59 constituencies in the country.

And Ayrshire Central and Kilmarnock and Loudoun were not too far behind.

The shocking figures were released today by the End Child Poverty Coalition, who revealed at least a quarter of children were estimated to be living in poverty in more than half of Scotland’s Westminster constituencies.

Statistics produced by Loughborough University for the coalition, which is made up of 120 organisations, put all six Glasgow constituencies in the top areas with the highest poverty rates.

The figures show that child poverty in Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock stood at a shocking 31.6 per cent in 2022/23. That was up from 25.7 per cent back in 2014/15. That's a rise of almost six per cent.

The constituency is now believed to have 5,056 children living in poverty.

In North Ayrshire & Arran, child poverty rose from 24.4 per cent in 2014/15 to 31.5 per cent last year - a jump of 7.1 per cent. There are thought to be around 5,282 children living in poverty in the constituency.

For Central Ayrshire, the study found that child poverty stood at 30.6 per cent, a rise of 6.5 per cent from the 24.1 per cent figure back in 2014/15. There, the number of children in poverty was estimated at 4,855.

(Image: Newsquest)

And in Kilmarnock and Loudoun, child poverty rose by 6.1 per cent from 23.9 per cent in 2014/15 to the latest total of 30 per cent. The number of children said to be affected numbered 5,421.

Glasgow South West was ranked worst in Scotland with an estimated 6,973 children (37.6 per cent) in poverty.

John Dickie, of the Child Poverty Action Group, said: “These figures are yet another stark reminder of why child poverty needs to be the top priority for every candidate in next month’s General Election.

“We need each and every candidate to commit to ensuring the next UK government puts in place a robust strategy to tackle child poverty, including scrapping poverty-producing policies like the two-child limit.

“Scotland’s children need governments at every level to work together to end the poverty that blights so many of their lives.”

As the data only covers the period up to 2022-23, it does not capture the full rollout of the Scottish Government’s Scottish child payment.

Ayrshire Weekly Press have asked every Ayrshire General Election candidate for their response to the shock figures.