THE Conservatives' beaten Ayrshire election candidates "underestimated the tsunami" of votes which swung to Labour in the General Election.

Those were the words of defeated Central Ayrshire hopeful David Rocks as he made a brief speech following the constituency count at the Citadel Leisure Centre in Ayr early on Friday, July 5, morning.

South Ayrshire Council leader, a fellow Tory candidate, Martin Dowey also reference the "tsunami tide" after he too missed out on winning a seat at Westminster - for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock.

Both men finished third in the polls, behind the winning Labour candidates Alan Gemmell (Central Ayrshire) and Elaine Stewart (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock), and the SNP.

At the 2019 UK election, the Conservative candidates for both seats finished in second behind the SNP.

However, respective gains of 29.6 and 23.2 per cent in the Labour vote, coupled with a drop of 20 and 15.9 per cent in the Conservatives share saw an entirely different picture painted this time around.

Speaking after the results were announced, Mr Rocks said: “I would like to thank my campaign team and everyone involved with the party – we have seen new members and volunteers coming forward and we’re very proud of the campaign.

“Obviously we underestimated the tsunami, we’ve seen some other tsunamis here over the years.

“I would like to wish all the candidates well in the future and also a big congratulations to Alan and his team and his return to Westminster as the MP – I am sure you will work very hard.”

While Mr Dowey also congratulated the successful candidate, stating she was welcome to visit him as he returns to his role as South Ayrshire Council leader.

He commented: “Congratulations to Elaine, I look forward to seeing you in the County Buildings, you’ve got an open invitation to come see me.

“It’s been a clean campaign, it’s been a well run campaign and I’m sorry we didn’t get over the line.

“I would like to thank everybody who helped us, it was a good shout against a tsunami tide.

“I’m just thankful everybody up here stood for election, it’s not easy, we do get some abuse at times but we’re all doing it for the right reasons.

“We maybe don’t agree all the time but we are actually here to try make a difference.”

Todd Ferguson, the party's North Ayrshire and Arran candidate, said: "We ran a positive campaign and I'd like to thank my helpers, family and friends and all those who voted for me.

"It wasn't our night and it wasn't for the party across the UK. 

"I hope Labour will keep to their values and keep Scotland together with the UK and we can start moving this country in the right direction."

He added: "I will get back to my job as a North Ayrshire councillor and look forward to representing my constituents.

"There's a lot to be done across the North Coast and I will try to give us the outcomes we need.

"I will also be pushing our new MP Irene to get more investment into our local authority."

Jordan Cowie, the party's candidate in Kilmarnock and Loudoun, who just edged into third place ahead of Reform, said: "The campaign was a difficult one. Kilmarnock and Loudoun was the SNP's second safest seat.

"It was a really tough campaign but I loved it. It wasn't too surprising to see Labour winning this seat by some margin. 

"It was an honour to see the crosses in my box, and I'm looking forward to hopefully going again at some point."