AYRSHIRE'S Reform UK Party candidates say they will be back to build on their success across the area at the General Election.

The party put up candidates in every seat in Scotland and finished fourth in all four Ayrshire constituencies.

Across North Ayrshire and Arran, Central Ayrshire, Kilmarnock and Loudoun and Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock, the party accumulated 13,851 votes - an average just short of 3,500 per seat.

While they fell some way short of winning any, the party's Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock candidate, Andrew Russell, said he was viewing Reform's Ayrshire debut as a success story.

Mr Russell said “I would like to congratulate Elaine [Stewart, the successful Labour candidate] on winning the election and I would also like to thank my helpers from along the way.

“Reform is a new party in Scotland and as we see it is on the up and we hope to continue our success in future years.”

Kevin Blades also spoke briefly after the count for Central Ayrshire at the same venue.

He said: “I would like to thank everybody who voted for myself, and everybody who supported the campaign from the get go – even if it’s only been six weeks long.”

Also standing for the party, led by Nigel Farage, were Michael Mann in North Ayrshire and Arran and William Thomson in Kilmarnock and Loudoun.

Reform UK won a total of four seats at Westminster, earning more than four million votes UK-wide and a 14.3 per cent share of the national vote - more votes, and a bigger share, than the Liberal Democrats, who nonetheless took 71 seats.

Ayrshire's seats were all won by Labour candidates, who all took their place at Westminster from the SNP - with a massive shift in votes seen across the board.

The county's new MPs are Irene Campbell (North Ayrshire and Arran); Alan Gemmell (Central Ayrshire); Lillian Jones (Kilmarnock and Loudoun); and Elaine Stewart (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock).