Four new Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament (MYSP) have been elected to represent the constituencies of Cunninghame North and Cunninghame South.
A total of eight candidates aged between 14 and 25 put forward their manifestos to prospective voters, outlining their policies.
Since Autumn 2023, young people (aged between 12 and 25) from across North Ayrshire have been voting for the peers they wanted to represent them at the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP).
The newest batch of young change makers were announced (Monday 5 February) by North Ayrshire’s Returning Officer, Craig Hatton, at a dedicated SYP results announcement event at Saltcoats Town Hall.
The winners: Adam Johnson of Saltcoats (Largs Academy) and Rhyan Gorrie of Kilbirnie (Garnock Campus) have been elected to represent the views of young people in the Cunninghame North constituency. And, Emma Burns of Irvine (Irvine Royal) and Freya Fitzsimmons of Kilwinning (St Matthews) have been elected to represent the views of young constituents in Cunninghame South.
In their roles as MSYPs over the next two years, Adam, Rhyan, Emma and Freya will:
- Take part in local youth forums
- Attend bi-annual Youth Joint Cabinet meetings
- Engage with communities
- Support community events
- Consult with their peers on a range of issues
- Attend and support youth work and youth participation training sessions
- And most importantly, lobby senior politicians on things that matter most to young people in their constituencies.

Local democracy in action…
Over 4,200 votes were cast across our six localities – this was a brilliant result, representing half of our entire secondary school population. Donna Anderson, Youth Participation Officer and SYP Election lead reflects:
“Well done to the successful candidates and thank you once again to all of the young people who voted for them.
“We were delighted with the number of young people that voted, the paper ballot process was a success and really demonstrated the importance of political education for our young people, with our voting reflecting what voting in other elections looks and feels like.
“The Scottish Youth Parliament plays such an important role in North Ayrshire, providing the Council with a clear way to engage with and listen to young people’s point of view and what matters most to them.
“We are lucky enough to already have such an active and engaged community of young people across our six localities and it’s been really inspiring seeing the young people progress in their youth participation journey with us during their time campaigning for SYP since Summer 2023.
“This really is just the beginning with our MSYPs, with support from the Executive Youth Council, going through training and starting their role representing their peers local and nationally.
“Some of our candidates have already attended official opening ceremonies (Kindness Mural Eglinton Country Park), joined our Climate Ambassadors and met with our Youth Executive – an other key youth participation structure for North Ayrshire.
“The Youth Executive will be chaired by one of our previous SYP candidate’s Lee Fitzpatrick and overseen by several of our other SYP candidates who were also in the running, so, it’s amazing that our young candidates aren’t disheartened and everyone is still committed to playing their part in progressing their journey with Youth Services.
“Finally, I would like to share a special thank you to the dedication of our current MSYPs – Mais Al Diri, Pyper Quayle, Justin Jones and Logan Gilmour. It has been a pleasure working with them all, and I am immensely proud of all that they have achieved during their two-year tenure. As they pass the baton on now to the new candidates, I wish them all the best of luck for the future.”


“Congratulations to our new Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament representing young people from North Ayrshire.“It is fantastic to see so many passionate young people up for the challenge, who all have the drive and determination to make things better for their peers.
“I am confident our new MSYPs will do a great job in representing North Ayrshire’s young people over the next two years.
“This is true youth participation and empowerment in action and I am really looking forward to getting to know our new MSYPs better and hearing their ideas.”
North Ayrshire’s Returning Officer, Craig Hatton


