Former North Ayrshire and Arran MP and Labour peer Katy Clark has been selected as Scottish Labour’s MSP candidate for the Cunninghame North constituency.

Clark, who earlier this year was made Baroness Clark of Kilwinning in the House of Lords, beat Johanna Baxter in the race for selection by 38 votes to 31.

The 53-year-old represented the North Ayrshire and Arran seat at Westminster from 2005-2015 when she lost to the SNP’s Patricia Gibson.

Since her defeat five years ago, she has worked for former party leader Jeremy Corbyn as his political secretary and also stood as a Labour candidate in London for last year’s European parliamentary elections.

In 2016, Cunninghame North was comfortably held by the SNP’s Kenneth Gibson with more than 50 per cent of the vote and he will be the party’s candidate again after a bitter selection process.

The Conservatives finished second with 25 per cent of the vote with Labour in third on 21 per cent.