Campaigners from Ayrshire carried placards into parliament

Buses had been hired to carry the protestors to parliament for the long-awaited announcement that they had won their year-long fight.

When Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon finally confirmed the decision, they waved placards in the public benches.

Speaking outside Holyrood, they hailed the day as a "victory for democracy."

More than 55,000 people had signed a petition against the closure of the accident and emergency unit at Ayr hospital.

Most of the campaigners were from Girvan and the surrounding areas, who believed they would have been worst affected by the previous administration's decision to close the Ayr A&E unit.

At last somebody is willing to listen to public opinion. In the past every time we tried to put a point of view across it was simply ignored. Bob Kiltie

Among them was former Maybole community council chairman Bob Kiltie, who said: "The whole place just erupted when the announcement was made - we actually got a row off the security guards but it was worth it.

"It just shows how much this means to people. As far as we are concerned the whole consultation exercise was totally flawed.

"It was a sham and little more than propaganda from the health board who were trying to convince us that time and distance doesn't matter in emergency health provision.

"At last somebody is willing to listen to public opinion. In the past every time we tried to put a point of view across it was simply ignored."

Alec Clark, chairman of Girvan community council, said the announcement would give relief to people across a large swathe of Ayrshire.

'Life and death'

He added: "It is wonderful news for the communities of Girvan and those to the south of Girvan.

"People now know they will be able to access accident and emergency services without having to travel the extra miles that could make the difference between life and death.

"If this is the new politics then we are very happy with it - everyone in Girvan would like to thank Nicola Sturgeon for what she has done today."

The SNP executive's decision to overturn the closures had been branded "emotional and irrational" by former health advisor Professor David Kerr, who resigned prior to the move.

But Janette Horn, who led a group of protestors from Airdrie to the parliament, said the decision had "lifted a dark shadow".

Janette Horn and Joe Dalziell praised the SNP for listening to them

Mrs Horn said: "I would say it is Prof Kerr who is being irrational because you must listen to public opinion, as Nicola Sturgeon said today. People's health and people's lives would be at risk if we lost our accident and emergency unit.

"The staff of Monklands, the doctors and nurses, are the best in the country and this is a victory for them too. They really will be over the moon.

"We have a government here now which is willing to listen to the people before it makes decisions. In the past people were being told what they were getting, not asked what they want, and that is wrong."

The campaigners said they would be keeping a close watch to ensure that the health secretary's announcement was fully complied with, but admitted they were "very confident" their battle had been won.

Joe Dalziell, from Airdrie, said he believed the decision to close Monklands but been made purely in the political interests of the former Labour-led executive.

He added: "The problem was we had a health minister in East Kilbride and a first minister in Wishaw. Logic would say that if one hospital had to close or downgrade it should have been Wishaw so that all catchment areas would have been within 11 miles of a major accident and emergency unit.

"But the Labour Party was just not listening to us. They were putting their own self-interest first and the logic for closing Monklands was totally flawed. Today is a victory for democracy."