The fact that you tried several different brands of paint with the same result indicates that it is something odd about the surface, or there is a contaminant in the air brush. What was last in the airbrush, and what did you last use to clean the airbrush?
Too much needle lubricant in the airbrush will produce the same kind of result.
I'm not familiar with Halfords plastic primer. Is it an enamel or an acrylic?
If the original yellow (the one that first did not work) contaminated the surface further, that would confuse the problem.
The most obvious solution is to wet sand the surface with 1000 grit, clean, and repaint, (as mentioned by Lone) but I'm trying to figure out how to prevent the problem in the future.
What alcohol did you use? Some rubbing alcohols contain additives/contaminants not compatible with paint.