Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (UK Parliament constituency)

Last updated

Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy
County constituency
for the House of Commons
CowdenbeathKirkcaldy2024Constituency.svg
Location of Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy within Scotland
Major settlements Burntisland, Cowdenbeath, Dalgety Bay, Inverkeithing, Kinghorn, Kirkcaldy
Current constituency
Created 2005 (as Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Member of Parliament Melanie Ward (Scottish Labour)
Created from Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline East

Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy is a county constituency representing the areas around the towns of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, in Fife, Scotland, in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It has been represented since 2024 by Melanie Ward of Scottish Labour.

Contents

Prior to the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the seat had different boundaries and was known as Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. [1]

It was previously represented by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2005 until 2015, who had been MP for the Dunfermline East constituency from 1983–2005 until boundary changes. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1997 to 2007 and as UK Prime Minister from 2007 to 2010.

Boundaries

Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (UK Parliament constituency)
Map of boundaries 2005–2024
Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (UK Parliament constituency)
Map of boundaries from 2024


2005–2024: Under the Fifth Review of UK Parliament constituencies, the constituency boundaries were defined in accordance with the ward structure in place on 30 November 2004 and contained the Fife Council wards of Aberdour and Burntisland West; Auchtertool and Burntisland East; Ballingry and Lochore; Bennochy and Valley; Cowdenbeath Central; Crosshill and Lochgelly North; Dalgety Bay East; Dalgety Bay West and Hillend; Inverkeithing; Dunnikier; Dysart and Gallatown; Glebe Park, Pathhead and Sinclairtown; Hayfield and Balsusney; Kelty; Kinghorn and Invertiel; Linktown and Kirkcaldy Central; Lumphinnans and Lochgelly South; Oakfield and Cowdenbeath North; Raith and Longbraes; Smeaton and Overton; Templehall East; and Templehall West.

2024–present: Under the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency contains the following wards or part wards of Fife Council: [2] [3]

As a result of the boundary review, the communities of Lochgelly, Kelty and the Benarty area were included in the Glenrothes and Mid Fife constituency. To compensate, the boundaries were moved westwards to include Inverkeithing, North Queensferry and Crossgates, previously part of Dunfermline and West Fife.

The constituency is bounded by Dunfermline and Dollar to the west and Glenrothes and Mid Fife to the north.

Along with Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, the towns of Burntisland, Dalgety Bay, Dysart, Inverkeithing and Kinghorn, and the villages of Aberdour, Auchtertool, Crossgates, Kingseat, Lumphinnans and North Queensferry make up the constituency.


History

The first Member of Parliament after the seat's creation in 2005, was the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown; who had previously represented Dunfermline East from 1983 to 2005, and later succeeded Tony Blair as Prime Minister in 2007. At the general election of 2010, Brown was re-elected as an MP, but was defeated as Prime Minister, and soon resigned as Leader of the Labour Party. He announced that he would continue to serve as an Opposition backbencher, [4] and did not retire from the Commons until the 2015 general election, which he did not contest. On that occasion, the SNP won parliamentary representation in the area for the first time, in line with the party's landslide victory throughout Scotland at that election. In 2017, Labour regained the seat from the SNP, with Lesley Laird winning over the SNP incumbent Roger Mullin by 259 votes. [5] [6] Laird was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland less than a week later on 14 June 2017. [7]

In 2019, Neale Hanvey unseated Laird with a majority of 1,243 votes. Hanvey was suspended from the SNP before the election for use of anti-Semitic language in social media posts. Although Hanvey was suspended from the SNP, he was still listed as such on the ballot and his victory is recorded as an SNP gain from Labour. [6] It is the only known time in which a candidate has won a seat and sat as an independent following a suspension from their party. [5] He was later re-admitted to the party in June 2020. [8] Hanvey defected from the SNP to join the new Alba Party in late March 2021, becoming Alba's second MP after Kenny MacAskill of East Lothian. [9]

Labour regained the seat at the 2024 election, with Melanie Ward defeating the SNP candidate by a majority of 17.7%. The incumbent MP, Neale Hanvey, stood as the Alba Party candidate, receiving just 1,132 votes (2.8%).

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberParty
2005 Gordon Brown Labour
2015 Roger Mullin SNP
2017 Lesley Laird Labour
2019 Neale Hanvey Independent 1
2020 SNP
2021 Alba Party
2024 Melanie Ward Labour

1After nominations for the 2019 general election closed, the Scottish National Party suspended Neale Hanvey and withdrew all support for his campaign on 28 November 2019 due to allegations of antisemitism.

Election results

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy [10] [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Melanie Ward 18,662 45.7 +16.2
SNP Lesley Backhouse11,41428.0−8.3
Conservative Jonathan Gray3,2037.8−14.4
Reform UK Sonia Davidson3,1287.7+5.7
Liberal Democrats Fraser Graham1,5933.9−2.6
Scottish Green Mags Hall1,5563.8+0.3
Alba Neale Hanvey 1,1322.8N/A
Scottish Libertarian Calum Paul1260.3N/A
Majority7,24817.7N/A
Turnout 40,81456.8−10.2
Registered electors 71,845
Labour gain from SNP Swing +12.2

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath [12] [13]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
SNP Neale Hanvey 116,568 35.2 −1.1
Labour Lesley Laird 15,32532.6−4.2
Conservative Kathleen Leslie9,44920.1−3.2
Liberal Democrats Gillian Cole-Hamilton 2,9036.2+3.8
Scottish Green Scott Rutherford1,6283.5New
Brexit Party Mitch William1,1322.4New
Majority1,2432.6N/A
Turnout 47,00564.5+1.0
SNP gain from Labour Swing +1.6

1After nominations for the 2019 general election closed, the Scottish National Party suspended Neale Hanvey and withdrew all support for his campaign on 28 November 2019 due to allegations of antisemitism. [14]

General election 2017: Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Lesley Laird 17,016 36.8 +3.4
SNP Roger Mullin 16,75736.3−15.9
Conservative Dave Dempsey10,76223.3+13.4
Liberal Democrats Malcolm Wood1,1182.4+0.1
UKIP David Coburn 5401.2−1.1
Majority2590.5N/A
Turnout 46,19363.5−6.1
Labour gain from SNP Swing +9.8
General election 2015: Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath [15] [16] [17]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
SNP Roger Mullin 27,628 52.2 +37.9
Labour Co-op Kenny Selbie17,65433.4−31.1
Conservative Dave Dempsey5,2239.9+0.6
UKIP Jack Neill1,2372.3+0.6
Liberal Democrats Callum Leslie1,1502.3−7.0
Majority9,97418.8N/A
Turnout 52,89269.6+7.4
SNP gain from Labour Swing +34.6
General election 2010: Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath [18] [16]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Gordon Brown 29,559 64.5 +6.4
SNP Douglas Chapman 6,55014.3−0.2
Liberal Democrats John Mainland4,2699.3−3.7
Conservative Lindsay Paterson4,2589.3−1.0
UKIP Peter Adams7601.7+0.5
Independent Susan Archibald1840.4New
Independent Donald MacLaren1650.4New
Land PartyDerek Jackson570.1New
Majority23,00950.2+6.6
Turnout 45,80262.2+3.8
Labour hold Swing +3.3

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath [19]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Gordon Brown 24,278 58.1 −0.4
SNP Alan Bath6,06214.5−4.1
Liberal Democrats Alex Cole-Hamilton 5,45013.0+3.8
Conservative Stuart Randall4,30810.3−0.3
Scottish Socialist Steve West6661.6−1.1
UKIP Peter Adams5161.2+0.8
Scottish Senior Citizens James Parker4251.0
Independent Elizabeth Kwantes470.1
Independent Pat Sargent440.1
Majority18,21643.6+3.7
Turnout 41,79658.4
Labour win (new seat)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Boundary Commission Scotland 2023 Review Report
  2. ↑ 2023 Review UK Parliament constituencies Boundary Commission for Scotland
  3. ↑ "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 3.
  4. ↑ "Brown to remain as backbench MP", BBC News, 13 May 2010
  5. 1 2 "Axed SNP candidate elected to Westminster". BBC News. 13 December 2019. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  6. 1 2 "Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  7. ↑ "Notes on the Reshuffle". New Socialist. 18 June 2017. Archived from the original on 26 January 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  8. ↑ Smith, Craig (1 June 2020). "Fife MP 'welcomed back' into SNP after six-month suspension". The Courier. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  9. ↑ Matthews, James [@jamesmatthewsky] (28 March 2021). "NEW: Neale Hanvey becomes second Westminster MP to defect from SNP to Alex Salmond's Alba Party. Follows Kenny MacAskill. @SkyNews" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 28 March 2021– via Twitter.
  10. ↑ "Fife General Election Results 2024". Fife Council. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  11. ↑ "Dunfermline and Dollar results". BBC News. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
  12. ↑ "General Election 12 December 2019". Fife Council. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  13. ↑ "Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath parliamentary constituency – Election 2019" . Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  14. ↑ "SNP drop candidate over claims of anti-Semitism". BBC News . 28 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  15. ↑ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  16. 1 2 Fife Council, Elections (7 July 2014). "Elections – The Scottish Independence Referendum Results 2014". www.fifedirect.org.uk.
  17. ↑ "Candidates to be MP (PPCs) for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath in the UK 2015 general election". YourNextMP. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  18. ↑ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  19. ↑ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
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Preceded by Constituency represented by the chancellor of the Exchequer
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