Constituency profile
The constituency contains no part of the town of Dunfermline, which is within the Dunfermline West constituency. (The pre-existing Westminster constituency was created during the period, 1975 to 1996, of local government regions and districts, when there was Dunfermline district of the Fife local government region. In 1996, regions and districts were replaced with unitary council areas.)
Cowdenbeath is the largest town in the constituency, and most of the constituency area was once part of the Fife coalfield, on the north bank of the Firth of Forth. The region has economic troubles, and the closure of the Rosyth naval base and the troubles at the naval dockyard have not helped.
Statistically, this was one of Labour’s safest seats in Scotland. In the House of Commons, there had been a Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for the area since 1950. Gordon Brown, the former prime minister, was MP for the Dunfermline East Westminster constituency from 1983 to 2005. He was subsequently MP for the Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency, where his majority at the 2010 general election was over 15,000.
Fife is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire. By custom it is widely held to have been one of the major Pictish kingdoms, known as Fib, and is still commonly known as the Kingdom of Fife within Scotland. A person from Fife is known as a Fifer. In older documents the county was very occasionally known by the anglicisation Fifeshire.
Mid Scotland and Fife is one of the eight electoral regions of the Scottish Parliament which were created in 1999. Nine of the parliament's 73 first past the post constituencies are sub-divisions of the region and it elects seven of the 56 additional-member Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). Thus it elects a total of 16 MSPs.
Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath 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 is currently represented by Alba Party politician Neale Hanvey.
Dunfermline East was a burgh constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post voting system.
Perth was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. Also, however, it was one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region, which still elects seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
North Tayside was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. Also, however, it was one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Kirkcaldy is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. Also, it is one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
North East Fife is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Fife. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. It is one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Central Fife was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. Also, however, it is one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Stirling is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Stirling. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. It is one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
The Dunfermline and West Fife by-election was held on 9 February 2006, following the death of the sitting Labour MP Rachel Squire, on 6 January. The by-election was the first seat to change hands in the 2005 Parliament, when Willie Rennie won the seat for the Liberal Democrats, gaining it from Labour by 1,800 votes. The BBC reported a swing from Labour to the Liberal Democrats of 16.24%.
Dunfermline West was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. From the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, parts of the Dunfermline East constituency were merged with Dunfermline West to form a single Dunfermline constituency.
The 2011 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament.
Dunfermline was a local government district in the Fife region of Scotland from 1975 to 1996, lying to the south-west of the regional capital Glenrothes.
Clackmannanshire and Dunblane is constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the Stirling council area and the entirety of Clackmannanshire. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. It is also one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole. Created in 2011, the constituency covers much of the area previously in the abolished Ochil.
Perthshire North is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Perth and Kinross. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. It is one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Perthshire South and Kinross-shire is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Perth and Kinross. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. It is one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Mid Fife and Glenrothes is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Fife. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. It is one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole. Created in 2011, the constituency comprises most of the previous Central Fife constituency which was abolished for the 2011 Scottish Parliament election.
Dunfermline is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Fife. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. It is one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Cowdenbeath is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Fife. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. It is one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
