Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (UK Parliament constituency)
| Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy | |
|---|---|
| County constituency for the House of Commons | |
 Interactive map of boundaries from 2024 | |
 Location within Scotland | |
| Major settlements | Burntisland, Cowdenbeath, Dalgety Bay, Kinghorn, Kirkcaldy, Lochgelly |
| 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 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.
Prior to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat had different boundaries and was known as Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.[1]
Boundaries
[edit]
The constituency is bounded by Ochil and South Perthshire to the north, Dunfermline and West Fife to the west and Glenrothes to the east.
Along with Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, the towns of Burntisland, Dalgety Bay, Inverkeithing, Dysart, Kelty, and Lochgelly and the villages of Aberdour, Auchtertool, Ballingry, Crosshill, Glencraig, Kinghorn, Lochore and Lumphinnans make up the constituency.[2]
2005–2024: 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: The Fife Council wards of Dunfermline North, Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay, Burntisland, Kinghorn and Western Kirkcaldy, Kirkcaldy North, Kirkcaldy Central, Kirkcaldy East, and Cowdenbeath.
Members of Parliament
[edit]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,[3] 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.[4][5] Laird was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland less than a week later on 14 June 2017.[6]
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.[5] 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.[4] He was later re-admitted to the party in June 2020.[7] 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.[8]
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Gordon Brown | Labour | |
| 2015 | Roger Mullin | SNP | |
| 2017 | Lesley Laird | Labour | |
| 2019 | Neale Hanvey | Independent1 | |
| 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
[edit]Elections in the 2020s
[edit]| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Melanie Ward | 18,662 | 45.7 | +16.2 | |
| SNP | Lesley Backhouse | 11,414 | 28.0 | −8.3 | |
| Conservative | Jonathan Gray | 3,203 | 7.8 | −14.4 | |
| Reform UK | Sonia Davidson | 3,128 | 7.7 | +5.7 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Fraser Graham | 1,593 | 3.9 | −2.6 | |
| Scottish Green | Mags Hall | 1,556 | 3.8 | +0.3 | |
| Alba | Neale Hanvey | 1,132 | 2.8 | N/A | |
| Scottish Libertarian | Calum Paul | 126 | 0.3 | N/A | |
| Majority | 7,248 | 17.7 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 40,814 | 56.8 | −10.2 | ||
| Registered electors | 71,845 | ||||
| Labour gain from SNP | Swing | +12.2 | |||
Elections in the 2010s
[edit]| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNP | Neale Hanvey1 | 16,568 | 35.2 | −1.1 | |
| Labour | Lesley Laird | 15,325 | 32.6 | −4.2 | |
| Conservative | Kathleen Leslie | 9,449 | 20.1 | −3.2 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Gillian Cole-Hamilton | 2,903 | 6.2 | +3.8 | |
| Scottish Green | Scott Rutherford | 1,628 | 3.5 | New | |
| Brexit Party | Mitch William | 1,132 | 2.4 | New | |
| Majority | 1,243 | 2.6 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 47,005 | 64.5 | +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.[13]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Lesley Laird | 17,016 | 36.8 | +3.4 | |
| SNP | Roger Mullin | 16,757 | 36.3 | −15.9 | |
| Conservative | Dave Dempsey | 10,762 | 23.3 | +13.4 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Malcolm Wood | 1,118 | 2.4 | +0.1 | |
| UKIP | David Coburn | 540 | 1.2 | −1.1 | |
| Majority | 259 | 0.5 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 46,193 | 63.5 | −6.1 | ||
| Labour gain from SNP | Swing | +9.8 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNP | Roger Mullin | 27,628 | 52.2 | +37.9 | |
| Labour Co-op | Kenny Selbie | 17,654 | 33.4 | −31.1 | |
| Conservative | Dave Dempsey | 5,223 | 9.9 | +0.6 | |
| UKIP | Jack Neill | 1,237 | 2.3 | +0.6 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Callum Leslie | 1,150 | 2.3 | −7.0 | |
| Majority | 9,974 | 18.8 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 52,892 | 69.6 | +7.4 | ||
| SNP gain from Labour | Swing | +34.6 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Gordon Brown | 29,559 | 64.5 | +6.4 | |
| SNP | Douglas Chapman | 6,550 | 14.3 | −0.2 | |
| Liberal Democrats | John Mainland | 4,269 | 9.3 | −3.7 | |
| Conservative | Lindsay Paterson | 4,258 | 9.3 | −1.0 | |
| UKIP | Peter Adams | 760 | 1.7 | +0.5 | |
| Independent | Susan Archibald | 184 | 0.4 | New | |
| Independent | Donald MacLaren | 165 | 0.4 | New | |
| Land Party | Derek Jackson | 57 | 0.1 | New | |
| Majority | 23,009 | 50.2 | +6.6 | ||
| Turnout | 45,802 | 62.2 | +3.8 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | +3.3 | |||
Elections in the 2000s
[edit]| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Gordon Brown | 24,278 | 58.1 | −0.4 | |
| SNP | Alan Bath | 6,062 | 14.5 | −4.1 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Alex Cole-Hamilton | 5,450 | 13.0 | +3.8 | |
| Conservative | Stuart Randall | 4,308 | 10.3 | −0.3 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Steve West | 666 | 1.6 | −1.1 | |
| UKIP | Peter Adams | 516 | 1.2 | +0.8 | |
| Scottish Senior Citizens | James Parker | 425 | 1.0 | ||
| Independent | Elizabeth Kwantes | 47 | 0.1 | ||
| Independent | Pat Sargent | 44 | 0.1 | ||
| Majority | 18,216 | 43.6 | +3.7 | ||
| Turnout | 41,796 | 58.4 | |||
| Labour win (new seat) | |||||
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Boundary Commission Scotland 2023 Review Report
- ^ "Gordon Brown Constituency Website". Archived from the original on 20 May 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2007.
- ^ "Brown to remain as backbench MP", BBC News, 13 May 2010
- ^ a b "Axed SNP candidate elected to Westminster". BBC News. 13 December 2019. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- ^ a b "Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
- ^ "Notes on the Reshuffle". New Socialist. 18 June 2017. Archived from the original on 26 January 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
- ^ Smith, Craig (1 June 2020). "Fife MP 'welcomed back' into SNP after six-month suspension". The Courier. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Fife General Election Results 2024". Fife Council. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
- ^ "Dunfermline and Dollar results". BBC News. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
- ^ "General Election 12 December 2019". Fife Council. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
- ^ "Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". Retrieved 15 December 2019.
- ^ "SNP drop candidate over claims of anti-Semitism". BBC News. 28 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
- ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ^ a b Fife Council, Elections (7 July 2014). "Elections – The Scottish Independence Referendum Results 2014". www.fifedirect.org.uk.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
External links
[edit]- Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2005 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
- Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK