Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (UK Parliament constituency)

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.

Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
Boundary of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath in Scotland
Major settlementsBurntisland, Cowdenbeath, Dalgety Bay, Kinghorn, Kirkcaldy, Lochgelly
Current constituency
Created2005
Member of ParliamentNeale Hanvey (Alba Party)
Created fromKirkcaldy and Dunfermline East

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.

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat will be subject to boundary changes and will formally be renamed Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy, to be first contested at the next general election.[1]

Boundaries

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; 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.

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, Dysart, Kelty, and Lochgelly and the villages of Aberdour, Auchtertool, Ballingry, Crosshill, Glencraig, Kinghorn, Lochore and Lumphinnans make up the constituency.[2]

Members of Parliament

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]

Parliament Years Member Party Notes
Constituency created from Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline East
54th 2005–2010 Gordon Brown Scottish Labour Member of Parliament for Dunfermline East (1983-2005)
Chancellor of the Exchequer (1997-2007)
Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party (2007-2010)
55th 2010–2015
56th 2015–2017 Roger Mullin Scottish National Party
57th 2017–2019 Lesley Laird Scottish Labour Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland (2017-2019)
58th 2019–2020 Neale Hanvey Independent
2020–2021 Scottish National Party
2021–present Alba Party Leader of the Alba Party in the House of Commons (2021–present)

Election results

Elections in the 2010s
General election 2019: Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath[9][10]
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.[11]

General election 2017: Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath
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
See also: Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies, 2010–15 § Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath
General election 2015: Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath[12][13][14]
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

General election 2010: Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath[15][13]
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

General election 2005: Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath[16]
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

References
  1. Boundary Commission Scotland 2023 Review Report
  2. "Gordon Brown Constituency Website". Archived from the original on 20 May 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2007.
  3. "Brown to remain as backbench MP", BBC News, 13 May 2010
  4. "Axed SNP candidate elected to Westminster". BBC News. 13 December 2019. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  5. "Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  6. "Notes on the Reshuffle". New Socialist. 18 June 2017. Archived from the original on 26 January 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  7. Smith, Craig (1 June 2020). "Fife MP 'welcomed back' into SNP after six-month suspension". The Courier. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  8. 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.
  9. "General Election 12 December 2019". Fife Council. Fife Council. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  10. "Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  11. "SNP drop candidate over claims of anti-Semitism". BBC News. 28 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  12. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  13. Fife Council, Elections (7 July 2014). "Elections - The Scottish Independence Referendum Results 2014". www.fifedirect.org.uk.
  14. "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.
  15. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  16. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

56°05′57″N 3°16′25″W

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