Dunfermline and West Fife (UK Parliament constituency)

Dunfermline and West Fife
Dunfermline and West Fife
Douglas Chapman (SNP)
Created from	Dunfermline West and Dunfermline East

Dunfermline and West Fife is a

Douglas Chapman of the Scottish National Party

(SNP).

The Dunfermline and West Fife by-election was held in early 2006, due to the death of the sitting MP, Rachel Squire. Willie Rennie of the Liberal Democrats was the surprise winner, by some 1,800 votes, in what was seen as a safe Labour seat.^[1] However, he lost the seat to Labour's Thomas Docherty at the 2010 general election. Chapman then won the seat in the SNP's Scottish landslide in the 2015 general election.^[2]

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat will be subject to boundary changes which will include the small town of Dollar in Clackmannanshire. As a consequence, it will be renamed Dunfermline and Dollar, to be first contested at the next general election.^[3]

Boundaries

Map of current boundaries

This constituency was formed in 2005 from all of the old Dunfermline West and parts of the old Dunfermline East constituencies.

Rosyth and Inverkeithing in the southeast are the only large population centres on the coast. To the north and west of Dunfermline is more rugged and robust Fife countryside. The whole seat is up against the Firth of Forth.

Places in Dunfermline and West Fife constituency

Royal burghs

Small burghs and large villages

Electoral wards of Dunfermline and small, outlying villages

Members of Parliament

Rachel Squire (Labour) was the MP for Dunfermline West constituency from 1992 until the major revision of the composition of Scottish parliamentary constituencies for the 2005 general election. Gordon Brown was MP for the neighbouring Dunfermline East constituency from which some territory was given to Dunfermline and West Fife.

Squire won the new seat in the 2005 general election and held it until her death on 5 January 2006. The subsequent by-election was held on 9 February 2006, which Liberal Democrat Willie Rennie won in a shock defeat for Labour. The Liberal Democrats also gained the Dunfermline West Scottish Parliamentary constituency from Labour in the 2007 Holyrood Parliament elections.

In the 2010 general election, the Labour candidate Thomas Docherty won the seat back. In the 2015 general election the seat was won by the SNP's Douglas Chapman.

	Member^[4]	Party
2005	Rachel Squire	Labour
2006 by-election	Willie Rennie	Liberal Democrat
2010	Thomas Docherty	Labour
2015	Douglas Chapman	SNP

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

2019 general election: Dunfermline and West Fife^[5]^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Douglas Chapman	23,727	44.4	+8.9
	Labour Co-op	Cara Hilton	13,028	24.4	-9.5
	Conservative	Moira Benny	11,207	21.0	-3.7
	Liberal Democrats	Rebecca Bell	4,262	8.0	+2.1
	Scottish Green	Mags Hall	1,258	2.4	New
Majority			10,699	20.0	+18.4
Turnout			53,482	69.8	+2.4
	SNP hold		Swing	+9.2

2017 general election: Dunfermline and West Fife^[8]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Douglas Chapman	18,121	35.5	-14.8
	Labour Co-op	Cara Hilton	17,277	33.9	+2.2
	Conservative	Belinda Hacking	12,593	24.7	+12.8
	Liberal Democrats	James Calder	3,019	5.9	+1.9
Majority			844	1.6	-17.0
Turnout			51,010	67.4	-4.2
	SNP hold		Swing	-8.4

2015 general election: Dunfermline and West Fife^[10]^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Douglas Chapman	28,096	50.3	+39.7
	Labour	Thomas Docherty	17,744	31.7	-14.6
	Conservative	James Reekie	6,623	11.9	+5.1
	Liberal Democrats	Gillian Cole-Hamilton^[12]	2,232	4.0	-31.1
	Scottish Green	Lewis Campbell^[13]	1,195	2.1	New
Majority			10,352	18.6	N/A
Turnout			55,890	71.6	+5.2
	Labour		Swing	+27.1

2010 general election: Dunfermline and West Fife^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Docherty	22,639	46.3	-1.1
	Liberal Democrats	Willie Rennie	17,169	35.1	+14.9
	SNP	Joe McCall	5,201	10.6	-8.3
	Conservative	Belinda Hacking	3,305	6.8	-3.5
	UKIP	Otto Inglis	633	1.3	-0.2
Majority			5,470	11.2	-16.0
Turnout			48,947	66.4	+6.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 2000s

2006 by-election: Dunfermline and West Fife
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Willie Rennie	12,391	35.8	+15.6
	Labour	Catherine Stihler	10,591	30.6	-16.8
	SNP	Douglas Chapman	7,261	21.0	+2.1
	Conservative	Carrie Ruxton	2,702	7.8	-2.5
	Scottish Socialist	John McAllion	537	1.6	0.0
	Scottish Christian	George Hargreaves	411	1.2	New
	Abolish Forth Bridge Tolls Party	Tom Minogue	374	1.1	New
	UKIP	Ian Borland	208	0.6	-0.9
	Common Good	Dick Rodgers	103	0.3	New
Majority			1,800	5.2	N/A
Turnout			34,578	47.9	-12.0
	Labour		Swing	+16.5

2005 general election: Dunfermline and Fife West^[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rachel Squire	20,111	47.4	-7.1
	Liberal Democrats	David Herbert	8,549	20.2	+5.9
	SNP	Douglas Chapman	8,026	18.9	+1.1
	Conservative	Roger Smillie	4,376	10.3	+0.6
	Scottish Socialist	Susan Archibald	689	1.6	-0.8
	UKIP	Ian Borland	643	1.5	+0.1
Majority			11,562	27.2	-13.0
Turnout			42,394	59.9	+2.3
	Labour hold		Swing	-6.5

References

^ "Lib Dems deliver blow to Labour". BBC News.
^ "Everything you need to know about the Scottish National Party's 56 MPs". BT.com. 13 May 2015.
^ Boundary Commission Scotland 2023 Review Report
^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 4)
^ "General Election 12 December 2019". Fife Council. Fife Council. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
^ "Dunfermline & West Fife parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". Retrieved 15 December 2019.
^ "Commons Briefing Paper 8749. General Election 2019: results and analysis" (PDF). London: House of Commons Library. 28 January 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
^ "Dunfermline & West Fife parliamentary constituency - Election 2017". BBC News. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
^ "Commons Briefing Paper 7979. General Election 2017: results and analysis" (PDF) (Second ed.). House of Commons Library. 29 January 2019 [7 April 2018]. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 November 2019.
^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^ Fife Council, Elections (7 July 2014). "Elections - The Scottish Independence Referendum Results 2014". www.fifedirect.org.uk. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
^ "List of selected candidates". Liberal Democrats. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
^ "Updates".
^ "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

Boundary Commission for Scotland, UK Parliament constituencies 2005 onwards

56°03′25″N 3°25′48″W / 56.057°N 3.430°W / 56.057; -3.430

[1] "Lib Dems deliver blow to Labour". BBC News.

[2] "Everything you need to know about the Scottish National Party's 56 MPs". BT.com. 13 May 2015.

[3] Boundary Commission Scotland 2023 Review Report

[rayment-4] Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 4)

[5] "General Election 12 December 2019". Fife Council. Fife Council. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.

[6] "Dunfermline & West Fife parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". Retrieved 15 December 2019.

[CBP-8749-7] "Commons Briefing Paper 8749. General Election 2019: results and analysis" (PDF). London: House of Commons Library. 28 January 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2022.

[8] "Dunfermline & West Fife parliamentary constituency - Election 2017". BBC News. Retrieved 12 April 2018.

[CBP-7979-9] "Commons Briefing Paper 7979. General Election 2017: results and analysis" (PDF) (Second ed.). House of Commons Library. 29 January 2019 [7 April 2018]. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 November 2019.

[electoralcalculus-10] "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.

[11] Fife Council, Elections (7 July 2014). "Elections - The Scottish Independence Referendum Results 2014". www.fifedirect.org.uk. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2019.

[12] "List of selected candidates". Liberal Democrats. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2015.

[13] "Updates".

[electoralcalculus2010-14] "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.

[electoralcalculus2005-15] "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

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