North East Fife (Scottish Parliament constituency)

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 (first past the post) method of election. It is additionally 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.

North East Fife
County constituency
for the Scottish Parliament
North East Fife shown within the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Population75,226 (2019)[1]
Current constituency
Created1999
PartyScottish Liberal Democrats
MSPWillie Rennie
Council areaFife

The seat has been held since the 2016 Scottish Parliament election by Willie Rennie, the former leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

Electoral region

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The other eight constituencies of the Mid Scotland and Fife region are: Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Dunfermline, Cowdenbeath, Kirkcaldy, Mid Fife and Glenrothes, Perthshire North, Perthshire South and Kinross-shire and Stirling.

The region covers all of the Clackmannanshire council area, all of the Fife council area, all of the Perth and Kinross council area and all of the Stirling council area.

Constituency boundaries and council area

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Map of boundaries from 2011

Fife is represented in the Scottish Parliament by five constituencies, Cowdenbeath, Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, Mid Fife and Glenrothes and North East Fife.

The constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of a pre-existing Westminster (House of Commons) constituency. In 2005, however, Scottish Westminster constituencies were mostly replaced with new constituencies.[2] The Fife North East Westminster constituency was slightly enlarged.

From the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, the reshaped North East Fife constituency was formed from the following electoral wards, all of which are part of Fife:[3]

Member of the Scottish Parliament

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Election Member Party
1999 Iain Smith Liberal Democrats
2011 Roderick Campbell SNP
2016 Willie Rennie Liberal Democrats

Election results

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North East Fife election results 1999-2021

2020s

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2021 Scottish Parliament election: North East Fife[4][5]
Party Candidate Constituency Regional
Votes % ±% Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Willie Rennie[a] 22,163 55.1  11.2 11,728 29.1  2.5
SNP Rhuaraidh Fleming 14,715 36.6  2.9 12,484 30.9  0.9
Conservative Rhona Metcalfe 2,323 5.8  10.8 8,108 20.1  4.1
Scottish Green 4,068 10.1  2.3
Labour Wendy Hayes 1,056 2.6  3.3 2,425 6.0  1.1
Alba 585 1.4 New
All for Unity 303 0.8 New
Scottish Family 214 0.5 New
Scottish Libertarian 111 0.3  0.1
Abolish the Scottish Parliament 110 0.3 New
Freedom Alliance (UK) 73 0.2 New
Reform UK 71 0.2 New
UKIP 35 0.1  1.5
Independent Martin Keatings 32 0.1 New
Renew 11 0.0 New
Independent Mercy Kamanja 5 0.0 New
Majority 7,448 18.5  8.4
Valid Votes 40,257 40,363
Invalid Votes 159 53
Turnout 40,416 68.9  5.7 40,416 68.9  5.7
Liberal Democrats hold Swing  7.1
Notes
  1. ^ Incumbent member for this constituency

2010s

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2016 Scottish Parliament election: North East Fife[5]
Party Candidate Constituency Regional
Votes % ±% Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Willie Rennie[a] 14,928 43.8  15.4 9,054 26.5  9.3
SNP Roderick Campbell[b] 11,463 33.7  3.5 10,860 31.8  7.5
Conservative Huw Bell 5,646 16.6  2.3 8,260 24.2  5.7
Scottish Green 2,665 7.8  0.5
Labour Rosalind Garton 2,026 5.9  6.3 2,427 7.1  4.7
UKIP 553 1.6  1.3
Scottish Libertarian 139 0.4 New
RISE 102 0.3 New
Solidarity 71 0.2  0.1
Majority 3,465 10.1 N/A
Valid Votes 34,063 34,131
Invalid Votes 101 48
Turnout 34,164 63.2  12.5 34,179 63.2  12.5
Liberal Democrats gain from SNP Swing  8.4
Notes
  1. ^ Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency
  2. ^ Incumbent member for this constituency
2011 Scottish Parliament election: North East Fife[6][5][7][8]
Party Candidate Constituency Region
Votes % ±% Votes % ±%
SNP Roderick Campbell 11,029 37.2 N/A 11,699 39.3 N/A
Liberal Democrats Iain Smith[a] 8,437 28.4 N/A 5,120 17.2 N/A
Conservative Miles Briggs 5,618 18.9 N/A 5,507 18.5 N/A
Labour Colin Davidson 3,613 12.2 N/A 3,503 11.8 N/A
Scottish Green 2,188 7.4 N/A
UKIP Mike Scott-Hayward 979 3.3 N/A 565 1.9 N/A
Scottish Senior Citizens 487 1.6 N/A
BNP 166 0.6 N/A
Independent Andrew Roger 133 0.4 N/A
Socialist Labour 83 0.3 N/A
Scottish Socialist 127 0.4 N/A
CPA 85 0.3 N/A
Scottish Christian 63 0.2 N/A
Solidarity 23 0.1 N/A
Majority 2,592 8.8 N/A
Valid Votes 29,676 29,749
Invalid Votes 156 112
Turnout 29,835 50.7 N/A 29,861 50.7 N/A
SNP win (new boundaries)
Notes
  1. ^ Incumbent member for this constituency

2000s

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2007 Scottish Parliament election: North East Fife
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Iain Smith 13,307 42.2 −3.8
Conservative Ted Brocklebank 8,291 26.3 −2.5
SNP Roderick Campbell 6,735 21.4 +8.9
Labour Kenny Young 2,557 8.1 +0.1
Independent Tony Campbell 662 2.1 New
Majority 5,016 15.9 −1.3
Turnout 31,552 51.7 +1.8
Liberal Democrats hold Swing -0.7
2003 Scottish Parliament election: North East Fife
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Iain Smith 13,479 46.0 +7.2
Conservative Ted Brocklebank 8,424 28.8 +5.1
SNP Capre Ross-Williams 3,660 12.5 −6.2
Labour Gregor Poynton 2,353 8.0 −6.4
Scottish Socialist Carlo Morelli 1,366 4.7 New
Majority 5,055 17.2 +3.1
Turnout 29,282 49.9 −8.5
Liberal Democrats hold Swing +6.5

1990s

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1999 Scottish Parliament election: North East Fife
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Iain Smith 13,590 37.8 N/A
Conservative Ted Brocklebank 8,526 23.7 N/A
SNP Colin Welsh 6,373 17.7 N/A
Labour Charles Milne 5,175 14.4 N/A
Independent Donald MacGregor 1,540 4.3 N/A
Independent Robert Beveridge 737 2.1 N/A
Majority 5,064 14.1 N/A
Turnout 35,941 58.4 N/A
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Footnotes

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  1. ^ Scottish Parliamentary Constituency (SPC) Population Estimates (2011 Data Zone based), National Records of Scotland; retrieved 6 May 2021 (accompanying summary notes)
  2. ^ See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland Archived 21 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries Final Report" (PDF). Boundaries Scotland. May 2010. p. 160. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  4. ^ "Constituencies A-Z: Fife North East". BBC News. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  5. ^ a b c "Scottish Parliamentary Results". Fife Council. 14 May 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  6. ^ "BBC News - Election 2011 - Scotland - Fife North East". BBC News.
  7. ^ "Results and turnout at the 2011 Scottish Parliament election". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  8. ^ "2011 Election analysis (Excel 2.37MB)". Scottish Parliament. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
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