Kirkcaldy (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Kirkcaldy is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) 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.

Kirkcaldy
County constituency
for the Scottish Parliament
Kirkcaldy shown within the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Population78,351 (2019)[1]
Current constituency
Created1999
PartyScottish National Party
MSPDavid Torrance
Council areaFife

The seat has been held by David Torrance of the Scottish National Party since the 2011 Scottish Parliament election.

Electoral region

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The other eight constituencies of the Mid Scotland and Fife region are: Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Cowdenbeath, Dunfermline, Mid Fife and Glenrothes, North East Fife, 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 Kirkcaldy Westminster constituency was divided between Glenrothes and Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.

In boundary changes that took effect at the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, the newly drawn Kirkcaldy 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 Marilyn Livingstone Labour
2011 David Torrance SNP

Election results

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Kirkcaldy election results 1999-2021

2020s

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2021 Scottish Parliament election: Kirkcaldy[4][5]
Party Candidate Constituency Regional
Votes % ±% Votes % ±%
SNP David Torrance[a] 18,417 52.4  0.2 15,733 44.5  3.3
Labour Claire Baker[b] 10,586 30.1  1.3 8,145 23.1  2.0
Conservative Kathleen Leslie 4,891 13.9  0.8 6,137 17.4  1.7
Scottish Green 2,488 7.1  2.4
Liberal Democrats Alan Beal 1,015 2.9  1.0 1,027 2.9  0.3
Alba 689 2.0 New
All for Unity 406 1.1 New
Scottish Family 166 0.5 New
Freedom Alliance (UK) 123 0.3 New
Abolish the Scottish Parliament 114 0.3 New
Scottish Libertarian Calum Paul 269 0.8 N/A 83 0.2  0.0
Reform UK 72 0.3 New
UKIP 57 0.2  2.0
Independent Martin Keatings 27 0.1 New
Renew 7 0.0 New
Independent Mercy Kamanja 4 0.0 New
Majority 7,831 22.3  1.5
Valid Votes 35,178 35,278
Invalid Votes 137 74
Turnout 35,315 57.8  5.3 35,352 57.8  5.3
SNP hold Swing
Notes
  1. ^ Incumbent member for this constituency
  2. ^ Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency

2010s

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2016 Scottish Parliament election: Kirkcaldy[5]
Party Candidate Constituency Region
Votes % ±% Votes % ±%
SNP David Torrance[a] 16,358 52.6  7.4 14,934 47.8  3.7
Labour Claire Baker[b] 8,963 28.8  15.8 7,822 25.1  11.0
Conservative Martin Laidlaw 4,568 14.7  7.5 4,914 15.7  9.1
Scottish Green 1,479 4.7  2.1
Liberal Democrats Lauren Jones 1,219 3.9  1.0 1,001 3.2  1.0
UKIP 682 2.2  1.1
Solidarity 194 0.6  0.5
RISE 115 0.4 New
Scottish Libertarian 81 0.3 New
Majority 7,395 23.8  23.2
Valid Votes 31,108 31,222
Invalid Votes 159 52
Turnout 31,267 52.5  6.0 31,274 52.5  5.9
SNP hold Swing  11.6
Notes
  1. ^ Incumbent member for this constituency
  2. ^ Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency
2011 Scottish Parliament election: Kirkcaldy[5][6][7]
Party Candidate Constituency Region
Votes % ±% Votes % ±%
SNP David Torrance 12,579 45.2 N/A 12,319 44.1 N/A
Labour Marilyn Livingstone[a] 12,397 44.6 N/A 10,084 36.1 N/A
Conservative Ian McFarlane 2,007 7.2 N/A 1,835 6.6 N/A
Independent Andrew Roger 717 2.6 N/A
Scottish Green 713 2.6 N/A
Liberal Democrats John Mainland 820 2.9 N/A 611 2.2 N/A
All-Scotland Pensioners Party 547 2.0 N/A
UKIP 315 1.1 N/A
BNP 252 0.9 N/A
Socialist Labour 241 0.9 N/A
Scottish Socialist 117 0.4 N/A
Scottish Christian 75 0.3 N/A
CPA 50 0.2 N/A
Solidarity 32 0.1 N/A
Majority 182 0.6 N/A
Valid Votes 27,803 27,908
Invalid Votes 119 94
Turnout 27,922 46.5 N/A 28,002 46.6 N/A
SNP win (new boundaries)
Notes
  1. ^ Incumbent member for this constituency

2000s

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2007 Scottish Parliament election: Kirkcaldy
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Marilyn Livingstone 10,627 43.9 −2.8
SNP Chris Harvie 8,005 33.1 +8.4
Liberal Democrats Alice Soper 3,361 13.9 +2.9
Conservative David Potts 2,202 9.1 −1.5
Majority 2,622 10.8 −11.2
Turnout 24,195 47.7 +3.5
Labour hold Swing -5.6
2003 Scottish Parliament election: Kirkcaldy
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Marilyn Livingstone 10,235 46.7 −1.5
SNP Colin Welsh 5,411 24.7 −7.6
Liberal Democrats Alex Cole-Hamilton 2,417 11.0 +1.8
Conservative Mike Scott-Hayward 2,332 10.6 +0.3
Scottish Socialist Rudi Vogels 1,544 7.0 New
Majority 4,824 22.0 +4.2
Turnout 21,939 44.2
Labour hold Swing -4.6

1990s

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1999 Scottish Parliament election: Kirkcaldy
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Marilyn Livingstone 13,645 48.14 N/A
SNP Stewart Hosie 9,170 32.35 N/A
Conservative Mike Scott-Hayward 2,907 10.26 N/A
Liberal Democrats John Mainland 2,620 9.24 N/A
Majority 4,475 15.79 N/A
Turnout 28,342 N/A
Labour 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: Kirkcaldy". BBC News. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  5. ^ a b c "Scottish Parliamentary Results". Fife Council. 14 May 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Results and turnout at the 2011 Scottish Parliament election". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  7. ^ "2011 Election analysis (Excel 2.37MB)". Scottish Parliament. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
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