North East Fife is a county constituency in Fife, Scotland, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Wendy Chamberlain of the Liberal Democrats since the 2019 general election.

History

The seat was created in 1983, and was held by the Conservative Party for four years, before being represented by Menzies Campbell from 1987 to 2015. Campbell was elected as a member of the Liberal Party, which later merged with the Social Democratic Party to form the Liberal Democrats. At the 2015 general election, the seat was gained by Stephen Gethins of the Scottish National Party (SNP). Gethins held his seat at the 2017 general election by just two votes over Elizabeth Riches of the Liberal Democrats, making the seat the most marginal in the United Kingdom. At the 2019 general election, Wendy Chamberlain defeated Gethins to regain the seat for the Liberal Democrats, making it the SNP's only loss that year. Although boundary changes meant that it was estimated that it would have been held by the SNP in 2019, Chamberlain held the revised seat with a much increased majority, making it a notional gain for the Liberal Democrats.

Boundaries

1983–2005: North East Fife District.

2005–2024: Under the Fifth Review of UK Parliament constituencies, the constituency was expanded slightly to include part of the town of Leven. It was defined as comprising the area of the Fife Council other than those parts in the constituencies of Dunfermline and West Fife, Glenrothes, and Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.

2024–present: Under the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency contains the following wards of Fife Council:

  • Howe of Fife and Tay Coast, Tay Bridgehead, St Andrews, East Neuk and Landward, Cupar, and Leven, Kennoway and Largo.

As a result of the boundary review, Kennoway, Windygates and rest of Leven were transferred from Glenrothes (renamed Glenrothes and Mid Fife).

North East Fife constituency is in the region of Fife in Scotland. Fife has the River Tay on its northern coast, and the Firth of Forth to the south. The famous golf and university town of St Andrews is the major settlement in the seat. Others include Cupar, Leuchars, Newport-on-Tay, Newburgh, Auchtermuchty, Anstruther and Leven.

Members of Parliament

{|class="wikitable"

!colspan="2"|Election!!Member

!Party

|-

| style="color:inherit;background-color: " | || 1983 || Barry Henderson || Conservative

|-

|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |

| 1987

|rowspan="2"| Menzies Campbell

| Liberal

|-

|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |

| 1988

| Liberal Democrats

|-

| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |

| 2015

| Stephen Gethins

| SNP

|-

|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |

| 2019

| Wendy Chamberlain

| Liberal Democrats

|}

Election results

thumb|centre|upright=2.5|Election results 1983-2024

Elections in the 2020s

On the notional boundaries of the 2019 general election the seat is an SNP hold; the Liberal Democrats therefore gain the seat despite previously holding it.

North East Fife was notable in several respects in the 2019 general election: it was the SNP's only loss of the election, had the largest decrease in vote share for the Conservative Party (after the special case of Chorley, where the party did not stand) and also had the smallest Labour share of the vote in the United Kingdom, at 3.7% (again excluding Chorley, where the party did not stand). The seat went from the most marginal seat at the 2017 general election to the fortieth most marginal in 2019 (measured by percentage majority). When measured by absolute majority, North East Fife was the second most marginal Lib Dem-held seat at the election (after Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross).

North East Fife was the most marginal result in the country at the 2017 general election, with incumbent SNP MP Stephen Gethins seeing his majority cut from 4,344 votes (9.6%) to 2 votes (0.004%) ahead of the Liberal Democrat candidate, Elizabeth Riches. An alike result in Winchester at the 1997 general election was adjudicated and declared void and resulted in a legislative change in party naming rules (the Registration of Political Parties Act 1998).

Elections in the 2000s

In 2005 the ward of Leven East was incorporated into this constituency from what was Central Fife.

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

  • Preceded by East Fife

See also

  • East Fife Constituency

Notes

References

Works cited

  • North East Fife UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2005 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
  • North East Fife UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK