Fife North East
2005 Results:
Liberal Democrat: 20088 (52.1%)
Conservative: 7517 (19.5%)
Labour: 4920 (12.8%)
SNP: 4011 (10.4%)
Other: 2020 (5.2%)
Majority: 12571 (32.6%)
Boundary changes prior to 2005 election.
2001 Result
Conservative: 8190 (23.6%)
Labour: 3950 (11.4%)
Liberal Democrat: 17926 (51.7%)
SNP: 3596 (10.4%)
Other: 1030 (3%)
Majority: 9736 (28.1%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 11076 (26.5%)
Labour: 4301 (10.3%)
Liberal Democrat: 21432 (51.2%)
SNP: 4545 (10.9%)
Referendum: 485 (1.2%)
Majority: 10356 (24.8%)
No Boundary Changes:
Profile:
Outgoing MP: Menzies Campbell(Lib Dem) born 1941, Glasgow. Educated at Hillhead High School and the University of Glasgow. Former Olympic sprinter, competing in the 1964 Olympics. Advocate, specialising in planning and licensing. Contested Greenock and Port Glasgow February and October 1974, East Fife 1979, Fife North East 1983 for the Liberal Party. First elected as Liberal MP for North East Fife in 1987. Deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2003 as well as their foreign affairs spokesman. He was a prominent figures in oppsition to the Iraq war and was perceived as a serious figure with gravitas in contrast to Charles Kennedy. Following Kennedy`s resignation he became interim leader and won the subsequent leadershp election, defeating Simon Hughes and Chris Huhne. His brief leadership lasted only 18 months, during which Campbell was ridiculed in the media for his age, before resigning in October 2007 (more information at They work for you)
Candidates: 
Miles Briggs (Conservative) Educated at Perth Grammar School and Robert Gordon University. Political Advisor. 
Zoe Smith (Labour)Menzies Campbell(Lib Dem) born 1941, Glasgow. Educated at Hillhead High School and the University of Glasgow. Former Olympic sprinter, competing in the 1964 Olympics. Advocate, specialising in planning and licensing. Contested Greenock and Port Glasgow February and October 1974, East Fife 1979, Fife North East 1983 for the Liberal Party. First elected as Liberal MP for North East Fife in 1987. Deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2003 as well as their foreign affairs spokesman. He was a prominent figures in oppsition to the Iraq war and was perceived as a serious figure with gravitas in contrast to Charles Kennedy. Following Kennedy`s resignation he became interim leader and won the subsequent leadershp election, defeating Simon Hughes and Chris Huhne. His brief leadership lasted only 18 months, during which Campbell was ridiculed in the media for his age, before resigning in October 2007 (more information at They work for you)
Rod Campbell (SNP) born 1953, Edinburgh. Educated at Reading School and Exeter University. Solicitor. Contested Roxburgh and Berwickshire 2001, 2003 Scottish elections, North East Fife 2005 and 2007 Scottish elections.
Mike Scott-Hayward (UKIP) Educated at Mansfield High SChool. HM Coastguard watchkeeper, formerly served in the Royal Artillery. Fife councillor. Contested Dunfermline West 1992, Edinburgh Central 1997, North East Fife 2001, 2005 for the Conservatives.
2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 78856
Male: 47.7%
Female: 52.3%
Under 18: 21.4%
Over 60: 23.8%
Born outside UK: 5.7%
White: 98.6%
Black: 0.2%
Asian: 0.4%
Mixed: 0.3%
Other: 0.5%
Christian: 65.2%
Graduates 16-74: 27.2%
No Qualifications 16-74: 23.6%
Owner-Occupied: 69.1%
Social Housing: 16.5% (Council: 14.1%, Housing Ass.: 2.4%)
Privately Rented: 11.2%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 4.4%
“I suspect that the SNP and Labour will be neck & neck for 3rd place but neither will be prioritising the seat”.
Don’t tell Iain Mackintosh that – he thinks this is a Labour gain!!!
UKIP have selected Cllr Mike Scott-Hayward here. He is the former Tory Group Leader who quit the Party last year when he wasn’t selected as their PPC. I suspect he will pick up a few votes as he is by all accounts fairly popular.
…..so popular, in fact, that the Tory vote collapsed both times he stood as the candidate!
Tam, on this I agree with you. Mike Scott-Hayward has his base in the East Neuk, and outside of St Andrews and Newport/Wormit this is where the Tory vote remains. I reckon he’ll take votes away from the Tories there and will be more of a problem for them than he is for Ming.
A shock here would be Ming’s vote falling below 50%. The Labour and SNP votes have crept up from a low of about 5% in 1992 so there is room for these to be squeezed again.
Ming is implicated in “troughgate”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5314759/Sir-Menzies-Campbell-hired-top-designer-for-10000-overhaul-of-flat-MPs-expenses.html
I think the SNP will get a decent 3rd place here maybe (15% or so), and I suspect UKIP will save their deposit here
With Ming now well and truly embroiled in the expenses scandal, who will benefit more from the angry Lib dem voters – the Conservative or UKIP candidate?
The vital spark returns….Ming the merciless skewers the government in the Iraq debate this evening….
I am confused about the parliamentary representation of St Andrews – was it in St Andrews Burghs 1885-1918, or in East Fife? Wikipedia says the PARISH of St Andrews was in East Fife at its creation, but the BURGH of St Andrews was added to it on the abolition of St Andrews Burghs in 1918. Is ‘burgh’ Scottish dialect for ‘town’?
Was St Andrews town and university in St Andrews Burghs 1885-1918? Wikipedia says that the PARISH of St Andrews was in East Fife at that seat’s creation but that the BURGH of St Andrews was added to it on the abolition of St Andrews Burghs in 1918. I am somewhat confused.
“Burgh” is the Scottish spelling of “borough”. Roughly towns, although some burghs were quite small.
Until quite recently, some groups of Burghs in Scotland were separate seats, the Burghs concerned being political islands within surrounding county seats. I am not up on the political geography of Fife but it is quite plausible that the county, outside the burgh, contained a parish named after its church dedicated to St. Andrew.
Constituencies made up of two halfs before 1983 (often separated my many miles), like Morcambe, Stirling & Falkirk or East Dunbartonshire are open to gerrymandering.
By this logic, by annexing Chelsea, it would be possible for Glasgow Gorbals to be represented by a Conservative MP.
Glasgow Gorbals & Chelsea
(1970 Notional Result)
E 69,161
Con 18923
Lab 15997
Lib 2136
SNP 1089
Ind 514
Comm 376
Con maj 2926
On rereading Harry Potter’s comment, I notice he asks about St. Andrews University. From the nineteenth century until after the Second World War, graduates had an extra vote for the university from which they obtained their degree. In the case of St. Andrews, this was the Scottish Universities seat. But of course as this was an extra vote it did not reflect the boundaries of the seats covering St. Andrews geographically.
In relation to Burghs, until universal manhood suffrage was brought in the property qualifications for voting were different for Burgh seats (and indeed Borough seats in England) as compared to County seats. This partly explains why the Burghs were combined, where they were not big enough to be a seat on their own, with other Burghs rather than the surrounding candidatate.
If you look at reference books, such as Whitaker’s Almanac, that listed election results in the ninetenth century and the early part of the twentieth, you will find that within each of England, Wales and Scotland there are two lists, one for Borough seats and one for County ones. The distinction was not always obvious geographically. For instance, in Kent Folkestone was part of the Hythe Borough seat.
Of course, the distinction between county representatives and burgesses attending parliament from the towns goes right back to mediaeval times. They were distinct because they were taxed differently, and hence had different concerns in relation to granting the King money, parliament’s orginal function.
Labour have selected Zoe Smith here
Which seats have included Anstruther?