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North East Fife is a
county constituency In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by electoral districts called " constitue ...
in
Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross ...
, Scotland, represented in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
of the
UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...
by Wendy Chamberlain of the Liberal Democrats since the 2019 general election. The seat was created in 1983, and was held by the
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
for four years, before being represented by
Menzies Campbell Walter Menzies Campbell, Baron Campbell of Pittenweem, (; born 22 May 1941), often known as Ming Campbell, is a British Liberal Democrat politician, advocate and former athlete. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Fife fro ...
from 1987 to 2015. Campbell was elected as a member of the
Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...
, which later merged with the
Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...
to form the Liberal Democrats. At the 2015 general election, the seat was gained by Stephen Gethins of the
Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from th ...
(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 Marginal may refer to: * ''Marginal'' (album), the third album of the Belgian rock band Dead Man Ray, released in 2001 * ''Marginal'' (manga) * '' El Marginal'', Argentine TV series * Marginal seat or marginal constituency or marginal, in polit ...
in the United Kingdom. In the 2019 general election, Chamberlain defeated Gethins to regain the seat for the Liberal Democrats; this was the SNP's only loss of the election.


Boundaries

1983–2005: North East Fife District. 2005–present: The area of the Fife Council other than those parts in the constituencies of Dunfermline and West Fife, Glenrothes, and Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. 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 The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...
to the south. The famous golf and university town of
St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourt ...
is the major settlement in the seat. Others include
Cupar Cupar ( ; gd, Cùbar) is a town, former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland. It lies between Dundee and Glenrothes. According to a 2011 population estimate, Cupar had a population around 9,000, making it the ninth-largest settlement in Fi ...
,
Newport-on-Tay Newport-on-Tay is a small town in the north-east of Fife in Scotland, acting as a commuter suburb for Dundee. The Fife Coastal Path passes through Newport-on-Tay. The area itself is surrounded by views of the two bridges that cross the River Ta ...
, Newburgh,
Auchtermuchty Auchtermuchty ( ; , 'upland of the pigs/boar') is a town in Fife, Scotland. It is beside Pitlour Hill and north of Glenrothes. History Until 1975 Auchtermuchty was a royal burgh, established under charter of King James V in 1517. There ...
, and
Anstruther Anstruther ( sco, Ainster or Enster ; gd, Ànsruthair) is a small coastal resort town in Fife, Scotland, situated on the north-shore of the Firth of Forth and south-southeast of St Andrews. The town comprises two settlements, Anstruther Eas ...
.


Members of Parliament


Election results


Elections in the 2010s

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 Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came ...
, where the party did not stand) and also had the smallest Labour share of the vote in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
, 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 Marginal may refer to: * ''Marginal'' (album), the third album of the Belgian rock band Dead Man Ray, released in 2001 * ''Marginal'' (manga) * '' El Marginal'', Argentine TV series * Marginal seat or marginal constituency or marginal, in polit ...
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 Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...
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


References


Works cited

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fife North East Westminster Parliamentary constituencies in Scotland Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1983 Politics of Fife