Kirkcaldy (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Kirkcaldy (Parliament of Scotland constituency) or Kirkcaldy (UK 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
Population	78,351 (2019)[1]
Current constituency
Created	1999
Party	Scottish National Party
MSP	David Torrance
Council area	Fife

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

Electoral region

See also: Mid Scotland and Fife (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

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

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]

• Burntisland, Kinghorn and Western Kirkcaldy
• Buckhaven, Methil and Wemyss Villages
• Kirkcaldy Central
• Kirkcaldy East
• Kirkcaldy North

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1999	Marilyn Livingstone	Labour
	2011	David Torrance	SNP

Election results

Kirkcaldy election results 1999-2021

2020s

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
	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 Incumbent member for this constituency Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency

2010s

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
	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 Incumbent member for this constituency 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
	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 Incumbent member for this constituency

2000s

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

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)