Central Fife (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Central Fife (UK Parliament constituency).

Central Fife
Former county constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Central Fife shown within the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Former constituency
Created	1999
Abolished	2011
Council area	Fife

Central Fife was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. Also, however, 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.

The former First Minister Henry McLeish represented the constituency from 1999 to 2003.

From the Scottish Parliament election, 2011, Central Fife was redrawn and renamed Mid Fife and Glenrothes.

Electoral region

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

The other eight initial constituencies of the Mid Scotland and Fife region were; Dunfermline East, Dunfermline West, Fife North East, Kirkcaldy, Ochil, Perth, Stirling and Tayside North.

The region covers all of the Clackmannanshire council area, all of the Fife council area, all of the Perth and Kinross council area, all of the Stirling council area and parts of the Angus council area.

Constituency boundaries and council area

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. Most of the Fife Central Westminster constituency was merged into the Glenrothes constituency.

The Holyrood constituency of Central Fife was one of five Mid Scotland and Fife constituencies covering the Fife council area, the others being Dunfermline East, Dunfermline West, Fife North East and Kirkcaldy. All are entirely within the council area.

Fife Central covered a central portion of the council area, south-west of Fife North East, north of Kirkcaldy, and north-west of Dunfermline East.

Constituency profile

The constituency included the new town of Glenrothes and the industrial ports of Leven and Methil. The main industries in this region were once coal and linoleum, but nowadays Glenrothes is a centre for the electronics and off-shore oil industries.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1999	Henry McLeish	Labour
	2003	Christine May
	2007	Tricia Marwick	Scottish National Party
	2011	Constituency abolished; see Mid Fife and Glenrothes

Election results

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Central Fife

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Tricia Marwick	11,920	44.2	+13.6
	Labour	Christine May	10,754	39.9	−1.5
	Liberal Democrats	Elizabeth Riches	2,288	8.5	+1.8
	Conservative	Maurice Golden	2,003	7.4	+0.4
Majority			1,166	4.3	N/A
Turnout			26,965	46.3	+1.9
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing	+7.6

2003 Scottish Parliament election: Central Fife

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Christine May	10,591	41.4	−15.9
	SNP	Tricia Marwick	7,829	30.6	−0.3
	Independent	Andrew Rodger	2,258	8.8	New
	Conservative	James North	1,803	7.0	+1.2
	Liberal Democrats	Elizabeth Riches	1,725	6.7	+0.8
	Scottish Socialist	Morag Balfour	1,391	5.4	New
Majority			2,762	10.8	−15.6
Turnout			25,597	44.4
	Labour hold		Swing	-15.9

1999 Scottish Parliament election: Central Fife

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Henry McLeish	18,828	57.31	N/A
	SNP	Tricia Marwick	10,153	30.91	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Jane Ann Liston	1,953	5.94	N/A
	Conservative	Keith Harding	1,918	5.84	N/A
Majority			8,675	26.40	N/A
Turnout			32,852
	Labour win (new seat)