Dunfermline West (Scottish Parliament constituency)

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**Dunfermline West**
Scottish Parliament county constituency

Dunfermline West shown within the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region
Created:	1999
MSP:	Scott Barrie
Party:	Labour
Council area:	Fife (part)

Dunfermline West 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, 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.

1 Electoral region
2 Constituency boundaries and council area
3 Description of the constituency
4 Election results
5 Footnotes

[edit] Electoral region

The other eight constituencies of the South of Scotland region are Dunfermline East, Fife Central, 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.

[edit] 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^[1]. The Dunfermline West Westminster constituency was merged into Dunfermline and West Fife.

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

Dunfermline East covers a south-western portion of the council area, west of Dunfermline East.

[edit] Description of the constituency

The constituency includes all of the town of Dunfermline and some land on the north bank of the Firth of Forth.

Historically, the town was once Scotland's capital city. Eight kings are buried there, amongst them Robert the Bruce. Today, textiles, engineering and synthetic material manufacturing are the primary industries. The constituency also contains rural areas.

Like its neighbour, Dunfermline East, the constituency is one of Labour’s safest seats in Scotland. In Westminster elections voters in the area have been electing Labour Members of Parliament (MPs) since 1935. Labour support is not quite so solid, however, as it is in Dunfermline East.

[edit] Election results

Scottish parliamentary election, 1999: Dunfermline West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Scott Barrie	13,560	44.21	N/A
	Scottish National Party	Douglas Chapman	8,539	27.84	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Elizabeth Harris	5,591	18.23	N/A
	Conservative	James Mackie	2,981	9.72	N/A
Majority			5,021	16.37
Turnout			30,671
	Labour hold		Swing

Scottish parliamentary election, 2003: Dunfermline West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Scott Barrie	8,644	34.3	-9.9
	Independent Campaign for Local Hospital Services	David Wishart	4,584	18.2	+18.2
	Scottish National Party	Brian Goodall	4,372	17.4	-10.4
	Liberal Democrats	Jim Tolson	3,636	14.4	-3.8
	Conservative	Jim Mackie	1,868	7.4	-2.3
	Scottish Socialist	Andy Jackson	923	3.7	+3.7
	Independent	Alastair Harper	714	2.8	+2.8
	Independent	Damien Quigg	459	1.8	+1.8
Majority			4,080	16.2
Turnout			25,240	46.8
	Labour hold		Swing