GE2015: Dunfermline & West Fife

SNP celebrate a historic night.

SNP take Dunfermline & West Fife from Scottish Labour with a majority of 10,352.

The Result

A massive win for the Douglas Chapman and the SNP in Dunfermline & West Fife, taking 50.3% of the votes, that's a gain of 39.6% compared to 2010. Departing Scottish Labour MP Thomas Docherty, on the other hand, saw his tally drop by 14.5%. James Reekie of the Scottish Conservatives was upbeat about his haul of nearly 12%, he'd set himself a clear target of a rise in overall votes, and he managed that with a gain of 5.1% compared to the last General Election. Scottish Lib Dem candidate Gillian Cole-Hamilton only managed 4%, a massive drop of 31.1% from 2010.  Ms Cole was not on hand for the final result. And for The Greens' first time contesting this seat, 19 year old Lewis Campbell took 2.1%.
 
 

Breakdown

Douglas Chapman SNP 28, 096
Thomas Docherty Scottish Labour 17, 744
James Reekie Scottish Conservatives 6, 623
Gillian Cole-Hamilton Scottish Liberal Democrats 2, 232
Lewis Campbell Scottish Green Party 1, 195

TURNOUT

VOTES CAST

 

71.7%

55, 890

Who is Douglas Chapman?

He is 60 and married to a primary teacher with two adult children. Douglas has lived in Dunfermline for 25 years. He grew up in West Lothian, attending West Calder High. He admits he does not have a huge amount of time for hobbies, but loves politics. Douglas is also an "active Hibs fan", enjoys cooking and reading fiction. This is his fourth time he's stood for Westminster. Douglas has completed professional qualifications in personnel management at Napier University, Edinburgh. He's worked for 26 years before getting involved in politics, mostly at TSB Scotland in branch banking, then personnel management. He then worked for Bruce Crawford MSP for six years, covering Shadow Minister responsibilities in Transport, Energy and the Environment. Douglas won his first Council by-election in Rosyth 1997, losing his seat in 2003, but regained it in 2007 and has been a Councillor since. Mr Chapman was education spokesman when the SNP controlled Fife Council. Since 2012 he's been the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities' Spokesperson for Education, Children and Young People.

 

As the new MP for Dunfermline & West Fife, Mr Chapman also said: "I want to be the very best MP Dunfermline & West Fife have ever had.  I'm very, very expectant that the SNP will play a major role in the Westminster system and make sure we get the very best for the Scottish people out of that system.
 
"We need to make sure that public services in Scotland are protected.  We've seen severe cuts in a lot of services to date and it's how we use our influence at Westminster to reverse these cuts, how these services are protected." 
 
Defeat for Thomas Docherty
 
 
After the declaration, Mr Docherty made a very brief statement: 
 
Background - The Constituency
 
Labour’s Thomas Docherty won the seat in 2010 with 22, 639 votes or 46.3% vote, but his majority fell by 1.1%. The Lib Dem’s Willie Rennie lost the seat coming second with 17, 169 votes. The SNP followed with 5, 201 votes, with the Conservatives coming fourth and UKIP fifth.
 
 

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