Dunfermline East (UK Parliament constituency)

Dunfermline East
Former Burgh constituency for the House of Commons
Major settlements	Cowdenbeath
1983–2005
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath Dunfermline & West Fife Glenrothes
Created from	Central Fife Dunfermline

Dunfermline East was a burgh constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system.

The constituency was created for the 1983 general election from parts of the seats of Central Fife and Dunfermline. It was abolished for the 2005 general election as part of a major revision in the composition of parliamentary constituencies in Scotland.

Most of Dunfermline East and its neighbouring constituency Kirkcaldy now make up the new seat of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. The remaining parts of the seat were moved to the new Dunfermline and West Fife and Glenrothes constituencies.

The constituency's name was something of a misnomer as it never actually included any part of the town of Dunfermline. Cowdenbeath was the largest town in the constituency.

Boundaries

1983-1997: The Dunfermline District electoral divisions of Aberdour/Dalgety Bay/North Queensferry, Ballingry/Lochore, Cowdenbeath/Gray Park, Dunfermline/Rosyth, Hill of Beath/Crossgates/Cowdenbeath, Inverkeithing/Rosyth, Kelty/Lumphinnans, and Lochgelly, and the Kirkcaldy District electoral division of Auchterderran.

1997-2005: The Dunfermline District electoral divisions of Aberdour and Mossside, Benarty and Lumphinans, Cowdenbeath, Dalgety Bay, Inverkeithing and North Queensferry, Kelty, Lochgelly, and Rosyth East and South, and the Kirkcaldy District electoral division of Cardenden and Kinglassie.

Members of Parliament

The constituency's only MP was Gordon Brown of the Labour Party, who was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1992 to 1997 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1997 to 2007, when he became Prime Minister.

Election		Member[1]	Party
	1983	Gordon Brown	Labour

Elections of the 1980s

General Election 1983: Dunfermline East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gordon Brown	18,515	51.5	N/A
	Liberal	David Traill Harcus	7,214	20.1	N/A
	Conservative	Clive Shenton	6,764	18.8	N/A
	SNP	George Allan Hunter	2,573	7.2	N/A
	Communist	Alex Maxwell	864	2.4	N/A
Majority			11,301	31.4	N/A
Turnout			35,930	72.0	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

General Election 1987: Dunfermline East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gordon Brown	25,381	64.5	+13.0
	Conservative	Clive Shenton	5,792	14.8	−4.0
	Liberal	Elizabeth Bruce Anderson Harris	4,122	10.5	−9.6
	SNP	Mrs. Alice McGarry	3,901	10.0	+2.8
Majority			19,589	50.0
Turnout			39,196	76.6	+4.6
	Labour hold		Swing	+8.5

Elections of the 1990s

General Election 1992: Dunfermline East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gordon Brown	23,692	62.4	−3.1
	Conservative	Mark E. Tennant	6,248	16.5	+1.7
	SNP	John V. Lloyd	5,746	15.1	+5.1
	Liberal Democrat	Mrs. Teresa Martin Little	2,262	6.0	−4.5
Majority			17,444	45.9
Turnout			37,948	75.6	−1.0
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.4

General Election 1997: Dunfermline East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gordon Brown	24,441	66.8	+4.4
	SNP	John James Ramage	5,690	15.6	+0.5
	Conservative	Iain Grant Mitchell	3,656	10.0	−6.5
	Liberal Democrat	Jim Tolson	2,164	5.9	−0.1
	Referendum	Thomas Dunsmore	632	1.7	N/A
Majority			18,751	51.2
Turnout			36,583	69.6	−7.0
	Labour hold		Swing	2.0

Elections of the 2000s

General Election 2001: Dunfermline East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gordon Brown	19,487	64.8	−2.0
	SNP	Johnny Joseph James Mellon	4,424	14.7	−0.8
	Conservative	Stuart Roy Randall	2,838	9.4	−0.6
	Liberal Democrat	John Maciver Mainland	2,281	7.6	+1.7
	Scottish Socialist	Andrew Jackson	770	2.6	N/A
	UKIP	Thomas Dunsmore	286	1.0	N/A
Majority			15,063	50.1
Turnout			30,086	57.0	−13.2
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.6

References

1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 4)