A wrap on the highlights of the 2024 election count in Fife
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00:00Now July 4 will go down as the day Fife's political map was changed once again.
00:10The general election saw Labour claim 3 out of the 4 regions 4 seats, with the Lib Dems
00:14tightening their grip on the North East Heartland.
00:18Before the polls opened yesterday Fife had 2 SNP MPs, 1 Alba and 1 Lib Dem.
00:23By 5 o'clock this morning all that had changed.
00:27It was a bad night for SNP, they lost their Glenrothes Heartland seat and redrawn Dunfermline
00:31and the Huller constituency.
00:34And Alba's Neil Hanbury saw his hopes of re-election in Kirkcaldy wiped out as he finished 7th
00:38out of 8 candidates.
00:40He left the count long before the result announcing Melanie Ward as the new MP was made on the
00:45podium.
00:46He shares the poll was the best of the 19 constituencies his party stood in but it still
00:50just came to 2.8%.
00:53The biggest majority of the night went to Wendy Chamberlain who roamed home in North
01:01East Fife to secure a second term at Westminster.
01:04The Lib Dems saw little movement in their vote across constituencies outwith North East
01:08Fife.
01:09As for reform, well they claimed 3rd place in Glenrothes to finish ahead of the Tories
01:14but overall polled between 2,000 to 3,000 votes in each seat.
01:17But the night belonged to the Labourers Melanie Ward, Richard Baker and Graeme Downie and
01:22the Lib Dems Wendy Chamberlain.
02:22And that's Melanie Ward, the Kirkcaldy Labour candidate arriving at the count at 3.30am.
02:36Richard Baker who's in Glenrothes and Graeme Downie from Defermin are both there as well
02:42so all the candidates now on the floor suggest results will be sooner rather than later.
02:52Aye.
02:53So, Ken Burlough, returning officer for Kirkcaldy Region, the Tory constituency, declared the
03:01total number of votes given to each candidate was as follows.
03:05Leslie Blackhouse, 11,414.
03:09Sonia Davidson, 3,128.
03:20Chris O'Donoghue, 1,593.
03:27Jonathan Green, 3,203.
03:33Max Hall, 1,526.
03:38Neil Hanley, 1,132.
03:42Calum John Hall, 126.
03:47Melanie Ward, 18,600.
04:07And there were 106 other people rejected.
04:11Total votes of 40,920.
04:14So therefore, I can put it on the list that Melanie Ward is duly elected to serve as a
04:18Member of Parliament for Kirkcaldy Region and Kirkcaldy constituency.
04:31It is a huge honour to be elected as a Scottish Labour Member of Parliament for Kirkcaldy
04:35Region, Kirkcaldy.
04:36Thank you to you, returning officer, and your team, including everyone working in cooling
04:41stations today.
04:42Thank you to all of the counting staff, and thank you to the police and security staff.
04:47We must never take our democracy for granted, and each of you has played a vital role in
04:53our voting hours.
04:54Thank you to the other candidates, in particular to Neil Hanley, the outgoing MP.
05:00To Neil, I would pay tribute to the commitment with which you served this constituency, and
05:05in particular his diligence in dealing with constituency problems.
05:09I wish him all the very best in future.
05:12I want to say the most enormous thank you to everyone who voted for me across how do
05:17we think about it, and all of our towns and villages.
05:21You have put your trust in me, and I will work tirelessly for you, and for the change
05:27in our communities and our country that is so desperately needed.
05:32To those of you who voted Labour for the first time, or for the first time in a long time,
05:38thank you.
05:40I hope that the months and years ahead will make you glad to have voted Labour, as we
05:45work to deliver the change that you have supported.
05:48And to everyone who voted for a party other than Labour, let me say to you that I will
05:54work to be a voice for you too, as I strive to be an excellent Member of Parliament for
06:00this extraordinary constituency.
06:03Tonight we are going to see an end to Tory rule, an end to chaos and division, and the
06:10first Labour government in 14 years.
06:13A Labour government that will have Scotland at its heart.
06:17As I take my seat in the House of Commons, I will have in mind the wee girls at the YMCA
06:24hub in Gallatin, who eat only one meal a day.
06:28The pensioner I met in County Heath, who had to go back to work because the price of energy
06:33means he and his wife can't afford to make ends meet.
06:37And the nurse specialist at the vet, who told me how much he despairs of the state of our
06:42NHS, and how much change is needed.
06:46Our job is to ensure that life gets better for each of these people, and the thousands
06:52of others across our area of whom they are representative.
06:57This is just the start of delivering the change that Scotland needs.
07:00Under Hannah Starrar's leadership, the work starts now to fix the SNP's mess so that
07:07the people of Scotland have a further opportunity for real change with a Labour Scottish government
07:13in 2026.
07:15In conclusion, I want to say a massive thank you to my excellent agent, Brian Smart, and
07:21to all of my incredible campaign team.
07:25Through rain and shine, you have worked so hard, and I could not have asked for more.
07:30Tonight's results show what is possible when we really pull together.
07:34Finally, thank you from the bottom of my heart to my amazing family, and my husband Stephen
07:40in particular.
07:41This would have been impossible without you.
07:44The next chapter begins now.
07:46Thank you.
07:55Melanie, congratulations, first of all, on becoming MP for Cowdenbeath.
08:01How does it feel?
08:02Thanks, Alan.
08:03I'm absolutely delighted by the result tonight, and as I said in my speech, I feel a real
08:09sense of responsibility.
08:10I know a lot of people who voted for Scottish Labour who maybe haven't voted Labour ever
08:15before, or for a long time, and I feel a huge sense of responsibility to repay that trust
08:20and work really hard for people and deliver on the faith that they've put in me and in
08:24our newly forming Labour government.
08:26It's obviously been a transformational evening for Labour.
08:29Three out of four seats, that's the perfect result for you.
08:33Absolutely.
08:34We're delighted by the result in Fife.
08:35It couldn't have been any better for Labour.
08:38I'm delighted by the result for Scottish Labour as a whole, but really for what that means.
08:42We talked in the campaign about putting Scotland at the heart of a Labour government, and the
08:47fact that the sheer numbers that we're going to have now as well mean that we'll really
08:51be able to deliver on that, and we feel a huge sense of responsibility to make those
08:55words real.
08:56I talked in my speech about child poverty locally in Kirkcaldy.
09:00I talked about a pensioner I met in Cowdenbeath.
09:02I talked about the state of the NHS and the Vic.
09:05We campaigned on those issues.
09:07We're really proud of our positive campaign, but also very aware that we now have to bring
09:10change on those issues.
09:11So, next step tomorrow?
09:13What's the first thing you do?
09:16Work starts now, in effect.
09:17No, exactly.
09:18Straight down to work.
09:20First of all, it's going to be about talking with other new Scottish Labour MPs, working
09:25together to make sure that we're going off down to Westminster next week with a really
09:30clear sense of what we need to deliver for people locally.
09:33The fact that we've got three Scottish Labour MPs in Fife also gives us a great chance to
09:37really fly the flag for Fife.
09:39I talked about that during the campaign, the need to bring investment and a positive future
09:43to people in our area, and so we'll be able to work together to do that.