Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy
Scotland · County constituency · Fife
About the Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy constituency
Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy is a county constituency in Scotland. The sitting MP is Melanie Ward (Labour), MP since July 2024. At the 2024 general election, Labour won with 45.7% to 28.0% for the SNP, a majority of 7,248 votes on a 56.8% turnout. PollCheck's current projection, at the seven-poll average, has the SNP on 32.2% and Labour on 31.1%, a margin of 1.1 points - a projected change of hands from Labour.
Who lives in Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy? Constituency demographics
From Scotland's 2022 Census and 2016 EU referendum estimates. Constituency-level data on 2024 boundaries.
How did Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy vote in 2024 and how would it vote now?
2024 vote shares from the HoC Library. Current projection is at the 7-poll average.
2024 general election
Current projection
Map of Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy
Switch between GE2024 ward winners (modelled estimates, ~4pp average error) and a demographic view from Scotland's 2022 Census. Hover any area for detail. How the map is built ›
How Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy voted at the Scottish Parliament election (7 May 2026)
Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy crosses multiple Holyrood boundaries (approximate share of the seat's area in each): Kirkcaldy (49%), Cowdenbeath (46%), Dunfermline (3%). Scotland uses the Additional Member System: voters cast one ballot for a constituency MSP and a second for a regional list. The figures below are the constituency vote.
| Holyrood constituency | Approx. share of Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy's area | Winner | Runner-up | Elected MSP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kirkcaldy | 49% | SNP 43.3% | Labour 26.5% | David Torrance |
| Cowdenbeath | 46% | SNP 44.3% | Labour 23.3% | David Barratt |
| Dunfermline | 3% | SNP 41.6% | Labour 25.7% | Shirley-Anne Somerville |
Holyrood 2026 constituency results from official declarations. Overlap percentages are approximate shares of the Westminster seat's land area, not of its electorate. They come from an area overlay of the post-2024 Westminster boundary on simplified Holyrood second-review boundaries (in force from 7 May 2026), so they do not always sum to 100% and small overlaps may be artefacts of the simplified boundaries.
Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy within Fife
Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy sits entirely within Fife Council. Fife was not due to vote in 2026, so the figures below are the most recent ward results with vote counts available. About this layer ›
Council overlap
| Council | Share of seat |
|---|---|
| Fife | 100% |
Most recent council ward results
Latest council result per ward, from the most recent election with vote counts available. How this table is sourced ›
Scottish council wards elect several councillors each by STV, so for these wards the table shows first preferences, not seats: the party with the most first-preference votes and each other party's share. 2022 figures are from the official cast-vote records.
| Ward | GE2024 winner | Latest council first preferences | Shift since GE2024 | Turnout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burntisland, Kinghorn and Western Kirkcaldy | Labour 45.6%vs SNP 30.3% | 2022 SNP 37.8%Labour 29.4%, Conservative 21.0%, Green 5.7%, Lib Dem 3.5%, Others 2.5% | - | 35.5% |
| Cowdenbeath | Labour 51.9%vs SNP 30.3% | 2022 Labour 38.0%SNP 36.6%, Conservative 18.9%, Green 2.5%, Others 2.5%, Lib Dem 1.4% | - | 15.7% |
| Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay | Labour 37.5%vs SNP 32.9% | 2022 SNP 38.8%Conservative 29.2%, Labour 18.5%, Green 8.2%, Lib Dem 4.0%, Others 1.2% | - | 53.0% |
| Kirkcaldy Central | Labour 53.5%vs SNP 28.1% | 2022 Labour 41.6%SNP 37.9%, Conservative 13.6%, Green 4.5%, Lib Dem 2.5% | - | 40.1% |
| Kirkcaldy East | Labour 52.4%vs SNP 29.5% | 2022 SNP 40.3%Labour 39.7%, Conservative 11.7%, Green 4.3%, Lib Dem 2.9%, Others 1.0% | - | 36.1% |
| Kirkcaldy North | Labour 49.5%vs SNP 27.7% | 2022 Labour 39.0%SNP 38.9%, Conservative 15.3%, Green 4.0%, Others 2.8% | - | 41.3% |
| Lochgelly and Cardenden | Labour 52.5%vs SNP 35.6% | No council data | - | - |
| Rosyth | Labour 47.4%vs SNP 30.2% | 2022 SNP 39.4%Labour 26.3%, Conservative 16.8%, Lib Dem 6.5%, Others 5.9%, Green 5.2% | - | 41.3% |
Projection trajectory
PollCheck's projection for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy at each of the last 60 GB polls. Hover the chart for the underlying poll details.
Who has won Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy at past general elections?
2024 and notional 2019 rows are on current boundaries; 2010-2017 rows are on the boundaries in force at the time. More on boundaries ›
| Year | Result | MP | Lab | Con | LD | SNP | Majority | Turnout |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010predecessor | Lab hold | Gordon Brown Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP | 64.5% | 9.3% | 9.3% | 14.3% | 23,009 | 62.3% |
| 2015predecessor | SNP gain from Lab | Roger Mullin Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP | 33.4% | 9.9% | 2.2% | 52.2% | 9,974 | 69.6%+7.3 |
| 2017predecessor | Lab gain from SNP | Lesley Laird Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP | 36.8% | 23.3% | 2.4% | 36.3% | 259 | 63.5%-6.1 |
| 2019notional | Scottish National Party winner | Neale Hanvey Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP, pre-review boundary | 29.5% | 22.2% | 6.5% | 36.3% | 3,220 | 67.0% |
| 2024 | Lab gain from SNP | Melanie Ward | 45.7% | 7.8% | 3.9% | 28.0% | 7,248 | 56.8%-10.2 |
Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy was created or substantially redrawn by the 2023 boundary review. Pre-2024 rows below are for the predecessor seat Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (the seat that covered most of this area), so vote shares and majorities aren’t directly comparable to the post-2024 figures.
Constituencies most like Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy
Five seats with similar demographic profiles to Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy. Politics shown for context.
- ↑Graduate43.6 / 44.1vs 33.7
- ↓Leave43.4 / 43.3vs 53.2
- ↓Private rent11.1 / 10.6vs 20.2
- ↓Leave43.4 / 41.6vs 53.2
- ↓Private rent11.1 / 9.9vs 20.2
- ↑Graduate43.6 / 42.3vs 33.7
- ↓Leave43.4 / 39.5vs 53.2
- ↓Private rent11.1 / 9.8vs 20.2
- ↑Graduate43.6 / 40.2vs 33.7
- ↓Leave43.4 / 42.4vs 53.2
- ↓Private rent11.1 / 9.7vs 20.2
- ↑Graduate43.6 / 42.1vs 33.7
- ↑Graduate43.6 / 43.6vs 33.7
- ↓Leave43.4 / 45.0vs 53.2
- ↓Private rent11.1 / 13.0vs 20.2
What would change this seat?
Move the sliders to set national vote shares. The per-seat projection updates live. Reset returns to the current 7-poll average.
Related
Sources
Every figure on this page is computed from the sources below. Read the full methodology ›
Show full source list
- 2024 general election results · UK Parliament Election Results portal and House of Commons Library briefing CBP-10009.
- Notional 2019 results on 2024 boundaries · UK Parliament Election Results portal. Recalculated by Parliament; carries assumptions about how 2019 voters would have distributed across the redrawn boundaries.
- Historic general election results (2010-2017) · House of Commons Library historic results files (on the boundaries in force at the time).
- Ward-level GE2024 estimates · Britain Elects / New Statesman - article by Ben Walker, underlying spreadsheet. Modelled from constituency totals; average ~4pp per-ward MoE.
- May 2026 council ward results · Democracy Club via PollCheck's locals 2026 dataset.
- Earlier council ward results (2014-2024) · DCLEAPIL v1.0 (Jason Leman, drawing on Andrew Teale's LEAP dataset and Democracy Club).
- Demographics · ONS Census 2021 (England and Wales), aggregated to constituency level using the ONS LSOA21 -> PCON24 best-fit lookup.
- EU referendum 2016 estimates · Constituency-level Leave vote estimates (Hanretty 2017 method).
- MP details and Cabinet roles · UK Parliament Members API. MP photos are fetched live from the same source.
- Boundary geometry and lookups · ONS Open Geography Portal (PCON24 boundaries, LSOA21 boundaries, LSOA21-WD24-LAD24 best-fit lookup).
- Current projection and trajectory · PollCheck's demographic model at the rolling 7-poll average from aggregated GB polls, built from the British Election Study Internet Panel (Fieldhouse et al.), Census 2021 (ONS) and Scotland's Census 2022 (NRS). The trajectory was recalculated with the current model, introduced in autumn 2026.
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