2006 Dunfermline and West Fife by-election

Dunfermline and West Fife by-election

← 2005 9 February 2006 2010 →
Dunfermline and West Fife parliamentary seat
First party Second party   Candidate Willie Rennie Catherine Stihler Party Liberal Democrats Labour Popular vote 12,391 10,591 Percentage 35.8% 30.6% Swing 15.6% 16.8%   Third party Fourth party   Con Candidate Douglas Chapman Carrie Ruxton Party SNP Conservative Popular vote 7,261 2,702 Percentage 21.0% 7.8% Swing 2.1% 2.5%
MP before election Rachel Squire Labour Subsequent MP Willie Rennie Liberal Democrats

The Dunfermline and West Fife by-election was held on 9 February 2006, following the death of the sitting Labour MP Rachel Squire, on 6 January. The by-election was the first seat to change hands in the 2005 Parliament, when Willie Rennie won the seat for the Liberal Democrats, gaining it from Labour by 1,800 votes. The BBC reported a swing from Labour to the Liberal Democrats of 16.24%.^[1]

It was the first time Labour had lost a seat at a Westminster by-election in Scotland since the Scottish National Party won the Glasgow Govan by-election in 1988, and the first time Labour had ever lost to the Liberal Democrats, or their predecessors the Liberal Party, in a Scottish Westminster by-election. The by-election took place in the middle of a leadership election for the Liberal Democrats, and the party was perceived in the media to be declining in the polls as a result of negative publicity surrounding the resignation of former leader Charles Kennedy, as well as revelations about the private lives of Mark Oaten and Simon Hughes.

The constituency of Dunfermline and West Fife was first created for the United Kingdom Parliament at the 2005 general election and saw a comfortable Labour win at that election. It was the second Westminster by-election in a Scottish constituency since the 2005 general election. In the 2005 Livingston by-election, Labour retained the seat, with the Scottish National Party second, but 2,680 votes behind. The Livingston constituency lies just across the Firth of Forth from the Dunfermline and West Fife constituency.

Labour gained the seat back at the 2010 general election, with the Liberal Democrats in second place.^[2]