Election: David Torrance chalks up fourth Kirkcaldy win as Labour holds off ReformUK
David Torrance has won a fourth term at the Scottish Parliament after comfortably holding his Kirkcaldy seat.
The SNP politician saw his majority fall marginally, but it was still a solid win as he polled 12,330 votes.
Labour’ Claire Baker also put clear daylight between her and ReformUK’s Julie MacDougall to finish second on 74383.
Reform, standing in the constituency for the first time, polled 5484, leaving the scraps for the Lib Dems’ Fraser Graham on 1607 and Heather Greig (Conservatives) on 1445.
It was Mr Torrance’s fourth win in a row.
He went down in SNP folklore as the man who secured the party a majority at Holyrood that was simply not meant to happen. The 2011 election saw the party scoop 64 seats at Holyrood, and Mr Torrance’s 0.6% Lang Toun winning margin didn’t just end Labour’s hold on the constituency, it delivered a 65th seat and a historic overall majority for the late Alex Salmond.
Any notion this would become a marginal seat was quashed in 2016 when he won with a majority of 7395, while in 2021 the gap extended to 7831.
That fell to 6746, but the seat remains solidly in the hands of the SNP.
Mr Torrance said: “This is a job I have loved and cherished. It is a real privilege to walk through the doors of the Scottish Parliament to represent this town.”