Election: SNP's David Torrance on a lifetime in politics: ‘I love this job'

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. Next week he will be at the count watching every box as it is emptied, and his team will be crunching the numbers to see if there is to be a fourth successive term.

Confident? “I’m never confident in politics,” he said. “The canvassing returns tell me we are doing well, but I am still nervous. The last week is a long time in politics!”

The election throws ReformUK into the mix for the first time, and a Labour Party faced with a UK Government struggling to make headway - “Starmer is doing Labour no favours, he can stay in post as long as he wants!”

But, David is also part of an SNP which has been in power now for almost 20 years. Opposition parties have all been banging the ‘time for change’ drum

“On Scotland’s Side” is the party’s campaign slogan, with a raft of pledges on climate, child poverty and a package of new measures to tackle the cost of living including a cap the price of food essentials like bread, milk and eggs, the creation of a new housing agency, and simplification of the income tax system.

There is a commitment to cut hospital waiting time,s and spend £200m a year on increasing the number of operations, with a new walk-in GP practice coming to Fife - exactly where has yet to be confirmed - to help end the 8:00am GOP appointment rush.

They will increase the number of apprenticeships to 150,000 over the next five years, while ‘welcome to school’ bags will be given to all P1 pupils, including books, stationery and water bottles.

And the SNP are adamant - a majority on May 7 will be a mandate for a referendum on independence, possibly by 2028.

And that would take the Kirkcaldy MSP full circle.

His entry into politics was the 1979 devolution vote where hopes of independence were ended when the turnout of yes voters didn’t meet the 40% threshold.

“I was 18 and it was my first vote,” said David. “We won but the 40% rule meant we could never win. I came out of the polling station and watched the results coming in, and knew we’d been conned.I became political then, and there was only one party I was going to join, to the dismay of my family who were Labour!” The SNP were small in number back then - even by 1988 there were still just two nationalists councillors in Fife, and the number remained in single figures by 1999.

“The party is huge now and a very different organisation,” he said. “The creation of the Scottish Parliament showed us where we could go. Our identity as a country came on the back of it - a whole new national feeling emerged.”

David, an engineer, served as a councillor from 1995 before stepping up to contest the Scottish elections in 2011, ousting Labour’s Marilyn Livingstone by those 182 votes.

“I’d swapped wards as a councillor so I’d represented half the town by then,” he recalled. “We also had a great team that was out every day.” Fast forward 15 years, and the campaign is in full swing once more.

“We started in January, but really stepped up these past six weeks. We engage with people - that‘s key - and it has been very positive when we speak to folk.

“I do 240 surgeries a year at 24 locations - Monday, Friday, Saturday - and I am in communities all the time and make myself available. We have an open door policy at my office where you can come and speak to my team, and we are in the town centre. I am here to represent people.” Issues on the doorstep are a mix of local and national - feedback shared by all the candidates.

“The NHS and education are coming up time and again,” said David.

“The biggest local issue is Kirkcaldy’s £20million, and what is happening with it. That has really engaged people. It will be a big missed opportunity if it is not used well.”

If the SNP secure a majority - and the polls suggest they will be the biggest party but the numbers vary, placing a question mark over the final composition - then the Kirkcaldy politician believes a referendum simply has to follow.

He described the 2014 independence campaign as “electrifying” - “it engaged the population in a way no other vote has ever done, everyone got involved” - and added: “It will be really interesting to see what happens in Wales and Northern Ireland. If they end up with votes which back parties supporting independence then the UK Government will be in a difficult position in that it really can’t to refuse a referendum.

On the NHS he points to Scotland doing better than other parts of the UK, despite continued pressures on services, and the need to realign resources to handle a growing elderly population.

He is confident the new walk-in clinic will ease some of the pressure on GP surgeries and, by default, A&E where people are going instead.

And if he makes it back to Holyrood, David is happy to stay on the back benches and get on with his job as a constituency MSP.

“I’m able to go to any community event, and engage with people through surgeries. Whether that’s a summer fete, gala, coffee morning - I love all of that. I love this job.”