New North East Fife MP vows oppose Brexit after win

Ms Chamberlain was speaking just one day after the “surreal” experience sitting across from former Prime Minister Theresa May in the House of Commons – and just five days after she took the seat from former MP Stephen Gethins.

The new MP had described the morning of the count as a “rollercoaster”, citing the disappointment of the results for the party and former Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson losing her seat, the excitement of winning the seat, and the sadness of Mr Gethins losing the seat.

Ms Chamberlain joined the Lib Dems following the 2015 General Election, when the party dropped from 57 MPs to just seven.

“Up until then the party had been the small but effective voice for liberalism,” she explained. “But I felt they had carried the can for the coalition and people like myself had to do more.”

Four years later, and Ms Chamberlain is now in the process of putting together her own team, describing the first few days as “a cross between the first day at school and the first day at work”.

She admits that, while she wanted to be successful in winning the seat, she hoped she would be part of a bigger parliamentary party, and cited issues with the First Past The Post voting system, which saw the party increase its share of the vote, but lose one seat.

“We will continue to oppose Brexit, particularly for an area like North East Fife,” she added. “There is no reason to believe it will be anything but bad.”

As well as Brexit, Ms Chamberlain says there are two areas she would like to get more involved in.

“I’m interested in children and education,” she said. “I’m also interested in sport and participation.

“There are children not getting that and it’s about how we get them involved.”

Ms Chamberlain won the seat by more than 1300 votes and thanked the people of North East Fife for their support.

She added: “I believe we have an effective team in North East Fife and I look forward to working with MSP Willie Rennie and the local councillors.”