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Morag Balfour |
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| Scottish Socialist Party |
The SSP candidate is Morag Balfour who was born in 1973 and lives in Glenrothes. She was elected a national co-chair of the SSP in March 2006. She was the SSP's Peace and Disarmament spokesperson, Regional Chair of Mid-Scotland & Fife SSP. She is also a Quaker and a member of the Iona Community. She was on the Executive of Scottish CND and was actively involved in Trident Ploughshares. She has taken part in numerous demos against war in Iraq. In her teens, Morag worked with one of the poorest communities in the USA. She has since worked as a support group facilitator for chronic pain sufferers. As well as her anti-nuclear work, Morag was a campaigner against the proposed landfill site at the former Westfield opencast. Away from politics, Morag has a keen interest in geology and the magical works of J.K. Rowling.
During one of Sarah Brown's visits to Glenrothes, Ms Balfour, who is disabled and a wheelchair user, stated that a Labour minder whacked her in the stomach and that part of the incident had been captured on camera by a Newsnight team. Journalists were also threatened with violence by out-of-control Labour minders.
Recent electoral experience
2007 Fife Council election, Glenrothes North, Leslie & Markinch, 114 first preference votes (1.67 %)
2005 Westminster Parliament election, Glenrothes, 705 votes (1.89 %)
2003 Scottish Parliament election, Central Fife, 1,391 votes (5.43 %)
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Maurice Golden |
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| Conservative & Unionist |
Maurice is 28 years of age and lives in Newport-on-Tay in Fife. He is an Environmental Campaigns Manager for Keep Scotland Beautiful and firmly believes we must continue to reduce, re-use and recycle our waste. Maurice joined the Conservative Party in 1997 and has previously served as Chairman of the Dundee University Students' Conservative and Unionist Association. In addition, Maurice was President of Conservative Future Scotland for three years. Outside of work, Maurice enjoys playing football, travelling and writing. He has lectured in 'Policing the early Nineteenth Century' and has produced Research Papers in the diverse fields of History and Environmental Law.
Maurice is a graduate of Dundee University. In 2004, he was editor of the Dundee University Student Times, which obtained the nickname 'Life in Dundee according to Maurice Golden'. In 2006 he was on the short list for Tory candidate in the Dunfermline & West Fife by-election and was described by Fife Tory leader Cllr Stuart Randall as 'the token male'. In 2007, he contested Central Fife, coming fourth.
Recent electoral experience.
2007 Scottish Parliament election, Central Fife, 2,003 votes (7.43 %)
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Cllr Peter Grant |
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| Scottish National Party |
Cllr Peter Grant has lived in Fife for 25 years, and is currently the Leader of Fife Council, which shares administration with the Liberal Democrats. He is aged 48 and lives locally in Glenrothes. After 16 years as a local councillor (representing the Glenrothes West & Kinglassie ward), he is now leader of Fife Council.
Peter won his first council election in 1992, and became the first non-Labour leader of Fife Council last year. He has been credited with turning around Fife Council, has an excellent track record as a local campaigner, and was one of the driving forces behind the SNP campaign to scrap Forth and Tay bridge tolls. He has spent much of his working life in the public sector, initially training as a teacher before going on to work in several public sector finance positions.
He is married to local GP and fellow SNP councillor, Fiona Grant.
Cllr Grant said: "I am delighted to have been selected to fight the by-election, and am looking forward to the campaign. The SNP is working hard to earn the support of the people of Scotland and to make Scotland a better place for us all. I've lived and worked in Fife, and understand what Fife has to offer and what it needs to take the next step forward. A vote for the SNP sends a clear message to the Government in London - that they have to act on rising household bills. London only listens when the SNP win - it's Fife's turn now."
Central Fife MSP Tricia Marwick commented: "The SNP has worked hard to deliver on what matters to the people of Scotland and has done what it can to address the concerns of hard working families over the cost of living, rising household bills, crime, healthcare and opportunity. Peter has campaigned for years on local issues such as tolls on the Forth and Tay bridges, now abolished by the SNP. Fife Council, led by Peter Grant, has frozen the council tax, after it had risen by 61% under Labour. Peter is ready and able to be the new, powerful voice that speaks up for the needs of the local community at Westminster."
Leader of the SNP Alex Salmond added: "Last month the voters of Glasgow East sent a message to the Labour government in London and they got results - a freeze on the planned 2 p increase in fuel duty. It's not enough but it's a start and shows what can be achieved if we stand together and make our voices heard. We're doing what we can in Scotland to make life a little easier. The UK Government, by contrast, has stood aside and done nothing. Labour are out of touch in Fife, Scotland and Westminster. The SNP are moving Fife and Scotland forward."
Council positions
2007 - Leader of Fife Council
Recent electoral experience
2007 Fife Council election, Glenrothes West & Kinglassie, 1,835 First preference votes, (27.87 %) (elected)
2003 Fife Council election, Caskieberran & Rimbleton, 883 votes (48.68 %) (elected)
1999 Fife Council election, Caskieberran & Rimbleton, 1,157 votes (53.66 %) (elected)
1995 Fife Council election, Rimbleton/Viewfield, 707 votes (52.64 %) (elected)
1992 Fife District Council election (elected)
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Louise McLeary |
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| Solidarity |
Louise McLeary is from Kirkcaldy and is member of the Kirkcaldy branch of Solidarity, but she lives in the Glenrothes constituency. She is a volunteer with a drugs agency. Louise McLeary was arrested along with Felicity Garvie and Morag Balfour at a blockade of Faslane submarine base in October 2001. She was originally ranked eighth on the SSP's Mid Scotland & Fife list for the 2007 election but subsequently joined Solidarity, and was fourth on their list. Solidarity co-chair, Tommy Sheridan described her "a passionate and committed campaigner for the socialist cause".
Recent electoral experience
2007 Scottish Parliament election, fourth on Solidarity's Mid Scotland and Fife list, 2,468 votes (0.90 %)
2007 Fife Council election, Kirkcaldy North, 109 First preference votes (1.93 %)
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Jim Parker |
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| Scottish Senior Citizens' Unity Party |
Jim Parker is 70. He is married with four grown-up children. Educated at Freuchie Primary school and Bell-Baxter Senior Secondary School in Cupar, he went on to study at Heriot-Watt University. He has spent fifty years working in the mining industry, 30 years with the National Coal Board as miner, surveyor and manager,and a further 20 years as Consultant Engineer providing technical and financial assistance to mining and civil engineering projects in the UK and overseas. (Australia; Philippines; Indonesia; China; Nigeria; Canada). "Although I retired four years ago, I am still involved in my longstanding wish to see a rejuvenated mining industry in Britain, especially Scotland. To that end I am the 'leading light' in a consortium of mineworkers and businessmen, which continues to work for the re-opening of several collieries in Fife and Lothians."
Recent electoral experience
2007 Scottish Parliament election, First on SSCUP Mid Scotland & Fife list, 5,523 votes (2.02 %)
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Lindsay Roy CBE |
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| Labour |
Lindsay Roy CBE is 59 years old and became the rector of Kirkcaldy High School, Gordon Brown's old school, earlier this year. As in Glasgow East, Labour had problems finding a candidate with Roy only being selected after several leading Labour politicians had turned down the nomination. The names mentioned included former First Minister the Rt Hon Henry Mcleish, former Central Fife MSP Christine May, and two Mid Scotland & Fife MSPs, John Park and Claire Baker. The former Scottish Labour General Secretary and leader of the Labour group on Fife Council, Alex Rowley, also refused to stand, as did Dunfermline Cllr Willie Sullivan. The Labour Cllr for Lochgelly & Cardenden, Mark Hood and the Labour Cllr for Glenrothes North, Leslie & Markinch, Cllr Kay Morrison were also mentioned. However, Labour's Scottish Executive Committee excluded Cllr Morrison from the shortlist, which included Colin Davidson, a teacher at Bell High School, and Kenzia Dugdale, a researcher for Labour heavyweight, the Rt Hon Lord Foulkes of Doon Valley, MSP.
Lindsay Roy CBE is a former head teacher at Inverkeithing High School and served as president of the Headteachers' Association of Scotland. He is also lay schools inspector and a Rotarian. He has been a member of the Labour Party for 20 years and was appointed CBE in 2004 for services to Scottish education. He said: "I am delighted and honoured to be selected to fight this seat. I will work hard for every vote because I have seen myself the huge difference that Labour has made to our communities in Fife."
Ministerial positions
None
Party positions
None
Recent electoral experience
None
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Dr Kris Seunarine |
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| UK Independence Party |
Dr Seunarine, who lives in Wemyss with his wife Mary and is a specialist in the science of biophotonics at Dundee University, is Chairman of Fife Branch of UKIP. He says: "I am looking forward to the opportunity to show the Glenrothes voters how everyone, not only in Glenrothes but the whole of the UK, will be better off when the UK is free from the ever increasing costs and crippling restrictions of the European Union. The recent closures of post offices are just another example of how the EU controls more and more areas of our lives, something the main parties are afraid to talk about." Dr Seunarine added: "It is interesting to watch the Labour Party's in-fighting in Glenrothes. Where once candidates would have been fighting to be selected for this 'safe seat', they are now fighting not to be selected as they don't want to be seen as the fall guy."
Dr Seunarine stood in Buckhaven, Methil & Wemyss Villages at the 2007 Fife Council election, coming eleventh out of twelve candidates with 0.5 % of the first preference votes.
Recent electoral experience
2007 Fife Council election, Buckhaven, Methil & Wemyss Villages, 32 first preference votes (0.52 %)
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Harry Wills |
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| Liberal Democrat |
Harry Wills was born in September 1947. He worked as the manager of a printing company and is a former trade union negotiator.
He is a former Chief Executive of several Fife and Tayside Companies and is a former Chamber of Commerce 'Business Man of the Year'. In the 1970s he was the chairman of Cathcart Liberal association and contested the constituency twice.
Harry Wills said: "I want to be a hardworking MP fighting for Fife, taking up the concerns of people across the area. As the local MP I will keep in touch with local people all year round and hold regular advice surgeries across the towns and surrounding villages. I will be a strong local champion for our local communities across Glenrothes. I will speak out on the issues that matter to local people such as the levels of crime, especially anti-social behaviour, tackling the spiralling cost of living and I will fight for more local jobs within the local communities. I will be a full-time MP for this area, living and working in its communities and fighting to safeguard local services.Local people are feeling let down by Gordon Brown's Labour Government, that is out of touch and has forgotten the people of Fife.
"Many local people were hit by the Labour Government when they doubled the 10p tax rate, whereas the Liberal Democrats are planning to cut the basic rate of income tax. Equally local people are getting fed up of the broken promises by the SNP in Edinburgh. At Westminster the SNP are irrelevant. The Scottish Liberal Democrat campaign is already off to a flying start we already have a headquarters in Markinch and will campaign in every part of the constituency. Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg will be visiting the area."
Harry Wills was ranked eleventh on the Lib Dem Mid Scotland & Fife list for the 2003 Scottish Parliamentary elections. He also stood for Glenrothes North, Leslie & Markinch at the 2007 council elections, coming sixth with 6 % of the first preference votes.
Recent electoral experience
As a Liberal Democrat candidate:
2007 Fife Council election, Glenrothes North, Leslie & Markinch, 411 first preference votes (6.00 %)
2003 Scottish Parliament election, Eleventh on Lib Dem Mid Scotland & Fife, 30,112 votes (12.04 %)
As a Liberal candidate:
1979 Westminster Parliament election, Glasgow Cathcart, 2,042 votes (5.35 %)
October 1974 Westminster Parliament election, Glasgow Cathcart, 1,058 votes (2.77 %) |
