Thomas Docherty (Scottish Labour)
Who is he?
Labour candidate for Dunfermline and West Fife - and the only Fife MP to defend his seat in this election.
Thomas is 40, and lives in Dunfermline with his wife and young children.
In his spare time, he's a member of Dunfermline Round Table, organiser of an annual beer festival, and watches Dunfermline Athletic - his office was based at East End Park.
Working life:
Thomas was Account Director with a communications consultancy, having previously worked for Network Rail, British Nuclear Fuels Limited and as a research assistant to Scott Barrie, the former MSP for Dunfermline West.
He was the Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons and sat on the Administration
and Procedure and Parliamentary Privilege committees for five years.
Thomas drafted the Armed Forces (Prevention of Discrimination) Bill to prohibit discrimination against members of the armed forces in terms of provision of goods and services.
His Parliamentary portfolio includes being part of the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Defence, Armed Forces Bill, and Armed Exports Controls select committees.
Scottish Labour election pledges:
- A fully-costed manifesto to cut the UK's deficit every year and balance the budget as quickly as they can within the next five years.
- To spend a further £2.5 billion on the NHS, most of which would be paid for by a mansion tax on properties worth more than £2 million.
- A minimum wage of more than £8 an hour by 2019.
- Freeze energy bills for two years and give energy regulator Ofgem the power to cut fuel bills by winter.
- No rise in VAT, National Insurance, or basic and higher rates of income tax.
- Access to childcare from 8am-6pm for parents of primary school pupils.
About Dunfermline & West Fife
Dunfermline is officially the second largest settlement in Fife, though some estimates say the town could have more than 50,000 residents, which would make it larger than Kirkcaldy.
Locals consider it a city due to Dunfermline Abbey, which contains the body of King Robert The Bruce.
The only other towns in the constituency are Rosyth, which is heavily reliant on the ship-building industry, and Inverkeithing. The rest is made up of smaller villages such as Blairhall, Cairneyhill, Crossgates, Culross, Oakley, Saline and Valleyfield.
Coal mining used to be the principal employer in the constituency until the industry's collapse in the 1980's, many jobs in the area now come from call centres for major businesses like BSkyB, Lloyds and Nationwide, as well as the large Amazon fulfillment centre.
Philanthropist Andrew Carnegie is from the area, and donated Pittencrieff Park to the community in 1903. Mr Carnegie donated around 90% of his $350 million fortune to good causes, that's around £4.76 billion in today's money. Numerous parts of Dunfermline are named after him.
The town is home to Dunfermline Athletic Football Club, who play in the SPFL League One, after years in the top division.
Appin Crecent, which leads to Dunfermline centre, Edinburgh, and Stirling east bound, and the rest of Fife west bound, has some of the highest recorded levels of air pollution in Scotland.
Peacocks and peahens have had the freedom of Dunfermline since the 1900's, and Pittencrief Park, or The Glen, is now home to a peafowl sanctuary.
The constituency has been a traditional Labour seat, though the Liberal Democrat's Willie Rennie won a by-election for the seat in 2006 following the death of Rachael Squire. He later lost to incumbent Thomas Docherty. Mr Docherty is defending a majority of 5,470, the smallest margin of victory in Fife in 2010.
The SNP took Dunfermline in the 2010 Scottish Parliament election, but then lost the seat in a by-election to Labour's Cara Hilton in 2013 after MSP Bill Walker resigned following a 12-month conviction for a string of historic domestic assaults.
The main constituency issues - in his opinion:
Mr Docherty has yet to respond to our requests for interview.
Who else is standing here:
Gillian Cole-Hamilton, Scottish Liberal Democrats
James Reekie, Scottish Conservatives
Lewis Campbell, Scottish Greens
Why Thomas Docherty thinks you should vote for him:
Mr Docherty has yet to respond to our requests for interview.