Alex Stewart-Clark (Scottish Conservatives)
Who is he?
Conservative candidate for Glenrothes.
Alex is 55 and single with no children.
He lives in South Queensferry and works in Glenrothes. His family have been based around the Firth of Forth for five generations.
This is Alex's first time standing to represent the area.
Working life:
Alex runs a timber business in Glenrothes, employing around 50 people. He left school with no qualifications, and found work as a lumberjack while travelling in Canada.
Jewson offered him an apprenticeship when he returned to Scotland, but laid him off during the recession in 1990, which led to him setting up his own business.
He's involved in a number of charities helping ex-offenders, orphans, and community art schemes.
Scottish Conservative key pledges:
- "Zero tolerance for failure" at school by giving children "the best possible start" and reforming education.
- Employ 1,000 extra nurses and midwives and make it easier to see a GP.
- No income tax to be paid by anyone earning less than £12,500 a year, and
10,000 new apprenticeships every 12 months. - Reintroduce the right to buy your council house and a "step-by-step" scheme
to help renters own their own home. - Free childcare for all two year olds from the most deprived households.
- Letting people or charities set up new schools that are not run by the council.
- Make anyone earning £50,000 pay a 40p rate of income tax.
- Increase the Basic State Pension by at least 2.5% every year.
About Glenrothes
Glenrothes was built in 1948, Scotland's second post-war town, to house miners from the Rothes Colliery. It's the administrative centre of Fife, with the local authority and Fife Division of Police Scotland based in the constituency.
The other major towns and villages here are Methil, Buckhaven and the Wemyss villages, as well as Markinch, Leslie, and Thornton
This area has some of the highest levels of deprivation in Scotland, with many communities among the 5% worst off in the country, and thousands of parents and children using foodbanks over the last two years.
The constituency is home to 22 primary schools and three secondaries.
Former MP Lindsay Roy stepped down after seven years representing the area at Westminster. The seat replaced Central Fife in 2005, and includes small parts of the Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline East constituencies. Labour have won both parliamentary elections in the 10 year history of the constituency. The party is defending a majority of 16,448, when Mr Roy attracted 62.3% of the vote at the 2010 UK General Election. The SNP won the equivalent seat during the 2011 Scottish elections, before Tricia Marwick became independent in order to become Presiding Officer at Holyrood. A recent by-election swung the local council area committee from Labour to the SNP. The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives traditionally finish third and fourth.
The main constituency issues - in his opinion:
Who else is standing here:
Jane Ann Liston, Liberal Democrats
Peter Grant, Scottish National Party