Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

KIRKCALDY AND COWDENBEATH: Neale Hanvey hails victory after being ‘cast aside’ by SNP

A candidate dropped by the SNP a fortnight before the election has taken a Fife seat from Labour’s deputy Scottish leader.

Neale Hanvey was suspended by his party over allegations of anti-Semitism in comments he made on social media two years ago.

However, he still won the Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency with a majority of 1,243 over Labour’s Lesley Laird.

Mr Hanvey took 16,568 votes, narrowly beating Mrs Laird’s 15,325.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had warned party members against campaigning for Mr Hanvey in the run up to the general election.

An emotional Mr Hanvey said it was an “amazing” victory and he was “very grateful” for the backing of his supporters and the electorate.

VIDEO: Ousted SNP candidate Neale Hanvey ‘quite hopeful’ of winning Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath seat

He said: “To turn it around in 12 days, I have an amazing team of people who believe in me and they know me.

“They know I do a good job and I certainly hope to prove them right and I will work my socks off.

He said: “I have never been over-confident. I haven’t taken anything for granted, I have fought for every vote before this issue arose and since then.

“I think my honesty and sincerity probably won a lot of people over.”

Outgoing candidate Lesley Laird speaks to thank her team.

He said the result was “quite extraordinary”.

“From basically being cast aside 12 days ago to winning, it’s amazing.

“It’s a demonstration of trust from the people and I need to repay that.”

Mrs Laird said: “I am disappointed. I tried during the last two and a half years I have been MP to be community focused and a campaigning MP for the constituency but tonight result showed that it wasn’t to be and that’s democracy.”

She said she believed her team had run a very positive campaign but added: “Clearly voters have made their choice and that, as a politician, is ultimately what happened.”

Mr Hanvey appeared on the ballot as an SNP candidate, even though he was standing as an independent, because it was too late to change the paper.

He has maintained he hopes to return to the party after a review has been carried out.

Voter turnout in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath was 64.69%, up on the 63.6% of 2017.

Conservative candidate Kathleen Leslie won 9,449 votes, Liberal Democrat Gill Cole-Hamilton 2,903, Scottish Green Scott Rutherford 1,628 and Mitch William, for the Brexit Party, 1,132.