 | 'Any system that has brought the Tories back from oblivion and given them 18 seats in Scotland must be examined. A list system for people to get on through the back door has created a cancer in every constituency in Scotland.' James Wray, Labour MP for Glasgow Ballieston, 29 th June 1999. |  |
Elie, St Monans & Pittenween are part of the East Neuk of Fife, a rural community with a fringe of picturesque fishing villages. Despite the fact that the Conservatives had not contested this ward since 1992, the area had been the site of a battle royal between the Conservatives and James Braid for almost 40 years. Cllr Braid was one of Scotland's longest serving and best known councillors, and was Provost of St Monans before local government reorganisation in the 1970s. Between 1964 and October 1974, James Braid contested the East Fife Parliamentary seat, which was held by an Eton-educated Conservative farmer, Sir John Gilmour, five times for the Scottish National Party. During this time he increased the SNP vote from a fourth place 6.8 % to second place and 31.7 %, trimming Sir John's majority from 12,500 in February 1974 to less than 3,000 in October of that year.
James Braid was an Independent Regional Councillor in North East Fife during the lifetime of Fife Regional couincil. In 1982 he held the Pittenween, St Monans, Elie & Largo ward with a majority of 201 in a straight fight with Conservative M.W. Innes. By 1990, his majority had been reduced to 45 over the Conservative B. Foote, with the Democrats, Labour and Greens trailing with 414, 229 and 204 respectively. 1994 was a poor election for the Conservatives and James Braid's main rival in the final regional council election was Liberal Democrat Jane Hunter Blair with the Tories pushed into third place ahead of the SNP and Labour.
James Braid was also District Councillor for the St Monans/Elie/Pittenweem ward on North East Fife Council as an Independent until 1992. The Conservatives made gains throughout Scotland in this election and B. Foote, who had lost out in the 1990 regional elections, won St Monans Distict ward with 754 votes to 671 for Mr Braid with the Lib Dems taking 231 votes.
In 1995, the Conservatives did not contest the new St Monans, Elie & Pittenween ward on Fife Unitary council. This appears surprising as they held the District Council seat, however their poor showing in the 1994 Regional elections may have contributed to this decision. James Braid won the new ward with 862 votes, 426 ahead of Liberal Democrat Michael Foote. Janice Christianson took 130 votes for Labour, and James Finlayson gained 119 for the SNP.
In 1999, Fife council was reduced in size from 92 to 78 wards with this ward's name being reshuffled to Elie, St Monans and Pittenween. James Braid increased his majority to 753, this time over the Scottish National Party's Iain Anderson, who moved from fourth place.
The by-election was won by the Conservatives and the new Councillor is Michael Scott-Hayward. He contested Edinburgh Central in the 1997 General election, coming second with 21 % and third in Kirkcaldy with 10 % in the Scottish General election of 1999.
The by-election will be a welcome boost for the Conservatives who regained a foothold at the national political level in May when they won 18 seats in the new Scottish Parliament. While David McLetchie proved to be a surprisingly able leader the Scottish Tories have been continued to be hampered by the lackluster performance of their UK leader, Wee Willie Hague.
However, all the joyous headlines of 'Conservative gain from Independent' hide the fact that the Tories won this ward with a mere 22.0 % of the vote in an area which they held with over 45 % of the vote as recently as 1992.
The Scottish National Party could be happy with retaining their second place here, although their percentage of the vote fell slightly by 0.3 %. Likewise, the Liberal Democrats could be happy with increasing their vote by 1.5 % to within only 3 votes of the SNP.
For Labour, the result was a gloomy one indeed. The party which came third with 8.4 % in 1995 and fourth with 8.2 % in May 1999, fell back to seventh place behind three independents with only 2.6 % of the vote on the 26 th of August. Labour's dismal showing reflects the indolence of it's Scottish ministerial team and the increasingly bitter turf wars between MPs and MSPs. The bad publicity surrounding Wee Doddie Robertson's translation to the Palace of Ignorance that is the House of Lords as a feeble excuse to hold a quick cut-and-run by-election in Hamilton South probably did not help the governing party's cause either.
The turnout was 44.2 %, down from 57.4 % in May. The Conservative by-election win here brings the composition of Fife Council to 43 Labour, 21 Liberal Democrat, 9 Scottish National Party, 2 Conservative, 1 Democratic Left, 1 Communist and 1 Independent.
| 26 th August 1999 | 6 th May 1999 | ||||||
| Michael Scott-Hayward |  | 332 | 22.0 % | James Braid | Ind | 1,141 | 55.8 % |
 | 282 | 18.7 % | Iain Anderson | | 388 | 19.0 % | |
 | 279 | 18.5 % | Christopher Young | | 347 | 17.0 % | |
| Ind | 214 | 14.2 % | Janice Christianson |  | 167 | 8.2 % | |
| Ind | 183 | 12.1 % | |||||
| Ind | 164 | 10.9 % | |||||
| 39 | 2.6 % | |||||
 | 15 | 1.0 % | |||||
| Con gain from Ind | Con maj | 50 | 3.3 % | Ind hold | Ind maj. | 753 | 36.8 % |
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