Labour Wins Glenrothes By-Election

It would appear that Gordon Brown's government is not quite finished. Yesterday, Lindsay Roy of Labour won the Glenrothes by-election with an increased majority. That hasn't happened since the 1970s. The key to victory seems to have been Mr. Brown's rather brilliant bailout of British banks. It undercut the Scottish Nationalists argument for an independent Scotland, which surely wouldn't have the money for such a rescue.

In his victory speech, Mr. Roy gave full credit to Mr. Brown, “In these difficult economic times, I pledge my support to the leader of our country. He’s somebody who has worked in support of all of us not just in Fife, but in Scotland and in the UK during these volatile economic times.” For those unfamiliar with Scotland's economy and geography, Fife has been on the short end of the stick for a great many years.

Mr. Brown also campaigned in person in the constituency. As The Times noted, “ The Prime Minister took an early decision to go to the constituency because he knew he would have been heavily criticised for ignoring a neighbouring seat. Although Labour was jubilant, ministers accept that holding a usually safe Scottish seat is hardly a sign that they are on the way to a fourth term.” That may be, but an increased majority beats the bejesus out of losing.

The SNP had hoped to win the seat, and it did have a reasonable chance going into the campaign. Nicola Sturgeon, deputy leader of the SNP, said, “While we're disappointed not to have won this election, we increased our vote by 13% on the last election. So it's disappointing but by no stretch of the imagination can it be seen as a reverse for the SNP. There are upsides in this, the vote of the SNP went up by 13% from the last general election, we secured a 5% swing and we slashed Labour's majority. I won't pretend not to be deeply disappointed, I want to win every election we contest. But we did make progress last night."

Meanwhile, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats were nowhere to be seen. Their results were so bad that they lost their £500 deposits, a means of deterring nuisance candidates. Maurice Golden, the Conservative candidate, was third with 1,381, and Harry Wills, of the Liberal Democrats, was fourth with 947.

Nevertheless, there is no chance of a general election in the near future. Mr. Brown is going to stay focused on the credit crisis, where he can repair his government's fortunes given his years as Chancellor of the Exchequer. As the Prime Minister told the press, “My undivided focus is on mortgage holders who are having difficulties, homeowners worried about their homes, people worried about their jobs, people worried about gas and electricity prices. "We've got a global recession that I believe we in Britain are dealing with as fairly as we can and will continue to take the measures that will give real help to people in difficult circumstances.”

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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