 | 'The Chancellor has nowhere to go but up or out. After the Treasury, the only job he's interested in is the top one, and if he is forced out, he will take the Government's credibility with him. Having a disgruntled Gordon Brown on the Government backbenches is unthinkable.' Iain MacWhirter in the Herald, 20 th September 2000. |  |
An advertising trailer towed the message around the constituency urging voters to "Make Yours a Double," and vote for Labour in both ballots. At what was the party's final press conference yesterday, there was a strong plea from Holyrood candidate Bill Butler for Labour voters to stick with the party on both counts. "To get the job done I need the the help of a Labour colleague at Westminster," he said.
Henry McLeish, First Minister, denied there was great concern in his party's ranks that the Holyrood seat might be in danger if people split their vote, he said there was academic interest in that issue but added: "I believe that people have a straight opportunity to vote Labour and will take that opportunity."
But as signs emerge that the results in the early hours of Friday morning could be closer than had seemed likely a few days ago, this question of a so-called differential turnout loomed larger.
Traditionally, this term has referred to the ability of different parties to get their vote out on the day, with apathy among Labour voters harder to overcome than the more committed vote of other parties. But a new meaning has emerged for the phrase.
Differential turnout is now also used when talking about the ways voters would exercise their vote either between Westminster and Holyrood, or between the constituency and regional list votes in a Holyrood poll. System Three surveys for The Herald have always indicated a willingness on the part of many of those polled to stick with Labour for Westminster, while giving the SNP their vote for Edinburgh.
Tomorrow will see the first occasion when voters go into polling stations and try this out in practice, and the possibilities exercised Labour and the SNP yesterday as strategists looked to squeeze out every vote in a potentially close two-horse race.
Brian Wilson, Minister of State, claimed Labour had run a vigorous, upfront campaign in contrast to its "phantom opponents," a suggestion which ran counter to the experience of most journalists present. He added: "It is now about getting the vote out. Every vote counts and victories only happen when people turn out to vote for them."
The opposition parties were still smarting from Labour's refusal the previous evening to field either of its candidates at a hustings in Drumchapel to debate council house stock transfer.
The SNP's Holyrood candidate Tom Chalmers said: "If they are not prepared to defend their own party's policies in Anniesland, then they're not fit to represent the people of Anniesland at Holyrood or Westminster."
The Scottish Socialist Party's Holyrood candidate Rosie Kane said of the incident: "Councillor Bill Butler is the invisible man. He doesn't even have the bottle to justify his own support for the abolition of public housing. Let this be a warning. If people elect the invisible man then he won't be around to deal with their problems after the election either."
The SNP insistence that the two issues affecting the elderly - pensions and personal care provision as recommended by Sutherland - was matched by the Liberal Democrats, whose Scottish president Malcolm Bruce said: "Even after devolution we still need as many Liberal Democrat MPs at Westminster as possible so that more can be done for Glasgow's pensioners.
"The Labour Government at Westminster could spend more on public services. After all the hype, the Chancellor is still spending less of the national cake on issues on our pensioners and other public services than the Tories did."
But Tory candidates challenged Lib Dem candidate Judith Fryer to come clean on where she stands on the coalition, following Labour's poster appeal to her voters to back Labour as the only way of supporting the coalition.
Westminster candidate Dorothy Luckhurst said "Lib Dems to their shame have signed up to an unholy alliance with Labour at Holyrood." Holyrood candidate Dr Kate Pickering said: "There is confusion in the electorate over where Judith stands. Is she a Lib Dem supporting Labour? Judith has given the impression that she is very unhappy about Labour's record in Glasgow. Surely if she wishes to be elected as part of the coalition she must accept Labour, warts and all."
Ms Fryer insisted that a Lib Dem vote was a vote for reformed local government voting, the only way to rein in Labour and punish that party's record in Glasgow while influencing the Scottish Executive through coalition.
-Nov 22nd
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