Ayr by-election 2000

'I think you'll find that every one of us believes in decentralisation and devolution.' Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, Teddy Taylor MP, 1976.

Tory by-election launch seizes on Section 28

By Murray Ritchie in the Herald

If successful, Mr Scott will become the first Scottish Tory to make a by-election gain since Professor Esmond Wright won Glasgow Pollok from Labour in 1967.

A win in Ayr, which the Tories are confidently predicting, is seen as crucial to the party's credibility because it would also give them their one and only constituency seat in Holyrood at a time when they have none in Westminster.

Mr Scott, a local farmer, kicked off the campaign with a ferocious denunciation of Labour's leadership in Holyrood, claiming voters had not embraced a Scottish Parliament just for it to become embroiled in rows about homosexuality and fox-hunting. Voters were more interested in what really mattered in their daily lives, like health, education, crime prevention, and job creation, he said.

Tory leader David McLetchie accused Labour of deserting the people of Ayr because the party's sitting MSP, Ian Welsh had simply quit. "Ian Welsh welched on the people of Ayr because he did not get a Mondeo at his beck and call. Labour betrayed the people," he said, citing the "crisis" in the NHS with lengthening waiting times, a failure to tackle the problems of the Scottish economy, failure to upgrade the A77 to Ayr from Glasgow, and rising crime at a time when there were fewer policemen and prison offers, and jails were closing.

The Tories also sense that Labour's turmoil over Section 28, the law which bans the promotion of homosexuality in schools and which the Scottish Executive wants repealed, will be a big factor in Ayr which was a traditional Tory seat before it was lost in 1997 in Westminster voting and taken by Labour last May in Holyrood with Scotland's smallest majority, only 25 votes.

Mr Scott challenged the conventional view that Ayr was a three-horse race and said the only real contenders were the Tories and Labour. He dismissed the SNP's chances. "Our enemy in Ayr is Labour - it has aye been Labour and we will fight off Labour this time," he said.

Mr McLetchie said it was appropriate that SNP leader Alex Salmond had launched his party's campaign on Monday at Ayr racecourse. "Alex has been making up policy on the hoof on Section 28." Mr McLetchie brushed away remarks by Westminster Tory Desmond Swayne who said American Right-wing evangelist Pat Robertson had been correct to describe Scotland as a land run by homosexuals.

"That was absolute nonsense," Mr McLetchie said, and party chairman Raymond Robertson added: "I have spoken to the chief whip about this and we dissociate ourselves completely from these irresponsible comments." Labour launches its campaign tomorrow.

Ten candidates will contest the Ayr by-election on March 16, for which nominations closed last night. They are:

William Clifton Botcherby, Scottish Independent, The Radio Vet;

Gavin Corbett, Scottish Green Party;

Kevin James Dillon, Independent, Anti-Cloning;

Robert Graham, Pro-Life Alliance;

Jim Mather, Scottish National Party;

Alistair David McConnachie, UK Independence Party;

Rita Miller, Scottish Labour Party;

Stuart David Ritchie, Scottish Liberal Democrats;

John Scott, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party;

James Scott Stewart, Scottish Socialist Party.

24 th February 2000