Ayr by-election Result 16 th March 2000

'We've overturned a 6,500 Labour majority, we've put eight percent onto the vote.'
Tory Chairman, Raymond Robertson, in Ayr, 16 th March 2000, where the Tories actually overtuned a Labour majority of 25, and put on 1.4 % onto the vote.

Ayr defeat 'just mid-term blues'

From BBC News

First Minister Donald Dewar has dismissed Labour's crushing defeat in the Ayr by-election to the Scottish parliament as "mid-term blues".

The Tories' candidate John Scott polled 12,580 votes and won with a majority of 3,344.

The Scottish National Party came second with 9,236, beating Labour into third place on 7,054 votes.

Mr Dewar said he was "disappointed" but that people had "an expectation of miracles from the Scottish Parliament."

Scottish Conservative chairman Raymond Robertson said this was begrudging, while Scottish National Party deputy leader John Swinney said he was "delighted" with his party's second place.

Mr Dewar said: "I think this is the kind of collapse that is indicative of mid-term by-elections.

"If you look back over the last 15-20 years, you've seen this kind of story in the past.

"I'm very disappointed. A very good candidate, Rita Miller, worked with a cheerfulness that was almost daunting, and energy.

"But we will look, we will learn and we will go on.

'Protest vote'

"I think a lot of people will be disappointed. I mean, the Conservatives will claim a great victory, but in circumstances that were particularly kind from their point of view, they put one percent on their share of their vote.

"The Nationalists, of course, they always pick up a protest vote.

"Look at Monklands, for example, where there was a swing of 20% to them and they haven't got there.

"I think they'll actually privately be rather disappointed."

John Swinney said: "I'm delighted with the performance we turned in in the by-election yesterday.

"We achieved a 12.7% swing from Labour to the SNP and also, interestingly, a swing of four percent from the Conservatives to the SNP.

"Anybody who looks at this result and says there is any kind of silver lining on the cloud for the Conservatives is mistaken.

Tory joy

"The Tory vote is up by one percent from what was commonly described as one of their worst ever performances in the elections last year."

Raymond Robertson, chairman of the Scottish Conservatives, said: "We won, we won well, we've overturned a 6,500 Labour majority, we've put eight percent onto the vote.

"The Labour Party have lost 18% and I think it is very begrudging of Donald (Dewar) and John (Swinney) trying to suggest that this is anything other than a spectacular Tory win.

"This is a seat we lost by 6,500 votes only three years ago. Its now a seat we've won by 3,500 and we've seen Labour's share of the vote fall by 18% in the same period.

"This is, by any stretch of the imagination, a significant morning in Scottish politics.

"We're up eight percent since the general election."

Liberal Democrat candidate Stuart Ritchie admitted it had not been a good night for the party, which lost its deposit and came fifth behind the Scottish Socialist Party.

He said: "We haven't saved our deposit in this seat for a while. We are half a percent down on last time, on a reduced turnout.

"It's not a great result. It's not a good result. It's disappointing, but I think we fought a very good campaign and I don't see really what else we could have done."

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