 | 'Labour peer Lord Watson receives a 16-month sentence for torching a pair of curtains which resulted, thankfully, in injuries to no-one. I look forward to a proportionate sentence being imposed on war criminals Blair, Brown and the rest for the torching of Iraq.' C. Corstorphine, 28 th September 2005. |  |
Labour has held onto the Glasgow Cathcart seat in the Scottish Parliament but with a reduced majority of 2,680.
Voters in Cathcart elected former Glasgow City Council leader, Charlie Gordon, as their new MSP.
The seat became vacant after the resignation of Mike Watson, who later was sentenced to 16 months in jail for wilful fire-raising.
Turnout was 31.97%, the lowest ever at a by-election in Scotland.
In the Scottish Parliament elections in May 2003, turnout was 45.3%. There was a 3.7% swing to the Scottish National Party, which increased its share of the vote by 6%. Labour's share fell by 2%.
Charlie Gordon stated his intention to seek election to the Scottish Parliament when his stepped down as Glasgow's council leader earlier this year.
'Intensely worrying'
The 53-year-old said he felt his knowledge and experience could be deployed to Glasgow's advantage.
Commenting on the poor turnout, Sir Neil Mackintosh, Electoral Commission, said: "Cathcart is not an area associated with apathy.
"It's not an area associated with people not taking an interest in their local community and from that point of view it's intensely worrying that we got such a low turnout in a by-election.
"I think it's another sign of a malaise in our society."
Hunting legislation
In 2003, Mike Watson was re-elected to represent Cathcart with a majority of 5,112.
He spent the first couple of years in the Scottish Parliament on the backbenches where he helped bring about legislation to abolish fox hunting in Scotland.
First Minister Jack McConnell then gave him a position in his Cabinet as minister for tourism, culture and sport.
However, he attracted controversy when he appeared to favour campaigners in his own constituency who were attempting to overturn the Scottish Executive's policy on hospitals in Glasgow.
He was dropped in 2003 and returned to the backbench.
Tory history
As a Westminster seat, Glasgow Cathcart was originally a strong Conservative area. But their majority reduced over the years and populist Conservative Teddy Taylor, who held the seat from 1964 until 1979, eventually lost out to Labour.
In 1999, Mike Watson won the constituency's Holyrood seat with a 20.1% majority over the SNP and was re-elected in 2003.
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