 | 'Tonight in Livingston we saw a huge swing to us from Labour and in Cathcart the Labour majority was halved. In Livingston the SNP vote rose by 11 per cent and in Cathcart by 6 per cent. If replicated across the country the Livingston swing would deliver the SNP 28 additional seats in the Scottish Parliament elections in 2007, and on the swing in Cathcart we would win 9 extra.' SNP leader Alex Salmond MP, 30 th September 2005. |  |
Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond has described the results in the Livingston and Cathcart by-elections as "highly satisfactory" for the party.
Mr Salmond said:
'These are highly satisfactory results for the SNP.
'Tonight in Livingston we saw a huge swing to us from Labour and in Cathcart the Labour majority was halved. In Livingston the SNP vote rose by 11 per cent and in Cathcart by 6 per cent.
'If replicated across the country the Livingston swing would deliver the SNP 28 additional seats in the Scottish Parliament elections in 2007, and on the swing in Cathcart we would win 9 extra.
'The swing to us in Livingston was in double digits, and much higher than any commentator forecast at the start of the campaign.
'The real significance of the result tonight is that we're the only party challenging Labour in Scotland, and the only party to make progress across the two by-elections.
'The claims of the Liberals that they could challenge for second place have now completely evaporated. No other party made a fraction of our progress across the two seats.
'With that debate settled the SNP can get on with our preparations to gain the 20 seats required to become the leading party in Scotland.
'That is what we now intend to do.'
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