 | 'In a by-election you have to present yourself as the challengers. That was the battle that was going on between us and the Liberals. Whoever won that battle was going to win the seat, because the Labour vote was in free-fall, it was collapsing. Eventually the Liberals won that battle of perceptions, so we only increased our vote modestly.' SNP leader Alex Salmond MP, 10 th February 2006. |  |
The Labour party are reeling this lunchtime after the Lib Dems secured a historic victory in the Dunfermline by-election overnight as the Labour majority was swept away by a 16% swing. Willie Rennie now has a majority of 1,800, leaving the SNP in third and the Conservatives in fourth place.
Celebrations are well underway in Dunfermline after by-election night, and what a night for Willie Rennie. A Labour majority that melted away, a Liberal Democrat by-election victory on a swing of 16%.
Willie Rennie, MP,Liberal Democrat, Dunfermline and West Fife, commented: "It's the Liberal Democrats that are the challengers to Labour. In Scotland we are the ones that are advancing."
No-one really saw it coming, when it did it was spectacular. The Labour vote collapsed despite the high profile intervention of the Chancellor.
The SNP were up, but should have done better.
The so called Cameron bounce, never materialised for the Tories.
Alistair Darling MP, Scottish Secretary, commented: "Clearly from our point of view there are lessons to be learnt both in terms of the immediate issues and also in relation to the by-election generally, but make no bones about it, this is a by-election we should not have lost. We did, we need to learn the lessons from that, and we will."
Normally national issues determine elections. It looks as if it was local issues won this for the Lib Dems.
The SNP were upbeat against a backdrop of evidence suggesting they are going nowhere.
Alex Salmond, MP, the leader of the SNP, commented: "In a by-election you have to present yourself as the challengers. That was the battle that was going on between us and the Liberals. Whoever won that battle was going to win the seat, because the Labour vote was in free-fall, it was collapsing. Eventually the Liberals won that battle of perceptions, so we only increased our vote modestly."
So another election writes itself into Scottish political history, they key question now has to be is this a short term blip for Labour or something more serious?
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