 | 'Downing Street yesterday sought to shrug off Labour's byelection defeat in Dunfermline and West Fife as ministers expressed fears that losses in the local elections in May could put pressure on Tony Blair to announce his retirement date.' Patrick Wintour, chief political correspondent in the Guardian, 11 th February 2006. |  |
Downing Street yesterday sought to shrug off Labour's byelection defeat in Dunfermline and West Fife as ministers expressed fears that losses in the local elections in May could put pressure on Tony Blair to announce his retirement date.
The Dunfermline election on Thursday saw Labour's vote plummet from 20,100 at the general election to just 10,600 - a swing of 16% swing to the Liberal Democrats. In a speech to the Labour spring conference, Mr Blair made no mention of the byelection defeat, instead urging his party to keep the faith and denying the government was running out of steam.
In a sign of Labour nervousness, Mr Blair pulled the planned publication of the controversial education bill planned for next Thursday although the bill's second reading will go ahead in the middle of March. The delay is intended to give time for backbench resistance to subside.
Mr Blair's officials argued the defeat had no national implications and blamed the failure of traditional Labour voters to turn out in response to a campaign that had been based on upbeat economic messages. But Labour will now rigidly replicate the locally based campaign methods of the Liberal Democrats in the coming London elections. "We are running 65 byelections in London about what happening to people in their local streets." Labour has decided to target ruthlessly 180 wards running almost exclusively on local issues, as well as anti-social behaviour."
The Liberal Democrats blamed the first Labour byelection defeat in Scotland for 18 years almost exclusively on the chancellor, Gordon Brown. The victor Willie Rennie claimed Mr Brown should be quaking in his boots since he had dominated the campaign held next door to his own constituency. Acting Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell claimed: "People will say 'if Gordon Brown is going to be the prime minister, and he can't hold a traditional Labour seat on his own back doorstep then just how is he going to go down in the leafy glades of Essex or Surrey or places like that?"
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