European Parliament Elections 1999

'Labour in Scotland suffered another embarrassment last night when its candidate in the North East of Scotland European by-election pulled out of the Euro-elections in June, despite being almost certain of winning a seat in Strasbourg. Mrs Kathleen Walker Shaw, a respected GMB union official in Brussels, came a humiliating third in the contest when the SNP retained the seat in November after the death of Nationalist deputy leader Dr Allan Macartney.' Murray Ritchie, Scottish Political Editor in the Herald, 22 nd January 1999.

1975 - 1999

The first direct elections to the European Parliament were held in 1979. Due to a low turnout and Labour hostility to Europe, the Conservatives did incredibly well, taking five of the eight constituencies compared to two for Labour and one for the Scottish National Party. Labour had its revenge in 1984 when it won Strathclyde East, Mid Scotland & Fife and Lothians from the Conservatives. The socialists reached their electoral summit in 1989 when they won the last two Tory seats, North East Scotland and South of Scotland, while in the Highlands & Islands, Winnie Ewing took over half the vote, increasing her majority to almost 45,000, up from under 4,000 in 1979.

In 1994 the Tories were routed by Labour and the Liberal Democrats in England & Wales. Labour celebrations were tarnished by the loss of North East Scotland where there was a swing of 8 % to the SNP and Dr Allan Macartney took the seat with a majority of over 31,000. Henry McCubbin obtained his place in the record books as the only British Labour MEP ever to lose a seat.

Dr Macartney's death in 1998 caused a by-election in North East Scotland. Labour had some hopes of winning back the seat, or at the very least reducing the SNP's majority. They were heartened on the eve of the by-election when the Scotsman published an ICM poll of 1,135 voters in the North East Scotland constituency which suggested that Labour were only 4 % behind the SNP. Both Labour and ICM were humiliated in the by-election when the SNP's Ian Hudghton won the seat with an increased majority of almost 34,000 over the Tories while Labour were beaten into third place.

Proportional Representation

The Tory hereditary peers do have a point - party lists are undemocratic. For example, Ian Hudghton and Kathleen Walker-Shaw, the SNP and Labour candidates in the North-East by-election were ranked 1 and 3 respectively on their party lists, which would almost guarantee them a seat in the European parliament. While the SNP's list was chosen by party members at their National conference, Labour's was decided in the secrecy of a smoke-filled Network-dominated committee room. While Ms Walker-Shaw may be a competent union official, her behaviour in the by-election, accusing the SNP of racism and lying, on more than one occasion, about where she was born, made it abundantly clear that she lacked the political maturity and common sense necessary to represent half a million Scots. Given the choice, it seems not unlikely that many Labour voters would prefer to chose other more traditional members from the Labour list rather than Blairite clones. In January 1999, Ms Walker Shaw did the honourable thing and resigned from the Labour list. However her candidature only underlines the desirability of allowing the electorate to chose their own candidates from an open list rather than leaving it all to a few control freaks who are totally out of touch with the people of Scotland.

Labour

One of the four MEPs who had been suspended, the left wing Scots MEP for Essex West & Hertfordshire East, Hugh Kerr, continued to criticise New Labour's 'Stalinist tendencies' and was finally expelled from the party. Luckily for Mr Kerr, Tony Blair's Stalinist tendencies have not yet gone as far as an ice pick in the back of the skull! Mr Kerr now sits as an MEP for the Scottish Socialist Party.

Then came the selection of the candidates for the new European list. Alex Falconer and Hugh Collins had decided to retire, however Labour's four other MEPs and ex North of Scotland MEP Henry McCubbin were looking for re-election. Each had the support of their constituencies.

However, New Labour was clearly looking for lobotomised loyalists, not independently minded left wingers. The selection produced a fascinating, although hardly unexpected result with two Blairite loyalist MEPs at the top of the lists followed by three New Labour clones with the two left wing MEPs and former MEP at the bottom of the list.

Alex Smith, MEP for South of Scotland, was told by his constituency to withdraw after being placed 6 th on the list, from where he had no chance of re-election.

Henry McCubbin, the only British Labour MEP ever to lose a seat, was the first choice of North East Scotland constituency but he was rejected as candidate for the 1998 by-election. Labour's selection panel also put Mr McCubbin in last place on the party list and he too resigned. One cannot help thinking that Labour would not be in quite such dire straits today had they stuck to poor old Henry McCubbin rather than New Labourite Kathleen Walker Shaw.

Hugh McMahon, MEP for Strathclyde West, was placed seventh on the list which meant that Mr McMahon had been effectively sacked by New Labour. Mr McMahon has moved up two places following resignations but for him to be re-elected, Labour would require to take almost 65 % of the vote.

The latest embarrassment for Scottish Labour occurred in January 1999 when Kathleen Walker Shaw resigned from the Labour list despite being almost assured of winning a seat. It is thought that Ms Walker Shaw, the darling of the Blairites as recently as September when she won third place on the Labour list, had been viewed as an electoral liability after Labour's humiliation when she was beaten into third place in the by-election. In classical Tory fashion, Ms Walker Shaw, a good Blairite, blamed the media for her poor performance and her decision to resign. verb sap.

Ms Walker Shaw added a comic element to the by-election campaign - when she was caught lying about her birthplace she changed her story and claimed, to much hilarity, that she had been conceived in Aberdeen. Less amusing was her repetition of the common Labour accusation that the SNP were racist. Donald Dewar, the Scottish Secretary, made matters worse by refusing to condemn Kathleen Walker Shaw's comments when he joined her on the campaign trail in Aberdeen. Ms Walker Shaw was eventually obliged to make a highly public and embarrassing apology and retract her comments.

Commenting on her resignation, David Martin, Labour MEP for Lothians and a vice president of the European Parliament, said: 'I am absolutely convinced Kathleen Walker Shaw would have made an excellent MEP. Unfortunately she made one mistake which undermined her position during the campaign.'

It was not quite clear whether the mistake Mr Martin referred to was Ms Walker Shaw's gaffe in calling the SNP 'racist' or her lying about her place of birth. One might even conceive that Mr Martin was implying that a more experienced politician would not have been caught lying about where she was born. However, the Labour Christmas Pantomine offering last year of Peter Mandelson's fall in the Home-A-Loan scandal have shown that even the Prince of Darkness himself was not invulnerable.

Ms Walker Shaw's resignation is merely the latest scene in the continuing tragedy that is the Scottish Labour Party in Europe. However, it is great entertainment for the rest of us as we wonder who will be left standing at the end of a performance which is beginning to rival the final act of Hamlet.

'Alas poor Kathleen, I knew her well, Horatio...'

Scottish National Party

Then came the unexpected death of Allan Macartney in August 1998 with Cllr Ian Hudghton, leader of Angus Council and Dr Macartney's constituency agent being chosen to succeed him. Although this was the by-election which nobody in the SNP wanted, it was a triumph for them and a severe setback for Labour with the European elections only seven months away.

Unlike Labour, whose list was drawn up by a small cabal, the Scottish National Party membership ranked their candidates using Proportional Representation (Single Transferable Vote) at their Inverness party conference. Ian Hudghton, by then their by-election candidate, topped the poll. In second place was Professor Neil MacCormick, professor of law at Edinburgh University, son of SNP founder member John MacCormick, and brother of ex-Argyll MP, Iain MacCormick. In third place was Dr Anne Lorne Gillies, the Gaelic singer turned academic, who contested Western Isles at the 1997 General election.

Gordon Wilson came lower down the list than some had expected at fourth place. He is not guaranteed a place at Strasbourg, but as psepsologists expect Labour and the SNP to take between three and four seats each, he still has a chance under PR.

The other four SNP candidates are, Janet Law, who was a councillor and education convenor in Perth & Kinross Council; Ms Kris Murray-Browne from Skye; transport spokesman Ian Goldie, who contested Ayr in 1983, Falkirk West in 1987 and the South of Scotland Euro seat in 1984 and Josephine Docherty.

The Scottish National Party have always done well in European Elections and 1999 could see a record number of SNP MEPs heading for Strasbourg.

The Conservative & Unionist Party

The Liberal Democrats

The nadir for the Liberal Democrats was in 1989 when they took only 4.3 % of the vote and came 5 th behind the Greens in each of the eight constituencies. In 1994 they regained some ground, coming fourth everywhere except Glasgow where they were fifth behind Militant Labour and the Tories. However, this was still a poor performance considering that in even the Highlands & Islands where they held no less than five of the parliamentary seats they could only manage fourth place with 10.1 % of the vote in the European election.

The Lib Dems are hardly soaring in the opinion polls at present and on past performances they have no assurance of a seat at Strasbourg. It is little wonder that Dr Keith Raffan, onetime Tory MP and poll tax fan, and more recently Lib Dem candidate in the North East Scotland by-election, preferred a place on the Scottish Parliamentary list rather than the European one.

Jim Wallace's astonishing sell out of the Liberal Democrats Holyrood election promises in exchange for advancement of his own career has done severe damage to his party. Jim Wallace has been unfairly compared to Judas. But whereas Judas merely obtained 30 pieces of silver, 'Deputy Dawg' sold out the Liberal Democrat election promises in exchange for £30,000 a year. While Donald Gorrie has called Labour 'the biggest bunch of liars you could meet' it seems clear to voters that the biggest liar in Scottish politics is Jim Wallace. Many who were taken in by Wallace's promise that tuition fees were 'non-negotiable' have reacted with fury. The electorate is likely to take its revenge in these elections and Elspeth Attwooll's change of a seat at Strasbourg may have been destroyed by the Jim Wallace's duplicity and the Lib Dem's total loss of credibility.

The Greens

The Scottish Socialist Party

The Minor Parties

Much will depend on the turnout in this election, which is expected to lower than that for Holyrood. Parties like the Greens, the Scottish Socialist Party and perhaps even the Liberal Democrats and Tories may have to await Scottish Independence and the 16 European Parliament seats which that would imply before they obtain their own Independence in Europe.

The Party Lists

Party	Scottish National Party	Labour	Liberal Democrat	Conservative
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1	Ian Hudghton MEP	David Martin MEP	Elspeth Attwooll	Struan Stevenson
2	Professor Neil MacCormick	Bill Miller MEP	Robert Aldridge	John Purvis
3	Dr Anne Lorne Gillies	Catherine Taylor	Neil Mitchison	Anne Harper
4	Dr Gordon Wilson	Cllr Christine May	Heather Lyall	Cameron Buchanan
5	Janet Law	Hugh McMahon MEP	Clive Sneddon	Sebastian Leslie
6	Kris Murray-Browne	James Paton	Danus Skene	Ian Mitchell
7	Ian Goldie	John Clifford	Karen Freel	Peter Ramsay
8	Josephine Docherty	Janette Harold	Jayne Struthers	Anthony Gilbey
Party	Scottish Green Party	Scottish Socialist Party	Socialist Labour Party	Pro Euro Conservative Party
Logo
1	Marion Coyne	Hugh Kerr MEP	Louise McDaid	Paul Dwyer
2	Eleanor Scott	Rosie Kane	Christopher Heriot	Joanna Lavender
3	Philip O'Brien	Harvey Duke	Katharine McGavigan	Douglas McConchie
4	Graeme Farmer	CatherineStewart	Stephen Mayes	Richard Ashurst
5	Linda Hendry	Colin Fox	Patricia Graham	Neasa MacErlean
6	Christopher Balance	Shareen Blackall	Colin Turbett	Oliver Grant
7	Kay Allan	Steve Arnott	Margaret Stead	Alexander Skinner
8	Alastair Whitelaw	Frances Curran	James Galloway	James Waters
Party	UK Independence Party	Natural Law Party	British National Party	Independent
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1	Alistair McConnachie	James McKissock	Kenneth Smith	Charles Lawson
2	Donald Mackay	George Stidolpj	Scott McLean
3	James McKenna	Diana Kras	Russell Bradley
4	Stuart Brown	Kenneth Blair	Mark Allen
5	Matthre Henderson	David Pettigrew	Paul Wilkinson
6	Joseph Smith	Ian Petrie	Robert Currie
7	Peter Neilson	Anna Rawlinson	David Kerr
8	John Mumford	Thomas Pringle	James Mills

Original Labour List, September 1998

Party	Labour
Logo
1	David Martin MEP
2	Bill Miller MEP
3	Kathleen Walker Shaw (since resigned)
4	Catherine Taylor
5	Cllr Christine May
6	Alex Smith MEP (since resigned)
7	Hugh McMahon MEP
8	Henry McCubbin (since resigned)