 | 'Scottish nationalists jolted the government on Friday in a
by-election for a parliamentary seat, slashing its majority from nearly 14,000 to just
705. Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party won 8,492 votes to 7,787 for the Scottish
National Party (SNP), which is committed to achieving independence for Scotland
through ever-increasing devolution.' Lycos, 22 nd December 2000 |  |
Scottish nationalists jolted the government on Friday in a by-election for a parliamentary seat, slashing its majority from nearly 14,000 to just 705.
Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party won 8,492 votes to 7,787 for the Scottish National Party (SNP), which is committed to achieving independence for Scotland through ever-increasing devolution.
The by-election in the Falkirk West constituency in Scotland was marked by voter apathy, with the turnout of about 36 percent going into the record books as the lowest in a Scottish poll since World War Two.
It was virtually a straight fight between Labour and the SNP, with the Conservatives trailing in third place with 1,621 votes.
Blair supporters dismissed the slump in Labour's majority as nothing unusual for a government in mid-term, and said that if the SNP could not win the seat at a by- election it would never succeed at a general election.
Labour's victorious candidate Eric Joyce said: "The nationalists have been judged irrelevant in Falkirk West."
The SNP, the main opposition in Scotland's home-rule parliament, said the result from Thursday's by-election showed it was making progress with Scottish voters on its independence agenda.
"This country needs social justice and that can only be achieved through independence," said SNP candidate David Kerr.
Blair's term ends in May 2002 but he is widely expected to call an early general election in the first half of next year -- buoyed by opinion polls giving him a hefty 10-15 point lead over the Conservatives.
During the by-election campaign Labour sent in political big guns, including chancellor of the exchequer Gordon Brown, to try and blow away any chance of an upset by the Scottish nationalists.
The awkwardly-timed pre-Christmas by-election was forced on Labour by rebel parliamentarian Dennis Canavan who resigned his seat in November after failing to patch up severe differences with the central party leadership.
Canavan was expelled from Labour in March 1999 after announcing he would stand as an independent against the official candidate in Scottish Parliament elections.
He went on to win the seat in the newly devolved Scottish Parliament with a whopping majority, cocking a major snook at the central Labour administration.
Joyce is seen as a Blair supporter and close to modernisers within Labour who want to phase out politicians of Canavan's old-fashioned socialist ilk.
At the 1997 British general election, Canavan won the Falkirk West seat by a colossal 22,772 votes to 8,989 for the SNP.
-Dec 22nd
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