 | 'We don't know what's going to happen. If Canavan doesn't win, he could still stop us winning and let the SNP come through the middle.' A Labour source, 1 st February 1999. |  |
| 'We don't know what's going to happen. If Canavan doesn't win, he could still stop us winning and let the SNP come through the middle.' A Labour source, 1 st February 1999. | |
The Falkirk West MP made his latest threat last night as it emerged Labour chiefs are preparing finally to take the party whip away from him.
If he does force a by-election, the contest could be very difficult for Labour. Despite the sitting MP's 13,783 majority, the SNP would campaign hard to capitalise on disaffection among traditional Labour voters and disarray in local Labour ranks.
Labour insiders admit the left-wing MP could defeat the party's official candidate and win the seat in the Holyrood poll in May standing as an independent. Mr Canavan opted to go it alone after Labour refused to let him stand under its colours.
The MP told The Herald yesterday he would quit Westminster early, possibly later this year, if he secured a place in the Scottish Parliament. Mr Canavan, 56, has been an MP for almost 25 years since first being returned to Westminster in October 1974.
While he could stay on until the next General Election in 2001 or 2002, he feels he could not perform properly his duties as both an MP and MSP.
"If I am elected to the Scottish Parliament, I shall be resigning my seat at Westminster because you can't do two jobs. You can't be in two places at one time," he said.
"I wouldn't want to do both jobs. I think that being an MSP is a full-time job, especially as most of the bread and butter issues in my constituency, such as health and education, will be dealt with by the Scottish Parliament. So I would resign from Westminster."
It would be a mixed blessing for Mr Tony Blair. While Mr Canavan is his most troublesome Scottish MP, an unscheduled battle in Falkirk West could prove very tricky.
"It's going to be tight in May," admitted a senior Scottish Labour source. Labour has classified Falkirk West as a "priority one" seat and will deploy extra resources in a bid to help Ross Martin, its official candidate, beat off Mr Canavan and the SNP.
"We don't know what's going to happen. If Canavan doesn't win, he could still stop us winning and let the SNP come through the middle," said the source.
In a gesture of enduring loyalty to the party he believes has betrayed him, the MP says he would consult officials of Falkirk West Constituency Labour Party about when it would best suit them for him to go. "I would discuss the timing of my resignation with them, to be fair to them. I intend maintaining good, cordial relations with them. My dispute is with the Labour hierarchy in Scotland, not the local officials here in Falkirk."
Everything hinges on his winning in May. He is standing as both a constituency candidate and an individual in the regional list, second-vote section of the Holyrood poll.
The Herald understands that Ann Taylor, Labour's Chief Whip, will withdraw the whip from Mr Canavan very soon. However, the MP will only be excluded once he lodges his nomination papers as an independent Holyrood candidate, probably in April.
- Feb 2
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