 | 'Yet again Secretary of State Donald Dewar rushes to slam shut the stable door after the horse - in this case in the form of £4.5m of council taxpayers' money - has bolted. Tomorrow he will implement rarely used powers to demand that highly questionable contracts awarded by Labour controlled North Lanarkshire Council be re-tendered.' Scotland on Sunday Editorial, 31 st May 1998. |  |
The victory was won with a massive 36.35 % swing to the Scottish National Party in Labour's latest scandal-ridden council where it was revealed recently that a plumber with a £10,000 a year basic salary actually earned almost £55,000. Labour's 41.9 % majority was converted to a 31.3 % lead for the SNP.
North Lanarkshire is a prime example of just how badly a fair system is needed for local government elections. In 1995, Labour, with 62 % of the vote, won 87 % (60 out of 69) of the wards while the Scottish National Party, with 30 % of the vote won only 10 % (seven). This type of electoral distortion has undoubtedly been bad for democracy and contributed to the poor public perception of Scottish local government. (And this paragraph was written before the £4.8m hole in North Lanarkshire's budget was revealed!)
In 1995, Labour's Craig Combe won Condorrat North, Westfield & Smithstone with a 531 majority over the SNP's Alan Caldwell. In normal times, Labour would have been able to get a turnip wearing a red roseate elected here. Although Labour treated Condorrat North, Westfield & Smithstone as a marginal ward and pulled out all the stops, it was unable to avoid a humiliating defeat here by the Scottish National Party. This previously safe Labour ward would have required an enormous 20.7 % swing for the SNP to capture it - the final swing was over 36 %.
This is the fourth Labour ward to fall to the SNP since last November, when there was a 17.9 % swing from Labour to the SNP in Rosyth West & Dockyard. In January 1998 the SNP won Garrowhill (Glasgow) with a 17.5 % swing, followed Kilmaurs, Fenwick & Waterside (East Ayrshire) in February with a 22.4 % swing. Such swings augur very badly for Labour's chances in the forthcoming council elections in May 1999.
The turnout was 41.9 %, down from 45.7 % in 1995.
Following the by-election, the political composition of North Ayrshire Council is 59 Labour, 8 Scottish National Party, and 2 Independents.
The party's defeat by the SNP late last week in a council by-election in North lanarkshire on a 36 % swing has worried MPs and ministers that similar results for Holyrood would see the SNP breaking into Labour's heartlands.
The SNP recorded another shattering local government victory in the North Lanarkshire Condorrat North/Westfield & Smithstone ward where the veteran Nationalist David McGlashan achieved a swing from Labour of 36 %.SNP chief executive told the Scots Independent:
'This is a catastrophic collapse for Labour with one of the highest recorded swings ever in local government by-elections. Just as at national level, Labour's message is treated with derision. In Labour's traditional fiefdoms the vote is going to the SNP.
'North Lanarkshire is not only the worst example of Labour's scandalous mis-management of DLOs but it is also in the Cumbernauld & Kilsyth constituency of Rosemary McKenna who presided over the ideological cull which New Labour imposed on their candidates' list'
Labour's defeated candidate added her own assessment.
'It wisnae really the SNP,' Ms Egan told us. 'It was thae papers that done for Labour'
| 18 th June 1998 | 6 th April 1995 | ||||||
| David McGlashan |  | 668 | 56.9 % | Craig Combe |  | 908 | 70.7 % |
| Ms Egan | | 301 | 25.6 % | Alan Caldwell | | 377 | 29.3 % |
| Hugh O'Donnell |  | 181 | 15.1 % | ||||
 | 25 | 2.4 % | |||||
| SNP gain from Lab | SNP maj. | 367 | 31.3 % | Lab gain | Lab maj. | 531 | 41.4 % |
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