 | 'The impression remains indelibly imprinted on a public mind of a party in this country which is way beyond the control of ordinary mortals. Decades of control of Scotland's local authorities, unfettered by any semblance of political direction from Labour's national heirarchy, have produced this wholly unacceptable situation.' Scotland on Sunday Editorial, 31 st May 1998. |  |
Dumbarton is a historic town which was the capital of the Strathclyde (the ancient British kingdom rather than the Labour fief).The recent boundary changes in the Dumbarton area are somewhat confusing. When the Tories gerrymandered (in vain) Scottish local government in 1995, they broke up Dumbarton District Council. 5 of the wards in the Helensburgh area were transferred to Argyll & Bute while 7 and a bit wards around Dumbarton were added to Clydebank District to form Dumbarton & Clydebank Council. This Council later changed its name to West Dunbartonshire. (The new East Dunbartonshire Council is composed of the old Bearsden & Milngavie District Council plus 16 wards from Strathkelvin).
West Dunbartonshire is another prime example of how the first past the post system distorts elections and results in a poor public image for local government. In 1995, Labour won 14 wards with 50.4 % of the vote, while the SNP won only 7 wards with 42.6% of the vote.
In 1992, Dumbarton West was held by Labour's Patrick O'Neill with a 568 majority over the Scottish National Party. Labour took 63.2 % of the vote compared to 23.7 % for the SNP. In 1995, Patrick O'Neil also won the new Unitary Council seat of Dumbarton West with a reduced majority of 443 over the SNP, whose vote increased by 10.0 %.
The by-election gain for the SNP in West Dumbarton follows on from that in the Old Kilpatrick ward which they won from an Independent in 1996, when John McCutcheon increasing the SNP vote from 14.0 to 61.8%. The gain of West Dumbarton from Labour, on a 17.15 % swing, gives the SNP 9 wards and Labour 13 on the 22 ward council.
The by-election was a two horse race, with candidates for the two minor parties and Independent only receiving 169 votes between them.
The turnout was 41.2 %, up from 40.6 % in April 1995.
Following the by-election, the political composition of West Dunbartonshire Council is 13 Labour and 9 Scottish National Party.
The party won the Dumbarton West ward of the controversial West Dunbartonshire Council.
David Logan (SNP) polled 611 votes, 23 more than Alistair Tuach (Lab).
Ken Shepherd (LD) was third with 90.
Martin Hollern (Independent) scored 46 and Brian Voster (Con) 33.
The turnout among the 3,330 voters was over 41 %.
The SNP now has 9 seats to Labour's 13 on the 22 seat council.
The result of the by-election in West Dumbarton is the fifth council defeat at the hands of the nationalists since Labour swept to power more than a year ago.
It also represents the 11 th council by-election out of the last 15 in which the Labour vote has slumped by a significant margin, reflecting polls that have seen the SNP pull ahead of Tony Blair's 'new' Labour.
West Dumbarton was won by the SNP candidate David Logan by just 23 votes after a recount. An independent candidate who stood to split the Labour vote gathered 46 votes and helped ensure the SNP victory. martin Hollern, standing as a local community worker, had been at the centre of three investigations into allegations of financial irregularities in three community-based projects in Dumbarton last year.
He said 'They tried to make me look a thief when I had done nothing wrong. That is why I wanted to split the vote.'
The SNP won the ward with 611 votes, Labour was second with 588, followed by the Scottish Liberal Democrats with 90 votes, Mr Hollern with 46 votes and the Scottish Conservatives trailing with a mere 33 votes. The result represented a 17 per cent swing to the SNP.
In the previous local election in 1995, Labour had 901 votes and the SNP 458. The defeat does not bode well for Labour with the Possilpark ward by-election to come on 27 August. Labour lost to the SNP in Fife last November when a 59.6 per cent majority was overturned. The Nationalists got 366 votes while Labour polled 299.
Labour then lost Garrowhill in Glasgow to the SNP in January by 788 votes to 375; Condorrat North, Westfield and Smithstone in North Lanarkshire in June by 668 votes to 301.
Mr Salmond said yesterday: 'On the 17 per cent swing achieved by the SNP in Dumbarton West, the SNP would emerge as the biggest party in both the Scottish parliament and local authority elections next year.
'The SNP would be a clear 16 points ahead of Labour in the council elections and 10 per cent ahead in the Scottish parliament contest.'
A Labour spokeswoman said 'When people reflect on what Labour is delivering on health, education and jobs and contrasting that to the fantasy promises of the separatist party, we are confident that more and more people will support us.'
The Dumbarton West result was reported in the Scots Independent of September 1998
Glasgow City Council Opposition Leader Kenneth Gibson told the SI:
'Since last September's referendum, there have been 14 by-elections in Scottish local government. Labour previously held ten of these seats, but have lost eight of them - five to Scotland's Party, the SNP.
'Our gains have been the Rosyth seat in Fife last November; Glasgow Garrowhill in January; Kilmaurs in East Ayrshire in February; Condorrat North in North Lanarkshire in June; and Dumbarton West now.
'On average, the swing from Labour to the SNP in these seats was more than 20 per cent. Even in a seat which Labour held - in South Lanarkshire in April - the swing to the SNP was still 19 per cent.
'Swings of this scale would also see the SNP emerge as the largest party in councils such as East Ayrshire, Clackmannan, West Dunbartonshire, Dundee, Falkirk, Fife, North Lanarkshire, West Lothian and Renfrewshire, as well as strengthening our position in the three councils which we hold.
| 13 th August 19988 | 6 th April 1995 | ||||||
| David Logan |  | 611 | 44.7 % | Patrick O'Neill |  | 901 | 66.3 % |
| Alistair Tuach | | 588 | 43.0 % | Robert Doris | | 458 | 33.7 % |
| Kenneth Shepherd |  | 90 | 6.6 % | ||||
| Martin Hollern | Ind | 46 | 3.4 % | ||||
| Brian Voster |  | 33 | 2.4 % | ||||
| SNP gain from Lab | SNP maj. | 23 | 1.7 % | Lab gain | Lab maj. | 443 | 32.6 % |
Return to home page