 | 'Just as the Tories pay the price for being in national office for so long, similarly Labour is vulnerable to the same charge at council level. Long-lived and not always efficient. The rap over the knuckles is administered at the ballot box.' Charles Kennedy MP, in the Scotsman, 7 th May 1994. |  |
This is the second ward which the Conservatives have gained this year, after winning Kintore from an Independent. In addition to losing Dunblane West to the Conservatives, Labour has also lost one ward to the Liberal Democrats and three to the Scottish National Party.
In 1988, Stirling Council was such a hotly contested area that Labour and the Conservatives tied with 10 councillors each. So, in the best democratic traditions, the control of Stirling Council was decided upon the cut of a pack of cards. Labour turned up a seven of clubs, while the Conservatives drew a two of spades and Jack McConnell, number one fan of these pages became council leader.
In 1992 Labour and the Conservatives again tied with 10 wards each. However, the Conservatives had obtained 42.98 % of the vote compared to only 34.13 % for Labour. Again the control of Stirling Council was decided by a cut of the cards, this time won by the Conservatives.
In 1995 the deadlock was broken when Labour won an overall majority on the new Stirling council, winning 13 seats compared to 7 for the Tories and 2 for the SNP. The new ward of Dunblane West was won by Labour's Arthur Ironside with a majority of 143 over the Tories.
Upon initial scrutiny, Dunblane West may look like a Tory truimph, with their second win of the year and a 10.85 % swing from Labour to Conservative. However, it is actually quite a dismal result for the Conservatives when compared with their previous record in this area.
The Tories won by the by-election by only 176 votes whereas in 1992 they had an impressive 719 majority over Labour in the District Council ward of Dunblane West & Kilmadock. In the by-election, they gained Dunblane West almost by default as the Labour vote crashed by over 18 %. Dunblane Tories can be happy that they won, but globally the result is disappointing as they only managed to increase their vote by 3.6 % compared to 1995.
Then they received a derisory 11.5 % of the vote in Scotland and were reduced to a rump of 82 councillors and zero councils, down from 204 councillors and 4 councils in 1992. Tory fortunes were so low in 1995 that, in the words of the Right Honourable Anthony Charles Lynton Blair's fav group, D:Ream, 'Things can only get better.' However, with an extra 3.6 % throughout Scotland the Conservatives would only poll 15.1 %, which is still 2.4% less than they obtained at their General Election wipe out in May 1997.
The Conservatives will undoubtedly benefit from the Decline and Fall of the Labour Empire in the odd ward next May, but the remnants of Attila the Hen's once formidable hordes are still looking as unconvincing (and anti-Scottish, anti-democratic) as ever.
Perhaps the only person who should be worried by the Dunblane West result is ex Scottish Labour General Secretary, Jack McConnell - even if he wins the Stirling nomination for Labour, the poor man could well find himself with a Tory MP if the swing in Dunblane is repeated in May.
What a cruel world politics can be.
Following the by-election, the political composition of Stirling Council is 12 Labour, 8 Conservatives and 2 Scottish National Party.
| 25 th June 1998 | 6 th April 1995 | ||||||
| Patricia Greenhill |  |
541 | 38.3 % | Arthur Ironside |  |
680 | 43.9 % |
| Isabelle McBeath |
|
365 | 25.8 % | Patricia Greenhill | | 537 | 34.7 % |
| Michael Dewar |  |
290 | 20.5 % | Alan Caldwell | | 267 | 17.2 % |
| Sharon Paterson |  | 216 | 15.3 % | Susan Sexton | | 65 | 4.2 % |
| Paal Lavin | No Council Redundancies in Stirling | 13 | 0.9 % | ||||
| Con gain from Lab | Con maj. | 176 | 12.4 % | Lab gain | Lab maj. | 143 | 9.2 % |
Return to home page