Local By-elections

'You are shocked English and Welsh police are receiving more money? It's quite simple, Jack: Mr Blair needs the votes, particularly of Middle England. He is aware that here he could field a row of turnips wearing red rosettes and still get them elected. Some believe he already has.' Conservative Cllr Brian Meek in the Herald, 9 th December 1997.

Garrowhill (Glasgow) 22 nd January 1998

Indeed, the verdict of the electors of Garrowhill was to give Labour the thumbs down in no uncertain terms. The Scottish National Party gained Garrowhill with a 326 (20.3 %) majority over Labour. This represented a swing of 17.45 % from Labour to the Scottish National Party, almost exactly the same as in Rosyth last November.

The new SNP councillor is Mr John Mason (40), an accountant who works for a Housing Association. Commenting on the result, Cllr Mason said:

'The SNP are now going from strength to strength in Glasgow and throughout Scotland.'

The Conservatives increased their vote by 4.8 % on their disastrous 1995 showing, while Scottish Socialist Alliance were 2.2 % down on the Militant Labour vote, and the Liberal Democrat vote fell by 1.9 %.

The turnout was 25.1 %, down from 43.7 % in 1995.

As a result of this by-election, the Scottish National Party becomes the official opposition group on Glasgow City Council whose political composition is now 74 Labour (of whom 9 have been suspended including the Lord Provost, Deputy Lord Provost, the ex-Convenor of the Council and his deputy), 4 Scottish National Party, 3 Conservatives, 1 Liberal Democrat and 1 Militant Labour.

Commenting on the result, SNP Chief Executive Mr Michael Russell said:

'This is a magnificent victory for the SNP. The people of Glasgow are tired of Labour. In what was a previously safe ward, Labour have been humiliated.

'There was a big 'scunner factor' at play in Garrowhill, with people fed up both of Labour's sleaze in Glasgow and also of Tony Blair's right-wing agenda, which was a major factor on the doorstep.

'With our four councillors, the SNP are now the official opposition in Glasgow for the first time ever. As we look forward to the new Scottish Parliament, the SNP are going from strength to strength in Glasgow and across Scotland.'

Scottish Spectrum

by Tam Jenkins-Home in the Scots Independent

It's a bit rich of the wee Tory group trying to deny the SNP the Principal Opposition spoils won as a result of the famous by-election victory. Under a PR system the Tories would be entitled to 6 councillors instead of their present 3, Labour 51 instead of 74, Lib Dems 3 instead of 1, and the SNP 20 instead of 4. And, as Kenny Gibson modestly points out, his 1995 vote in his own Mosspark ward exceeded the total cast for all three Tory councillors put together.

Labour Vote Crumbling by the Hour

The honeymoon was undoubtedly over, but voters in England had nowhere left to go. As a number of even English commentators have been observing, the Scots enjoy a ready-made alternative and the opinion polls obliged here by recording an increase to 29 % in SNP fortunes.

Then, at the end of the month, Labour were caught completely off-guard in a local government by-election inside their strongest fiefdom, the cool City of Glasgow. Their caretaker administration there, following wave upon wave of graft and corruption allegations in the old-guard ranks, were presumably too preoccupied with the task of restoring their image that a by-election was far down the list of political priorities.

The price they paid for their negligence was a 17 ¹/₂ per cent swing to the Nationalists; and, worse, a resultant increase in the size of the SNP group which placed them ahead of the Tories and entitled them to claim the principal opposition place, with attendant political advantages.

Garrowhill is of course only a local seat, but its geographical location entitles it almost to rank alongside previous Parliamentary by-election surges which severely rattled Labour's bars ... Kay Ullrich's near-miss in their Monklands heartland and the more recent Paisley South close-run challenge.

Glasgow is the jewel in Labour's crown, so to speak. It has been a traditional axiom in Nationalist circles for many decades that Scotland will never be won until Glasgow is. The significance of the huge advance in the late 1960s - following Winnie Ewing's Hamilton victory - was diminished by the fact that only a third of the Glasgow Corporation seats were contestable at the same time.

The corrupt British electoral system still marginalises opposition parties - the SNP, with 24 per cent of the vote in Glasgow, should, under a fair PR electoral system have 20 councillors of the 83 instead of only four. Victories beget victories, however. What is certain is that the Labour Parties, Old and New, will now be viewing the 1999 council elections with a great deal of foreboding.

A number of factors contributed to the Garrowhill win.

1. Despite widely held preconceptions, Glasgow is not irreversibly a 'Labour city'. More than 50 per cent of the vote generally goes to the Labour Party but there have been a number of exceptions - the one quoted above, and there was even once a Tory administration in Glasgow, within living post-War memory.

2. There is a long tradition of job and Council house patronage which helps the Labour vote considerably; but, whenever electors feel they can vote for another party in relative secrecy without jeopardising their livelihood, they will often do so.

3. Garrowhill lies in the East End which has, perhaps surprisingly, returned Nationalist Councillors on numerous occasions. Garrowhill itself can almost qualify to be part of 'Middle Scotland' and there has been a strong Nationalist base vote there for many years.

4. Party activists fought the by-election with flair and skill, helped by the recent sleazy shortcomings of the Labour Party nationally and in the West of Scotland.

5. The campaign was also considerably helped by the shining example of SNP group leader Kenneth Gibson, who holds his own Mosspark seat with an overall majority and is a magnificent maverick opponent of the sub-standard Glasgow council administration at all times, exploiting every political shortcoming to advantage.

   He has, for example, recently endorsed Cardinal Winning's tirade against the crass ineptitude of the Labour administration over the closure of many Glasgow schools, with a total lack of a comprehensive strategy for intellectual educational provision thereafter.

   Garrowhill

   22 nd January 1998				6 th April 1995
   John Mason		793	49.4 %	Charles McDonach		1,226	46.9 %
   		467	29.1 %	Graham Cunningham		842	32.3 %
   		229	14.3 %	Ian Mowat		249	9.5 %
   		62	3.9 %	Hugh Morrow	Militant Labour	159	6.1 %
   John McPherson		55	3.4 %	John McPherson		138	5.3 %
   SNP gain from Lab	SNP maj	326	20.3 %	Lab gain	Lab maj.	384	14.6 %

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