 | 'How can local politics be highlighted and councils made more accountable if the elections are buried under the media frenzy of a Scottish general election?' Keith Harding, the Tory local government spokesman, 23 rd November 2000. |  |
| 'How can local politics be highlighted and councils made more accountable if the elections are buried under the media frenzy of a Scottish general election?' Keith Harding, the Tory local government spokesman, 23 rd November 2000. | |
The Conservatives were given a severe shock in Inverclyde when they suffered a swing of 15.5 % to the Liberal Democrats in the Kilmacolm ward. Their majority was slashed from 812 to just 104 over the Lib Dems who came from fourth place.
Kilmacolm (ward 1) is the second local government by-election in the 20 seat Inverclyde Council since 1999. In September 2000, the Liberal Democrats won Ward 13 from Labour. Labour lost overall control of the council, although they remained the biggest party with 10 seats compared to 9 for the Lib Dems.
Kilmacolm is the only Conservative ward on Inverclyde Council. The by-election is caused by the death of Cllr Alex Calvert who represented Kilmacolm from at least 1992, being returned with large majorities, the only battle being for second, third and fourth place.
Inverclyde District Council was run by the Liberals from 1980 until 1984, but since then has been controlled by Labour.
In 1992 in Inverclyde District Council, the Liberal Democrats gained Broomhill and Gourock from Labour, while Labour won Clune Brae from the Lib Dems. This gave Labour 11 wards compared to 8 for the Lib Dems and one for the Conservatives. The sole Tory councillor was Alex Calvert, who won 1,283 votes (59.6 %), 828 votes (38.5 %) ahead of T. Fyfe for the Lib Dems who took 455 votes (21.1 %). Labour's Iain Robertson came third with 234 votes (10.9 %) followed by the SNP's I. Campbell with 180 votes 8.4 %).
After local government re-organisation, Inverclyde District Council became Inverclyde Council, retaining its twenty seats. Labour made advances at the expense of the Lib Dems, winning 14 wards, compared to just 5 for the Lib Dems with Alex Calvert winning the new unitary council ward 1 for the Tories. He took 1,034 votes (50.8 %), 635 votes (31.2 %) ahead of Labour's Iain Robertson with 399 votes (19.6 %). The Liberal Democrats' Ronald Scott was beaten into third place with 385 votes (18.9 %) ahead of Douglas MacLean for the SNP with 217 votes (10.7 %).
In 1999, Inverclyde produced the same result as 1992, with 11 Labour, 8 Lib Dems and 1 Tory. Alex Calvert retained ward 1 in 1999 with a reduction of just 0.4 % in his vote and 2.4 % in his majority. This time Mary Munro contested the ward for Labour, increasing their vote by 2.0 %, while the SNP's Samuel Thomson increased their vote by 3.3 %, moving them into third place. The Liberal Democrats, who came second in 1992, fell to fourth place, albeit by 2 votes, with Sylvia Kelly taking 4.9 % less than in 1995.
We wrote 'Labour need to win this ward if they wished to regain overall control of Inverclyde Council. On the other hand, if the Liberal Democrats were to win, they would have the same number of councillors as Labour. However, even with the Tories showing no sign of a revival in Scotland, any result other than a Conservative hold here would produce a major upset.'
While there was no major upset in Kilmacolm, a safe Conservative ward has been turned into a Tory/Lib Dem marginal. The Conservative majority here was slashed from 812 over Labour to 104 over the Lib Dems who came from fourth place. The Tory share of the vote fell by 6.2 %, Labour by 9.6 % and the SNP by 8.9 %, while the Lib Dem vote rose by 24.7 %.
The result in Kilmacolm has proved that while the Liberal Democrats continue to humiliated in other areas, particularily in Hamilton South where they were beaten by Hamilton Accademicals, Inverclyde remains a stonghold for them . On the basis of recent local by-elections here the Lib Dems will be hoping to control Inverclyde after the next local government elections.
The result in Kilmacolm is a dire warning to William Hague and the Conservative party. With a general election possibly only months ago, nationwide tactical voting on a scale seen in Kilmacolm would effectively ensure that the Conservatives would once again not win a single seat in Scotland.
The turnout was 43.9 %, down from 65.3 % in 1999.
Following the by-election, the composition of Inverclyde council remains unchanged at 10 Labour, 9 Lib Dems and one Conservative. (The Lib Dems won won Ward 13 from Labour in September 2000.)
I am grateful to David Freeland for information on the by-election and for sending the results.
| 8 th February 2001 | 6 th May 1999 | ||||||
| Helen Calvert |  |
843 | 44.2 % | Alex Calvert | |
1,420 | 50.4 % |
| Thomas Fyfe |
 |
739 | 38.7 % | Mary Munro |  |
608 | 21.6 % |
| David Lyle | |
230 | 12.0 % | Samuel Thomson |  |
395 | 14.0 % |
| Margaret McLeese | |
97 | 5.1 % | Sylvia Kelly | |
393 | 14.0 % |
| Con hold | Con maj. | 104 | 5.5 % | Con win | Con maj. | 812 | 28.8 % |
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