 | 'Perth & Kinross did consistently well (in the Council League Tables) under the SNP, but now after two years of the anti-SNP rainbow alliance we have slipped back from 3 rd to 10 th and who knows when the rot will stop.' Cllr Dr John Hulbert, May 2001. |  |
The Unionists were celebrating in Kinross Town as a Liberal Democrat member of the local anti-SNP alliance won the ward of Kinross Town where the SNP's Cllr Bruce Crawford had stood down after being elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999.
The town of Kinross lies just off the M90 by Loch Leven. After her defeat at Carberry Hill in 1567, Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned in the Douglas castle on one of the islands and forced to abdicate. After almost a year she escaped, but was defeated at the battle of Langside and then fled to England where she was imprisoned and eventually executed by Elizabeth of England.
Perth & Kinross District Council was held by the Tories from 1974 until 1996. At the last District Council elections in 1992, although the Tories and SNP were only separated by 5.4 % in terms of votes, the Tories swept the board in Perth & Kinross. The Tories won 16 wards (+ 6, -1) with 39.54 % of the vote, while the SNP took 5 wards (- 4) with 34.10 % of the vote. Labour won 3 wards (- 2) with 9.21 %, Independents also took 3 wards with 8.63 % and the Lib Dems won the remaining two wards (+ 1, -1) with 8.51 %.
A total of eight wards changed hands in 1992. The Lib Dems won Almond Valley from the SNP, the Tories won North Inch and Craigie from Labour, Dunsinane, Pitlochrie and Ericht from the SNP, and Tullylumb from the Lib Dems, while an Independent won East Strathearn from the Tories.
In 1995, the new Perth & Kinross Unitary council consisted of the old District council, plus an additional ward made up from existing Dundee wards. The Tories were routed, with their vote falling from 39.54 % to 24.84 % and they lost all but two of the wards in the new council. The main beneficiaries were the SNP who saw their vote rise from 34.10 % to 41.04 % and they increased their representation from 5 to 18 to take overall control of the new council. Labour took 6 wards with 14.35 %, the Lib Dems 5 with 13.00 % and an Independent 1 ward with 6.72 %.
In 1999, following boundary changes, the number of wards increased from 32 to 41. There was a swing back to the Tories. The SNP were down 6.24 % to 34.80 % and won 16 wards with two of their councillors, Ewan Dow and Janet Law being defeated. The Tories were up 4.25 % to 29.09 % and won 11 wards, up from just two in 1995. The Lib Dems won 6 wards with 16.82 %, Labour 6 wards with 16.08 % and Independents two with 3.2 %. This meant that the council had no overall control, with the SNP being the largest group.
Following New Labour dumping of socialism and lurch to the right, there were very few policy differences between Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems and they decided to form a rainbow alliance and prevent the SNP from controlling Perth & Kinross Council. New Labour's willingness to form an Unionist alliance with the Tories was nothing particularly new. As far back as 1970, the Labour delegation to the Kilbrandon Commission had stated 'We would prefer to see a Tory government in Westminster than a Labour government in Edinburgh'. Unfortunately for the inhabitants of Perth & Kinross, this right wing, unionist coalition proved much less adept at administering the council than the SNP. While the SNP ran Perth & Kinross it was classed 3 rd in the Council League Table, but under the anti-SNP coalition, it has slumped to 10 th place. In contrast, SNP controlled Angus has been top of the league in 1998, 1999 and 2000, only being displaced in 2001 by Clackmannan where the SNP became the minority administration in 1999 and took overall control in 2000. Few people would be surprised to learn that Labour-run councils currently hold 11 of the 13 bottom places in the league.
The by-election in Kinross Town is caused by the resignation of Cllr Bruce Crawford who was elected as a Mid Scotland & Fife MSP in May 1999. Bruce Crawford was a Perth & Kinross District Councillor from 1988 until 1996 and a Perth & Kinross Councillor from 1995 until 2001. He was Convenor of the Environmental Health Committee from 1988 until 1992, leader of the council from 1996 until 1999 and SNP group leader from 1999 until 2001. In the Scottish Parliament he was SNP chief whip from 1999 to 2000 and became Shadow Minister for Transport & Environment in 2001.
On Perth & Kinross District Council Bruce Crawford represented East Kinross which he won in 1988, holding it in 1992 with 1,686 votes (69.5 %), giving him a 945 majority (38.9 %) over Tory Peter Page with 741 votes (30.5 %).
After local government reorganisation, Bruce Crawford won the Kinross Town ward on Perth & Kinross Unitary council in 1995 with 1,486 votes (73.6 %) in a four way contest, giving him a 1,203 (59.6 %) majority over the Tories. Conservative Peter Page took 283 votes (14.0 %), Labour's Sara Callaghan won 152 (7.5 %) and David West took 98 (4.9 %) for the Lib Dems.
In 1999, Bruce Crawford was elected with 64.3 % of the vote and a 51.3 % majority over the Conservatives. The Tories polled 13.0 %, Labour 12.7 % and the Lib Dems 10.0 %.
The SNP may be questioning the wisdom of holding the by-election on the same day as the General election. In Ochil as a whole their vote was down by 4.2 % on 1997 and by 8.0 % on 1999 when George Reid stood in the constituency. In Kinross town the SNP voted crashed by 29.1 % from when Bruce Crawford stodd in 1999 to a second place 35.2 % in 2001.
The party which won for the ward for the Anti-SNP alliance was Liberal Democrat Doddie Hayton who took 39.6 % of the vote, up 29.6 % from fourth place and 10.0 % of the vote. This is the first time since the glorious days of the Alliance that the Liberals have won a seat from the SNP. In a moment of political unity rarely seen since the Devolution campaign, the Liberal Democrats have become the heros of the day and are the toast of the Tories and Labour in Perth & Kinross for notching up another victory for the anti-SNP Unionist alliance.
The turnout was 66.5 %, down from 69 % in 1999.
The Lib Dem gain of Kinross town from the SNP means the political composition of Perth & Kinross council is now 15 SNP, 11 Tories, seven Lib Dems, six Labour and two Independents.
Three months ago, I warned that Council by-elections are volatile affairs and that around half change hands.
I a little reported side-show to the General Election, just such a contest took place in Kinross Town, at the extreme southern extremity of Perth & Kinross. When Bruce Crawford was elected list MSP for Mid Scotland & Fife, he also held the Council seat that he had made his own, with 1092 votes, a massive majority of 871 over the Tories, with the Liberals fourth at 170. In a turn-a-round of seismic proportions the Liberals have won the ward with 661 votes to the SNP's 588. What went wrong? What lessons can be learned?
First, let it be said, that our candidate was able, committed, and worked hard - personally canvassing a large proportion of the households. The trouble was that she was the wrong candidate for the ward. Now many councillors do not live in their wards, but so long as the distance is not great and the area similar, the disadvantage may be small (but nevertheless real). In this case, however, the candidate came from 25 miles away, at the other end of the Council's area, and from the other side of the Tay. And she had no strong local connections which might have redeemed the geographical disadvantages. It was folly, indeed it was arrogant of the SNP to parachute in such a candidate and expect her to be accepted as a 'local' councillor.
Our risk was compounded by the fact that the other three Kinross-shire wards were held by Liberals, who are past masters in the art of keeping it local. Worse still, in a contest held at the same time as the General Election in which the SNP was fighting to hold Perth, and take Ochil, we gave the Liberals who had nothing to lose in either of these constituencies, the opportunity to concentrate their efforts on a single ward. It was foolhardy. We gave it away.
Given the importance of this contest to the SNP Group on the council, (which now needs to capture 6 seats to retake control of the Council), it would have been wise to consult with the group, or at least its leader. No consultation took place. Those who heard on the grapevine what was happening had serious misgivings, but were given no opportunity, during the rapid sequence of events which followed Bruce Crawford's resignation from the Council, to express them. Lessons must be learned from this debacle.| 7 th June 2001 | 6 th May 1999 | ||||||
| George Hayton |  |
661 | 39.6 % | R. H. Bruce Crawford |  |
1,092 | 64.3 % |
|
588 | 35.2 % | Richard Scott |  |
221 | 13.0 % | |
 |
258 | 15.4 % | David Milliken | |
215 | 12.7 % | |
|
163 | 9.8 % | Linda Freeman | |
170 | 10.0 % | |
| Lib Dem gain from SNP | Lib Dem maj. | 73 | 4.4 % % | SNP win | SNP maj. | 871 | 51.3 % |
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