Local By-elections

'Two of the many urgent issues I will tackle are the shameful deaths of our pensioners from cold because they cannot afford today's fuel price increases; and the sharp increase in Council Tax the Labour/Lib Dem coalition in Parliament are causing through their incompetence. Midlothian has the 3rd highest Council tax in Scotland. I will hold this high spending Labour council to account helped by the SNP MSPs in the Scottish Parliament and the other SNP councillors who will join me at the next council elections.' SNP Cllr Owen Thompson, 11 th November 2005.

Loanhead (Midlothian) 10 th November 2005

Loanhead - ward 6

Scottish National Party gain from Independent

SNP Cllr Owen Thompson

A by-election was held in Loanhead on the 10 th November 2005 following the death of Independent Cllr William Hoggan on 25 th August 2005. The defeated Labour candidate, George Purcell was an ex Labour leader of the Council and had held the seat for 17 years until losing it by 12 votes to an independent in 2003.

Loanhead is in the Midlothian Westminster parliamentary seat (held by Labour's David Hamilton MP) and in the Midlothian Scottish parliamentary seat (held by Labour's Rhona Brankin MSP).

Scottish National Party gain from Independent. Swing 22.3 % from Labour to Scottish National Party.

10 th November 2005 By-election Turnout 49.7 % (- 2.4 %)
Candidate	Logo	Party	Votes	%	% change
Owen G. Thompson		Scottish National Party	768	45.4 %	+ 27.2 %
George Purcell		Labour	311	18.4 %	- 15.4 %
Patrick Kenny		Independent	268	15.8 %	(+ 15.8 %)
Elizabeth M. Veitch		Independent	217	12.8 %	(+ 12.8 %)
Ken Brown		Liberal Democrat	97	5.7 %	- 5.3 %
Andrew R. Hardie		Conservative	13	0.8 %	- 3.8 %
Philip C. Veitch		Independent	9	0.5 %	(+ 0.5 %)
Ian G. Baxter		Scottish Green Party	8	0.5 %	(+ 0.5 %)
Scottish National Party gain from Independent		Scottish National Party majority	457	27.0 %

1 st May 2003 Turnout 52.1 % (- 9.6 %)
Candidate	Logo	Party	Votes	%	% change
William Hoggan		Independent	611	34.5 %	(+ 34.5 %)
Cllr George Purcell		Labour	599	33.8 %	- 14.2 %
William Bogue		Scottish National Party	285	16.1 %	- 14.7 %
Katie Moffat		Liberal Democrat	194	11.0 %	- 10.2 %
Isla Jones		Conservative	82	4.6 %	(+ 4.6 %)
Independent gain from Labour		Independent majority	12	0.7 %

6 th May 1999 Turnout 61.7 % (+ 20.3 %)
Candidate	Logo	Party	Votes	%	% change
Cllr George Purcell		Labour	1,031	48.0 %	- 23.4 %
William Loneskie		Scottish National Party	662	30.8 %	+ 2.2 %
Katie Moffat		Liberal Democrat	456	21.2 %	(+ 21.2 %)
Labour hold		Labour majority	369	17.2 %	- 25.7 %

Loanhead - ward 4

6 th April 1995 Turnout 41.4 %
Candidate	Logo	Party	Votes	%	% change
George Purcell		Labour	1,093	71.4 %
Gary Young		Scottish National Party	437	28.6 %
Labour win		Labour majority	656	42.9 %

Lib Dems accused of indecent haste again

By Gareth Edwards in the Scotsman, 6 th September 2005

THE Liberal Democrats have again been criticised for targeting a dead councillor's seat before his funeral had even taken place.

The party's website billed the Loanhead ward as a target seat just after the death of Councillor William Hoggan.

It comes a week after they were branded "callous" for using their website to highlight a by-election only a day after the death of Murrayfield councillor Jim Gilchrist.

Leading councillors have again hit out at the party for not waiting until after the funeral of Mr Hoggan to update the website. Edinburgh Conservatives leader Iain Whyte said the move was premature and Midlothian council leader Adam Montgomery said it was in "bad taste".

Cllr Hoggan, 61, ousted the leader of Midlothian Council when he won the seat as an independent in 2003.

The postmaster, who represented Loanhead, defeated then council leader George Purcell, who had held the seat since 1996, by 12 votes.

On Saturday, family and friends attended Cllr Hoggan's funeral at Loanhead Parish Church, following his death on August 25.

But on Friday, the website for the Liberal Democrat group had been updated to show that a by-election for the seat would be taking place, before any arrangements had been made by Midlothian council to find a new representative for the ward.

Councillor Whyte said they now needed to investigate why it had happened again, after criticism of the move following the death of Councillor Gilchrist. He said: "It does seem as though once again they have acted a little prematurely in advertising this by-election before Mr Hoggan's funeral, and certainly before anything has been arranged.

"Before they think about politics they should think about the feelings of the family. It is something I would hope the Liberal Democrats, considering they expressed disappointment at their website advertising the by-election for Jim Gilchrist's seat so quickly, would try to sort out and look into how this has happened again."

And Cllr Montgomery said: "The Lib Dems are entitled to put up what they like but out of respect to the family we did not look at setting a date until after the funeral was held. Given there was no date I think it was a little premature to put this up and I have to say I think it is in bad taste."

Senior Liberal Democrat councillors admitted they had been "premature" after the same thing happened following Cllr Gilchrist's death. But they have now hit back at claims they were acting irresponsibly and said it was other parties who were playing politics with a man's death.

Newington councillor Fred Mackintosh, a former Midlothian parliamentary candidate, said: "The Loanhead page on our website is a standard form notice that there is to be a by-election. It is no more disrespectful than the notice of Cllr Hoggan's sad death on Midlothian Council's website or reports in the local press.

"All we are doing is letting people know there is a by-election coming up, and this is a site that the Conservative party have used themselves and have found very useful in the past."

Vote date set in wake of councillor's death

From the Scotsman, 19 th September 2005

MIDLOTHIAN Council has announced that the by-election to elect a Councillor for Ward 6 Loanhead will take place on Thursday, November 10. The by-election is being held after the death of Cllr William Hoggan on August 25. Cllr Hoggan, 61, ousted the leader of Midlothian Council when he won the seat as an independent in 2003. The postmaster, who represented Loanhead, defeated then council leader George Purcell, who had held the seat since 1996, by 12 votes.

SNP sweep to fifth stunning by-election victory

From the Scottish National Party, 10 th November 2005

The SNP has swept to victory in the Loanhead by-election, increasing its vote by almost 30% and securing SNP representation in all of Lothian's councils. Bruce Crawford MSP described the victory as "a tremendous success not only for our outstanding local candidate Owen Thompson, but for the SNP as a whole."

• SNP increases vote by 29% in Labour target seat of Loanhead.
• Labour's Ex-Council Leader humiliated in seat he held for 17 years.
• 5th SNP council by-election GAIN since 2005 election
• First time since 1970's SNP represented in all Lothian Councils

It's fantastic to be part of the SNP's growing winning team

From Owen Thompson, 11 th November 2005

Newly elected Cllr Owen Thompson said:

"It's fantastic to be part of the SNP's growing winning team. I'd like to thank the voters of Loanhead for placing their trust in me and the SNP in this election.

"The SNP team worked hard for this result and I will work equally as hard as SNP councillor for the people of Loanhead Ð regardless of how they voted.

"Two of the many urgent issues I will tackle are the shameful deaths of our pensioners from cold because they cannot afford today's fuel price increases; and the sharp increase in Council Tax the Labour/Lib Dem coalition in Parliament are causing through their incompetence.

"Midlothian has the 3rd highest Council tax in Scotland. I will hold this high spending Labour council to account helped by the SNP MSPs in the Scottish Parliament and the other SNP councillors who will join me at the next council elections.

"This is yet another by-election victory for the SNP - one of many this year - as the people of Scotland recognise that Independence is not only right Ð it is our right."

FULL RESULT

MIDLOTHIAN COUNCIL
Loanhead Ward By-election: 10 November 2005

Labour suffers in byelections

From the Guardian, 11 th November 2005

In a further rebuff, the Scottish National Party's Owen Thompson scooped up a former independent seat at Loanhead, Midlothian, where Labour had missed out by just 12 votes last time round.

The Tory defence of Murrayfield ensured Labour's loss of overall control at Edinburgh. The crucial try had been scored earlier when a party councillor defected to the SNP, leaving the Conservatives with an easy conversion.

The result was a relief to the Tories, who have been thrown into confusion north of the border by the resignation of their Scottish leader David McLetchie, who is an Edinburgh MSP.

Loanhead result

By Iain Swanson, Scottish Political Editor in the Evening News, 11 th November 2005

The Loanhead result, where the Scottish Nationalists increased their vote by almost 30 per cent, gives the party a seat on Labour-dominated Midlothian Council and means the SNP is represented on all Lothian councils for the first time since the 1970s. SNP victor Owen Thompson had a comfortable 457 majority over George Purcell, former Labour leader of the council, who held the seat for 17 years until losing it to an independent by just 12 votes in 2003. Mr Thompson said: "The SNP team worked hard for this result and I will work equally hard as SNP councillor for the people of Loanhead - regardless of how they voted. "Two of the many urgent issues I will tackle are the shameful deaths of our pensioners from cold because they cannot afford today's fuel price increases; and the sharp increase in council tax.

Scottish National Party victory in Loanhead by-election

By Alex Salmond, Angus Robertson, Mike Weir, Pete Wishart, Stewart Hosie and Angus MacNeil in Hansard, 21 st November 2005

That this House congratulates Councillor Owen Thompson on his election as the Scottish National Party's (SNP) latest elected representative following his decisive victory in the local authority by-election in Loanhead in Midlothian Council on the night of Thursday 10th November; notes that this victory was gained by a massive swing from Labour and Liberal Democrat voters which saw the SNP vote increase by nearly 30 per cent.; recognises that the seat was won against a strong campaign by the Labour Party's ex-Council Leader who had previously held the seat for 17 years until narrowly losing it by 12 votes in 2003 to an independent; welcomes the fact that the SNP has won the majority of local by-elections held since the 2005 election with five gains out of nine contests; further welcomes the fact that in all the nine by-elections the SNP is far ahead of the other parties in terms of the popular vote; and views this victory as a solid indication that the choice for Scottish voters in the 2007 elections will be a clear one between an SNP Executive with a vision of taking Scotland forward, or the failing Labour-LibDem Executive holding Scotland back on behalf of London.

Links

• Midlothian Council