Local By-elections

'Neither I nor my hon. Friend the Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine (Sir R. Smith) can fathom why the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland is arguing that Aberdeenshire's complement of councillors should be increased from 47 to 68. It is a complete waste of money, and utterly unnecessary. No one anywhere in Aberdeenshire is in favour of the change, yet the Boundary Commission is insisting that it go ahead in time for the next local government elections.' Malcolm Bruce MP, Hansard, 13 th January 1998.

Newburgh & District (Fife) 17 th September 1998

In the original 'regionalisation' plan, 'the kingdom of Fife' was to be split between Lothians and Tayside. However, Fife refused to be axed and a new Fife Region was created with three Districts Councils - Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, and North East Fife.

In the 1992 District Council elections, the Lib Dems ran riot in the former Tory stronghold of North East Fife, winning 13 of the 18 seats. They lost out in the most recent reorganisation when Lib Dem-run North East Fife was grouped with Labour fiefs of Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy to form a new Fife Unitary Council. This was won by Labour in 1995. The final result was 54 Labour, 25 Liberal Democrats, 9 Scottish National Party, 3 Independents and 1 Communist. (The Tories have no councillors in Fife).

In the 1992 District Council elections, Newburgh & District was held by Robert Nairn for the Lib Dems with a 311 majority over the only other candidate, Conservative P. Dalrymple.

The 1995 unitary council elections saw Mr Nairn also winning the Newburgh & District ward with a majority of 702 over the Conservatives. The SNP and Labour were close behind in third and fourth place.

The Liberal Democrats held the by-election with their majority over the Tories halved. Despite the swing of 10.2 % to the Conservatives, the Lib Dems will be happy with the result after their disasterous showing in Eyemouth Landward and Mansfield in the Scottish Borders earlier this year when they sufered swings of 47.3 % and 31.2 % against them.

The Tory vote recovered by 11.7 % in what was once one of their best areas while the SNP vote increased by a modest 6.4 %. The fact that Labour, less than 18 months after their General Election triumph, did not feel confident enough to put up a candidate here, speaks volumes about the state of the newly relaunched New Scottish New Labour/Monster Raving Liddell Party.

Following the by-election, the political composition of Fife Council, is unchanged at 53 Labour, 25 Liberal Democrats, 10 Scottish National Party, 3 Independents and 1 Communist (The SNP won Rosyth West & Dockyard from Labour in November 1997).

Newburgh & District

17 th September 1998				6 th April 1995
Donald Lothian		649	58.2 %	Robert Nairn		894	67.1 %
		291	26.1 %	Murdo Fraser		192	14.4 %
		175	15.7 %	David Nisbit		124	9.3 %
				Malcolm Burns		122	9.2 %
Lib hold	Lib maj.	358	32.1 %	Lib gain	Lib maj.	702	52.7 %