Local By-elections

'Taxes have gone up, by almost 12 billion since Labour came to office' Iain MacWhirter in the Herald, 22 nd March 2000.

South Parks & Macedonia (Fife) 19 th October 2000

The day after the funeral of First Minister, Donald Dewar, the SNP won South Parks & Macedonia with a swing of 9.95 % from Labour to SNP. The election of Henry McLeish as leader of the Labour Party in Scotland three days later was somewhat tarnished as the ward is in his constituency. This was the first by election in the Central Fife constituency since 1987. That by-election in Kennoway was caused by Henry McLeish's resignation because of his election to Westminster as an MP. The SNP won that by-election too.

Although the name of the South Parks & Macedonia wards sounds like it is a joke from some cartoon, it actually exists in Fife. Whoever picked the name obviously has a sense of humour. The electoral history of the ward is somewhat complicated with boundary changes and gains and losses. However, the SNP has a long history in both the South Parks and Macedonia parts of the ward.

The ward is part of the Central Fife constituency of Henry McLeish, Minister for Enterprise & Lifelong-learning in the Scottish Executive and Tony Blair's favoured successor to Donald Dewar. Labour were extremely keen to hold this ward in the constituency of the potential First Minister and avoid a repeat of their embarrassment when the SNP romped to victory in the home of Susan Deacon, Health Minister and another potential leadership contender, in Musselburgh East earlier this year.

The Regional Council ward of Rimbleton & South Parks in Fife was Labour until 1994, being held by a C. J. Groom. In 1990 Mr Groom took 1,292 votes (49.4 %), 165 ahead of the SNP's Tricia Marwick with 1,127 votes (43.1 %), while Maries Woolf took 198 votes (7.6 %) for the Democrats. Ms Marwick contested Central Fife against Henry McLeish in 1997, when she took 25 % of the vote which she increased to 31 % in 1999. Tricia Marwick is now an SNP MSP for Mid Scotland & Fife.

In 1994, the SNP's Peter Grant won the Rimbleton & South Parks Regional ward from Labour taking 1,357 votes (49.7 %), 127 ahead of Cllr Groom with 1,230 votes (45.0 %) and Jane Kerr for the Lib Dems with 145 votes ( 5.3 %). Peter Grant was already the District councillor for Rimbleton, having defeated the sitting Labour councillor, Robert Taylor in 1992. Cllr Grant went on to represent the new Rimbleton/Viewfield ward of Fife Council in 1995 and Caskieberran & Rimbleton in 1999.

The Fife Regional Council ward of Tanshall & Macedonia was held by the SNP's Alf Patey from 1978 until he was defeated in 1990 by Labour's A.K. Latto. The seat was by then called Glenwood, which changed to Glenwood & Newcastle for the 1994 election when it was held by Cllr Latto.

Before local government re-organisation, the South Parks and Macedonia wards were in Kirkcaldy District Council, which was run by Labour.

The SNP's Sam McGillveray won the Macedonia Kirkcaldy District Council seat in 1984 but unfortunately Sam died in 1985. In the subsequent by-election Macedonia was retained for the SNP by Marion Watterston. She held the seat (then Glenwood South) until 1996 when Kirkcaldy District Council was abolished.

The SNP also won the South Parks Kirkcaldy District seat in the 1970s with Tom Gray who later left he SNP and thereafter held the seat as an Independent for many years.

In 1995, the Fife Council ward of South Parks was won by Labour's Robert Taylor with 531 votes (39.4 %), 127 votes ahead of the Scottish National Party's Alfred Patey with 404 votes (30.0 %). Independent District Councillor Tom Gray was pushed into third place with 394 votes (29.3 %) while Liberal Democrat Jane Kerr trailed with just 18 votes (1.3 %). Robert Taylor had lost Rimbleton to the SNP's Peter Grant in 1992, when the SNP won five wards from Labour.

In 1999, following major boundary changes in Fife, the ward became South Parks & Macedonia. In the new ward, Labour increased their majority over the SNP's Alfred Patey from 127 to 176, however this was mainly due to the increased turnout which was up from 40.5 % to 52.8 %.

The by-election was caused by the resignation of the sitting Labour councillor, Mary Dodds.

Following Donald Dewar's death on the 11 th of October, the parties had an agreement that no campaigning activity would be carried out. The SNP held firm to this despite the effect on their own campaign in a seat they were hoping to win. However the Labour party went out leafleting two days before the First Minister's funeral. Unfortunately for them they were spotted and when the story broke in the press they claimed that leafleting was not campaigning!

The SNP required a swing of 4.5 % to take this ward and managed 9.95 % despite the fact that their electoral campaigning (although not Labour's) had been suspended because of the death of First Minister Donald Dewar whose funeral was held on the eve of the by-election. The SNP's Alfred Patey overturned a Labour majority of 179 to win by 97 votes, giving them an 11 % lead over Labour whose vote had fallen by 13.7 %.

The new Scottish National Party Cllr, Alf Patey is not unknown to the electors of South Parks & Macedonia, having represented the area as a Fife Regional Councillor from 1978 until 1990, and having contested the new unitary council ward in 1995 and 1999.

The turnout was 23.9 %, down from 52.8 % in May 1999.

Following the SNP by-election gain here from Labour, the composition of Fife Council is 42 Labour, 21 Liberal Democrats, 10 Scottish National Party, two Conservatives, one Independent, one Communist and one Democratic Left.

I am grateful to Tricia Marwick MSP, Eddie Truman and Aidan Thomson for information on the electoral history of the ward and the by-election and to Jim Jackson for the result.

Spectacular by-election win

From the Scots Independent

Following the the Scottish National Party's spectacular by-election victory in the South Parks and Macedonia ward in Fife Council's Glenrothes (within Henry McLeish's constituency) - turning a Labour majority of 176 last May into an SNP majority of 97 - SNP leader John Swinney MSP MP contrasted the SNP's win with Labour's leadership contest. Mr Swinney told the SI:-

'This is a tremendous victory for the SNP, and an abject humiliation for Henry McLeish in the middle of his Central Fife constituency. The SNP overturned a Labour majority of nearly 200, with an extremely impressive 10 per cent swing from a very high SNP base in May 1999. While Henry McLeish and Jack McConnell were taking part in a sham leadership contest in smoke-filled rooms, real people in real elections were dumping Labour in favour of the SNP'.

The new SNP Councillor, the popular Alf Patey, was a Regional Councillor for many years.

The result in the South Parks & Macedonia ward was :-

South Parks & Macedonia - ward 58

19 th October 2000				6 th May 1999
Alfred Patey		418	47.4 %	Mary Dodds		988	50.1 %
Betty Jolly		321	36.4 %	Alfred Patey		812	41.2 %
		65	7.4 %	William Reid		171	8.7 %
		40	4.5 %
		37	4.2 %
Scottish National Party gain from Labour	Scottish National Party majority	97	11.0 %	Labour win	Labour majority	176	8.9 %