Local By-elections

'Lord Provost Helen Wright is facing what amounts to the first impeachment move for almost 200 years. She was recently revealed to have clashed twice with finance officials over attempts to recoup from the public purse donations she had made to charity. After having her expense claims overruled, she took the money from petty cash, including Ł10 to the collection taken at the funeral of Donald Dewar, and Ł2 as a contribution to an anti-poverty campaign.'
Robbie Dinwoodie in the Herald, 6 th June 2001.

Tay Bridges (City of Dundee) 30 th August 2001

Tay Bridges - ward 27 Liberal Democrat gain from Labour

There was a by-election for the Tay Bridges ward of Dundee City Council on the 30 th of August 2001 following the election of Cllr Iain Luke as MP for Dundee, in succession to John McAllion, on the 7 th June 2001. Clr Luke resigned from Dundee City council with effect from 20 th July 2001.

Tay Bridges is in the new Dundee West Westminster parliamentary seat (held, since May 2005 by Labour's John McGovern MP) and in the Dundee West Scottish parliamentary seat (held by Labours's Kate Maclean MSP).

Lib Dem gain from Labour. Swing: 29.5 % from Labour to Lib Dem.

Lib Dem Cllr Fraser Macpherson

Candidate	Party	Votes	%	% change
30 th August 2001 By-election Turnout 24.0 % (- 15.5 %)
Fraser Macpherson	Liberal Democrat	475	51.2 %	+ 36.1 %
	Labour	237	25.6 %	- 22.9 %
Nigel Don	Scottish National Party	144	15.5 %	- 6.8 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	49	5.3 %	+ 0.8 %
	Conservative	22	2.4 %	- 7.1 %
Liberal Democrat gain from Labour	Liberal Democrat majority	238	25.6 %

Candidate	Party	Votes	%	% change
6 th May 1999 Turnout 39.5 % (+ 10.6 %)
Cllr Ian Luke	Labour	869	48.5 %	- 20.7 %
Ronald Martin	Scottish National Party	400	22.3 %	+ 5.4 %
David Stansfield	Liberal Democrat	270	15.1 %	+ 8.2 %
Sunit Abeyewickreme	Conservative	170	9.5 %	+ 2.6 %
Mary Ward	Scottish Socialist Party	81	4.5 %	(+ 4.5 %)
Labour hold	Labour majority	469	26.2 %	- 26.2 %

West End - ward 2

Candidate	Party	Votes	%
6 th April 1995 Turnout 28.9 %
Ian Luke	Labour	698	69.2 %
Paula Whittet	Scottish National Party	170	16.9 %
Paul Clark	Conservative	70	6.9 %
David Stansfield	Liberal Democrat	70	6.9 %
Labour win	Labour majority	528	52.4 %

Ward assessment

The Tay Bridges ward is in the Dundee West constituency, and is named after the Tay rail and road bridges. Dundee used to be best known for the 'three J's' - jute, jam and journalism but following the decline in those industries it has created a vibrant new image for itself as the 'City of Discovery'. The name comes from Captain Scott's ship, built at Dundee, which is housed in a new exhibition, but it could equally well apply to the world class biological research being carried out at Dundee University.

The image of the city was not always a shining one and it suffered enormously due to the antics of the local council. In the 1970s the Labour party in Dundee was the victim of many self-inflicted problems including former Dundee Labour councillors standing trial for corruption, at the High Court in Edinburgh. One of the councillors was jailed and there was a purge of the local party.

The new Dundee Labour party was a different bunch. In the 1980s, while George Galloway was part of the ruling administration Dundee was twinned with a town on the West Bank and the Palestinian flag was flown over the City Chambers.

Unsurprisingly, Dundee residents began to tire of Labour. In a by-election in early 1973, Labour's George Machie narrowly held the Dundee East parliamentary seat against the SNP's Gordon Wilson. He lost it in the subsequent General election, having been an Honourable Member for a year less a day. Gordon Wilson represented Dundee East until 1987 when he was defeated by Labour's John McAllion.

In the local government re-organisation for the 1995 election, as in Glasgow, the Tories lopped off the leafier parts of Dundee and redistributed them to the surrounding councils. They hoped, in vain, that this gerrymandering would assist them in regaining Angus from the SNP and holding on to Perthshire & Kinross. The original Tory redistribution plans included removing Dundee's zoo at Camperdown Park from within the city's boundaries, but this was never carried out as it was pointed out that the Park had been left by the Duncan family to the people of Dundee. However, even so, as is often pointed out, a few miles west from Dundee city centre one would find oneself in Perth.

In 1995, the Labour party romped to victory in Dundee taking no less than 28 of the 36 wards with 53.6 % of the vote. The Scottish National Party obtained a quarter of the vote (25.2 %) but won just won three wards while the Tories obtained 13.9 % and took four wards. The remaining seat was won by Independent Labour Cllr Ian Borthwick.

In 1995 Iain Luke won the new West End ward in the City of Dundee Council with 698 votes (69.2 %) giving him a 528 (52.4 %) majority over the SNP's Paula Whittet with 170 votes (16.9 %). Paul Clark for the Tories and David Stansfield of the Lib Dems tied in third place with 70 votes ( 6.9 %) each. The percentage poll was a dismal 28.9 %, the second worse in the whole of Dundee and Dudhope with 22.7 % proved to be more apathetic.

For Labour, their Dundee results in 1999 were some of the worst in Scotland and disaster was only just staved off. In the Scottish Parliamentary elections, John McAllion, up against Shona Robison for the second time, saw his majority over the SNP slashed from almost 10,000 in 1997 to under 3,000. In neighbouring Dundee West, Labour council leader Kate McLean saw a Labour majority of 11,859 in 1997 reduced to just 121 by the SNP's Calum Cashley.

In the council elections, the results were even worse. There were further boundary changes for the 1999 election and the number of wards in Dundee was reduced from 36 to 29. Labour, which had gone into the election with a veritable battalion of 28 councillors, came out of it with a squad of exactly half those numbers. The Conservatives retained four wards while the SNP took 10 wards, up from three. These results meant that Labour had lost overall control of the City of Dundee. Their minority administration required the support of other councillors, and although Independent Labour Councillor, Ian Borthwick does not vote with them the four Tory councillors often do.

Iain Luke found himself representing the new Tay Bridges ward in 1999. With a majority of 469, Logie is Labour's safest ward in a city where no less than nine of the councillors have majorities of less than 20. No doubt this fact did not escape Labour strategists when Luke was selected as successor to John McAllion.

It would require a 13.1 % swing for the SNP to win Tay Bridges from the SNP. Labour will be hoping that this will be beyond the SNP and that they peaked in 1999. To hold Tay Bridges would keep Labour 2 seats ahead of the SNP but to lose it would mean that the SNP and Labour would both have 12 councillors in Dundee. Labour will point to the recent general election where the SNP's vote fell by 2.0 % nationally since 1997. However, Labour's vote fell by 2.3 % nationally, and in Dundee the SNP obtained two of their best results, reducing the Labour majority by 7.3 % in Dundee West and by 10.8 % in Dundee East where Tay Bridges Cllr Iain Luke is now the Labour MP.

Pending the by-election, the political composition of the City of Dundee Council is 12 Labour, 11 Scottish National Party, four Conservatives and one Independent Labour (The SNP won the Logie ward from Labour in September 2000).

Dundee Council By-Election Set For August 30

From the Scottish National Party

The political balance of Dundee City Council is up for grabs at a forthcoming by-election in the city's Tay Bridges ward. Voting will take place on Thursday 30 August, and victory for SNP hopeful Nigel Don will mean that the SNP and Labour share 12 seats each on the 29-member council.

The Dundee vote will be the first of ten local by-elections around the country over the summer and autumn. Kate Higgins, SNP vice convener for organisation, believes local by-elections are central to persuading voters of the benefits of Independence. She said: "It's vital that local communities identify with the SNP and our vision for Scotland. As activists, we need to engage with people at every electoral level if we are to win their hearts, minds and votes." Ms Higgins is urging all members to get involved in their local campaigns to ensure SNP success at the polls.