 | 'The present system is working less and less. It's not fair in that it doesn't produce a result that reflects the wishes of the voters. It overlooks the votes of many, many people, often millions of people.' Canon Kenyon Wright, 22 nd January 2001. |  |
| 'The present system is working less and less. It's not fair in that it doesn't produce a result that reflects the wishes of the voters. It overlooks the votes of many, many people, often millions of people.' Canon Kenyon Wright, 22 nd January 2001. | |
Labour held on to the Tollcross Park ward of Glasgow council, increasing its majority from 653 to 1,222 over the SNP. The ward had become vacant following the resignation of Cllr Bill Butler who succeeded Donald Dewar as MSP for Anniesland.
Upon a quick perusal of the composition of Glasgow Council, one might be forgiven for assuming that the City was lost in time, part of the old Soviet block where the only party you could vote was the Communist party. Actually, although it is hard to believe, there are elections in Glasgow, though most people seem to believe that it is a waste of time voting. No matter who you vote for, you almost always end up with a Labour Councillor.
Even under PR, Labour would have won Glasgow outright as they took 53.55 % of the vote, and nobody could grudge them overall control of the council. (Although, it could be argued that under a fair voting system, those who do not want a Labour Councillor would be motivated to vote). With just over half the vote, Labour won no less than 74 of the 79 Glasgow wards, 93.7 % of the total. The Scottish National Party polled well in the 1999 council elections, taking no less than 32.03 % of the Glasgow vote, yet they only won two wards, 2.5 % of the total. The other three wards were shared between the Conservatives (8.01 % of the vote), the Scottish Socialists (7.89 %) and the Liberal Democrats (6.13 %).
Turnout in local government elections is never high, but while several wards in the Western Isles achieved turnouts of over 70 % in the May 1999 elections, in Glasgow turnout was less than 40 % in several wards. Clearly, this is extremely bad for democracy and this has prompted the formation of Fairshare - a cross-party organisation campaigning for the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system of proportional representation for Scottish local elections. Undoubtedly, only those who do not believe in local democracy will opposing this group. verb sap.
The ward of Tollcross was won in May 1999 by Bill Butler, who became member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Anniesland following the death of First Minister Donald Dewar. Bill Butler has been a Glasgow councillor for 13 years. Until 1996, he represented Blairdardie in Anniesland. In the 1992 District Council elections Bill Butler took 1,552 votes (52.9 %), giving him a majority of 774 (26.4 %)over the SNP's R.M. Mitchell who took 778 votes (26.5 %). In third place was J. Scott for the Tories with 603 votes (20.6 %).
Upon local government reorganisation in 1995, Bill Butler left Blairdardie in Anniesland to Stephen Purcel and stood in ward 41 - Greenfield. He won Greenfield with 1,842 votes (75.4 %) giving him a majority of 1,342 (55.0 %) over the SNP's James Williamson with 500 votes (20.5 %) while Elizabeth Bunting came third for the Tories with 100 votes (4.1 %).
In 1999, after reorganisation, Bill Butler moved again, replacing Matthew Adam in Tollcross Park. Matthew Adam had represented Shettleston ward on Glasgow District Council. In 1992 he took 1,852 votes (70.0 %) giving him a majority of 1,018 (37.9 %) over the SNP's D.I. Ritchie who took 834 votes (31.0 %). In 1995, Matthew Adam also won the new Tollcross Park ward in Glasgow City council with 1,224 votes (74.2 %) giving him a majority of 799 (48.5 %) over the SNP's Paul Campbell who won 425 votes (25.8 %)
In 1999, there were boundary changes in Glasgow and the number of wards was reduced from 83 to 79. There was also a large swing to the SNP in Glasgow and Bill Butler's percentage vote plummeted compared to both his own vote in Greenfield and Matthew Adam's in Tollcross Park. Bill Butler's majority in Tollcross Park was down to 26.2 % of the vote, compared to 48.5 % for Matthew Adam in 1995.
If the long overdue local government voting reforms eventually become implemented, Labour can expect their number of councillors in Glasgow to be reduced by half. In the circumstances, Bill Butler is probably happy to be in the Scottish parliament, where he infuriated the Labour leadership by voting with the Scottish National Party in his first division.
In the by-election, the Labour vote increased again after its crash in 1999. Thomas McKeown took 63.4 % of the vote, which was 7.4 % up on Bill Butler in 1999, but still 10.8 % less than Matthew Adam polled in 1995. The Labour majority increased by 19.3 % to 45.5 %, which was 3.0 % less than their majority in 1995.
The SNP vote fell by 12.1 %, the SSP were up by 3.0 %, the Tories down by 1.4 %, while the Greens, standing for the firsttime, took 3.1 %.
I am grateful to Bob Scott for information on the by-election and Nick McKerrell for sending the result.
| 7 th June 2001 | 6 th May 1999 | ||||||
| Thomas McKeown |  |
1,701 | 63.4 % | Bill Butler | |
1,399 | 56.0 % |
| Graeme Hendry |  |
479 | 17.8 % | Evelyn McKechnie | |
746 | 29.9 % |
| James McVicar |  |
258 | 9.6 % | Alexander Williamson |  |
187 | 7.5 % |
| John France | |
164 | 6.1 % | David Eyre | |
164 | 6.6 % |
| Julie White |  |
83 | 3.1 % | ||||
| Lab hold | Lab maj | 1,222 | 45.5 % | Lab win | Lab maj | 653 | 26.2 % |
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