 | 'A government is a government is a government. Governments have their own foreign policies. This is the break-up of the United Kingdom.' Tam Dalyell on Henry McLeish's description of the Scottish Exectutive as the Scottish government, 9 th January 2001. |  |
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Who? |  |
| Conservative & Unionist | ||
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Recent electoral experience. | ||
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Who? |  |
| Labour | ||
Ministerial Posts: Recent electoral experience | ||
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Who? |  |
| Liberal Democrat | ||
Recent electoral experience | ||
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Who? |  |
| Scottish National Party | ||
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Recent electoral experience | ||
Glasgow North East was contested by the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Rt Hon Michael Martin. The Speaker is meant to be impartial and therefore, when elected, he or she resigns membership of any political party to which he or she belongs. However, political impartiality has sometimes been confused with a Divine Right to unopposed re-election. In 2005, as in 2001, the Tories and Liberal Democrats will not be opposing the Speaker, but the SNP and SSP will be contesting the seat. In 2001, Michael Martin condemned the SNP and SSP for not allowing him an unopposed election:
'The Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and Labour, of course, have said they will not be standing against the speaker. Any other party that decides to stand, then they are perfectly entitled to do so. But there has always been a convention. The convention is such that the speaker is above politics and the major parties would not stand against him.'This was, in fact, untrue. Betty Boothroyd had indeed been elected unopposed by the Tories or Lib Dems in 1997. In 1992, no Speaker had stood for election, as Bernard Weatherhill had retired. However, as recently as 1987, the Tories and SDP had put up candidates against the then Speaker, Bernard Weatherhill, while in the elections of February and October 1974, Labour and the Liberals both stood against the Speaker, Selwyn Lloyd.
| Logo | Party | Denver | Baxter | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
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Speaker of the House of Commons | 16,053 | 51.63 % | 0 1 | 0 % | |
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Scottish National Party | 5,648 | 18.17 % | 5,654 | 18.38 % | |
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Labour | 4,798 | 15.43 % | 20,623 1 | 67.04 % | |
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Scottish Socialist Party | 2,503 | 8.05 % | 2,329 | 7.57 % | |
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Conservative & Unionist | 335 | 1.08 % | 1,638 | 5.32 % | |
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Liberal Democrat | 258 | 0.83 % | 311 | 1.01 % | |
| Others | 1,497 | 4.81 % | 208 | 0.68 % | ||
| Notional Speaker win | Notional Speaker majority | 10,405 | 33.47 % | |||
| Notional Labour win | Notional Labour majority | 14,969 | 48.66 % | |||
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