Glenrothes by-election, 2008.html



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The 2008 Glenrothes by-election was a by-election for the United Kingdom Parliament's House of Commons constituency of Glenrothes in Fife, Scotland. The seat fell vacant after the death of previous member, John MacDougall (Labour), who died of mesothelioma, on 13 August 2008, aged 60.¹ The by-election was held on 6 November 2008. ²

The by-election was won by Lindsay Roy of the Labour Party. ³

Result

Background

Fife is traditionally a stronghold for the Labour Party. McDougall had held Glenrothes and its forerunner, Central Fife, since 2001, when he succeeded Henry McLeish. Willie Hamilton had previously represented the area, which has elected Labour MPs since Hamilton won West Fife from the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1950.

The poll followed a run of poor by-election results for the Labour Party, which included a loss to the Scottish National Party (SNP) in Glasgow East, formerly the party's twenty-fifth safest seat in Britain. Glenrothes has a considerably smaller Labour majority than Glasgow East had.⁵

According to the Financial Times, Labour privately admitted that they expected to lose Glenrothes to the SNP.⁶ The Guardian described the constituency's main town, Glenrothes, as a "core area" for the SNP.⁷ The SNP were in second place in the seat in the 2005 General Election⁸ and won the nearest equivalent seat in the 2007 Scottish Parliament election.⁷

The SNP also ran Fife Council, which covers the constituency, in coalition with the Scottish Liberal Democrats. The Scottish Liberal Democrats won the last by-election to be held in Fife from Labour on a swing of 16%.⁷⁸

Polling date

By tradition, the polling date was decided by Labour, as MacDougall's party, and set for Thursday, 6 November 2008. ².

Had the writ been moved immediately the by-election could have been held as early as mid-September, although this coincided with the Trades Union Congress annual conference and the following weeks were filled with various party conferences. A Labour loss during this period could have provided a particular boost for their opponents, or for dissident elements within the party.⁹ The SNP may have favoured a quick by-election, noting that Labour called the Glasgow East by-election rapidly, when commentators believed it was to Labour's advantage.⁵

Candidates

The Labour party candidate was Kirkcaldy High School rector Lindsay Roy.¹⁰¹¹ The SNP selected the leader of Fife Council, Peter Grant.¹² The Conservative Party selected Maurice Golden¹³ while the Liberal Democrats have chosen Harry Wills.¹⁴ The Scottish Socialist Party stood Morag Balfour, their national co-chair, who lived in the town and was a candidate in the constituency before.¹⁵ Solidarity stood Louise McLeary. The UKIP candidate was Dr. Kris Seunarine a specialist in the science of biophotonics at Dundee university, and chairman of the Fife branch of UKIP.

Two of the minor party candidates had disabilities: Balfour was a wheelchair user and McLeary was visually impaired.

2005 Election Result

References

External links

• Scottish Election Results 1997 - present