2008 Glenrothes by-election

Last updated

2008 Glenrothes by-election
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
←  2005 6 November 2008 2010  →
Glenrothes parliamentary seat
 First partySecond party
  LindsayRoyMP.jpg Official portrait of Peter Grant.jpg
Candidate Lindsay Roy Peter Grant
Party Labour SNP
Popular vote19,94613,209
Percentage55.1%36.5%
SwingIncrease2.svg3.2%Increase2.svg13.1%
MP before election

John MacDougall
Labour

Subsequent MP

Lindsay Roy
Labour

The 2008 Glenrothes by-election was a by-election held in Scotland on 6 November 2008 [1] to elect a new Member of Parliament (MP) for the UK House of Commons constituency of Glenrothes in Fife, Scotland.

Contents

The seat fell vacant when the previous MP, John MacDougall (Labour), died of pleural mesothelioma on 13 August 2008, aged 60. [2] Pleural Mesothelioma is a rare form of lung cancer caused by prolonged exposure to asbestos.

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

Result

Glenrothes by-election, 2008 [3] [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Lindsay Roy 19,946 55.1 +3.2
SNP Peter Grant 13,20936.5+13.1
Conservative Maurice Golden 1,3813.8−3.3
Liberal Democrats Harry Wills9472.6−10.1
Scottish Senior Citizens Jim Parker2960.8−1.1
Scottish Socialist Morag Balfour2120.6−1.3
UKIP Kris Seunarine1170.3−0.9
Solidarity Louise McLeary870.2New
Majority6,73718.61−9.89
Turnout 36,19552.37−3.7
Labour hold Swing -4.96

Background

Fife is traditionally a stronghold for the Labour Party. MacDougall 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 election [8] 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%. [7] [8]

Polling date

By tradition, the polling date was decided by Labour, as MacDougall's party, and set for Thursday, 6 November 2008. [1]

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. [10] [11] The SNP selected the leader of Fife Council, Peter Grant. [12] The Conservative Party selected Maurice Golden [13] while the Liberal Democrats chose Harry Wills. [14] The Scottish Socialist Party stood Morag Balfour, their national co-chair, who lived in Glenrothes and had been a candidate in the constituency before. [15] Solidarity stood Louise McLeary, a community activist who lived in the part of Kirkcaldy which lies inside the constituency. The UKIP candidate was 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 UK election result

Glenrothes, 5 May 2005
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour John MacDougall 19,395 51.9 −6.0
SNP John Beare8,73123.4−0.6
Liberal Democrats Elizabeth Riches4,72812.7+4.8
Conservative Belinda Don2,6517.1−0.4
Scottish Pensioners Party George Rodger7161.9New
Scottish Socialist Morag Balfour7051.9−0.8
UKIP Paul Smith4401.2+1.1
Majority10,66428.5−5.4
Turnout 37,36656.1
Labour win (new seat)

Marked register

Some months after the election, the marked register (on which the electors who had cast their vote were marked) was discovered to be missing. In law the register ought to have been preserved for a year and a day; the Returning Officer from Fife Council had transmitted the marked register to the Sheriff Court as required by law and obtained a receipt. The SNP Constituency Organiser, Cllr John Beare, had asked for a copy of the marked register on 19 November 2008; after ten weeks, the Scottish Court Service admitted the marked register was lost. [16] An inquiry by the Scottish Court Service identified significant failings in its handling of election documents, which had been placed in a room at the court office in Kirkcaldy to which outside contractors had access. [17]

In October 2009, the Scotland Office agreed a protocol to create a substitute marked register for the election. [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annabelle Ewing</span> Scottish politician (born 1960)

Annabelle Janet Ewing is a Scottish politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, alongside Liam McArthur, since May 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Cowdenbeath constituency since 2016, having previously been an MSP for the Mid Scotland and Fife region from 2011 to 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John MacDougall (British politician)</span> British politician (1947–2008)

John William MacDougall was a British Labour politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Glenrothes from the 2005 general election until his death; he was first elected to the House of Commons for Central Fife in the 2001 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Baker (Scottish politician)</span> Scottish politician (born 1974)

Richard James Baker is a Scottish Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament for Glenrothes and Mid Fife since 2024. Baker was previously a member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the North East Scotland region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North East Fife (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1983 onwards

North East Fife is a county constituency in Fife, Scotland, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Wendy Chamberlain of the Liberal Democrats since the 2019 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glenrothes and Mid Fife (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 2005 onwards

Glenrothes and Mid Fife is a constituency in Scotland represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 2005 onwards

Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy is a county constituency representing the areas around the towns of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, in Fife, Scotland, in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scottish Labour</span> Scottish wing of the UK Labour Party

Scottish Labour, is the part of the UK Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and unionist, it holds 22 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons. It is represented by 262 of the 1,227 local councillors across Scotland. The Scottish Labour party has no separate Chief Whip at Westminster.

Christine May is a Scottish Labour Co-operative politician. She was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Central Fife constituency from 2003 to 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 Scottish Parliament election</span>

The 2011 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claire Baker</span> Scottish Labour politician (born 1971)

Claire Josephine Baker is a Scottish Labour politician who has served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Mid Scotland and Fife region since 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindsay Roy</span> British politician (born 1949)

Lindsay Allan Roy, CBE, FRSA is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glenrothes from 2008 until 2015. He is the former Rector of Inverkeithing High School and Kirkcaldy High School. He announced he would be standing down as an MP in 2015 after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 United Kingdom general election in Scotland</span>

A general election was held in the United Kingdom on 6 May 2010 and all 59 seats in Scotland were contested. The election result in Scotland was unusual in that there wasn't any change of seats from the 2005 general election, although the Labour Party took back two seats that it had lost in by-elections. This was the last general election at which the Labour Party won a majority of seats and plurality of votes in Scotland until 2024.

Events from the year 2008 in Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2012 Fife Council election</span> 2012 Scottish local government election

Elections to Fife Council were held on 3 May 2012, the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. The election used the 23 wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with each ward electing three or four Councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation, with 78 Councillors elected.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 Dunfermline by-election</span> Scottish Parliamentary election

A by-election was held for the Scottish Parliament constituency of Dunfermline on 24 October 2013, following the resignation of its MSP, Bill Walker after he was convicted of 23 charges of assault.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 United Kingdom general election in Scotland</span>

A general election was held in the United Kingdom on 7 May 2015 and all 59 seats in Scotland were contested under the first-past-the-post, single-member district electoral system. Unlike the 2010 general election, where no seats changed party, the Scottish National Party (SNP) won all but three seats in Scotland, gaining a total of 56 seats. The SNP received what remains the largest number of votes gained by a single political party in a United Kingdom general election in Scotland in British history, breaking the previous record set by the Labour Party in 1964 and taking the largest share of the Scottish vote in sixty years, at approximately 50 per cent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Grant (politician)</span> Scottish politician

Peter Grant is a Scottish politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glenrothes from 2015 to 2024. He is a member of the Scottish National Party (SNP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 United Kingdom general election in Scotland</span>

A general election was held in the United Kingdom on Thursday 8 June 2017; all 59 seats in Scotland were contested under the first-past-the-post electoral system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neale Hanvey</span> Scottish politician (born 1964)

James Neale Hanvey is a Scottish nationalist politician who served as the Leader of the Alba Party in the House of Commons from 2021 to 2024, and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath from 2019 to 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Fife Council election</span> Fife Council election

Elections to Fife Council took place on 5 May 2022 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. As with other Scottish council elections, it was held using single transferable vote (STV) – a form of proportional representation – in which multiple candidates are elected in each ward and voters rank candidates in order of preference.

References

  1. 1 2 "Glenrothes by-election date set". BBC News. 6 October 2008. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  2. ↑ "MP MacDougall dies after illness". BBC News. 13 August 2008. Retrieved 13 August 2008.
  3. 1 2 "Labour victorious in Glenrothes". BBC News . British Broadcasting Corporation. 6 November 2008. Retrieved 6 November 2008.
  4. ↑ "Glenrothes result in full". BBC News. 7 November 2008. Retrieved 7 November 2008.
  5. 1 2 Gerri Peev, "New Scots vote gives Brown three months to save political skin", The Scotsman , 14 August 2008
  6. ↑ George Parker and Jim Pickard, "Brown faces new by-election battle", Financial Times , 13 August 2008
  7. 1 2 3 Severin Carrell, "From working class loyalty to new town aspiration", The Guardian , 14 August 2008
  8. 1 2 Nigel Morris, "Brown loses a friend – and faces another daunting Scottish by-election", The Independent , 14 August 2008
  9. ↑ Iain Watson, "Don't expect an early by-election", BBC News, 13 August 2008
  10. ↑ Top 40 Scottish Blogs, Ian Dale's Diary, 27 August 2008
  11. ↑ "Labour picks by-election hopeful". BBC News. 1 September 2008. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  12. ↑ SNP reveals by-election candidate, BBC News, 22 August 2008
  13. ↑ "Tories pick by-election candidate". BBC News. 28 August 2008. Retrieved 28 August 2008.
  14. ↑ Steve Bargeton, "MP's death leaves battle for Brown Archived 2 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine ", The Courier
  15. ↑ Simon Johnson, "John MacDougall was suing Government over disease that killed him", The Daily Telegraph , 24 August 2008
  16. ↑ "By-election registers go missing". BBC News online. 3 February 2009. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
  17. ↑ "Glenrothes documents lost due to 'failures in handling'". The Herald. 6 March 2009. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
  18. ↑ Votes and Proceedings of the House of Commons, 19 October 2009.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.