Gordon Brown hailed victory in Glasgow North East yesterday as an endorsement of his policies, as Labour celebrated one of its best by-election performance since 1997.
The party won 59.4 per cent of the vote, 6 per cent up on the 2005 general election and just behind the 59.5 per cent it won in the Wigan by-election in 1999, a share of the overall vote which set a post-war by-election record for a party in power.
To add to Labour jubiliation, it crushed the challenge from the SNP, its main rival in Scotland. The Nationalists admitted that, as in the Glenrothes by-election last year which Labour also won, they failed to counter their opponent’s strategy.
The Prime Minister said that the by-election win was “a tremendous result” and paid tribute to Willie Bain, the Labour candidate. Mr Brown added: “This shows that when we fight hard, we win.”
Mr Bain won the seat, a traditional Labour stronghold previously held by the former Speaker of the Commons, Michael Martin, with an 8,000-plus majority over the SNP.
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“This is a resounding victory for Gordon Brown and Labour,” Mr Bain said. “This by-election has been about many things but most of all it has been about jobs and the economy. People have had their say. They have backed Gordon Brown in his efforts to secure our economic recovery.”
Although the constituency, one of the poorest and most deprived in the UK, has elected Labour MPs for 74 years, the party was keen to portray the result as showing that the general election was not a foregone conclusion and that it was now “game on” between Labour and the Tories.
Jim Murphy, the Scottish Secretary, said that Labour MPs and activists would have “a renewed sense of confidence and a real belief that we can win a fourth election”. He added that voters were “seeing through the SNP who have got too big for their boots”.
One major talking point was the poor turnout which at only 33 per cent was the lowest for a Westminster by-election in Scotland. Turn-outs in this constituency have never been high but it was stark evidence that the MPs’ expenses scandal has exacerbated the mood among voters.
The BNP came fourth, just 62 votes behind the Conservatives and lost their deposit, thus undermining any claim that they had made a breakthrough in Scotland.
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Ruth Davidson, the Tory candidate, was widely acknowledged to have been the best hustings performer, but while the Tories will be glad to have kept its desposit, the party came third.
For the Lib Dems, who were in coalition power in Scotland until 2007, the contest was a disaster with its candidate, Eileen Baxendale, finishing sixth with 474 votes and losing her deposit.
The Labour triumph owed much to teams of activists who were mobilised to encourage voting among supporters when the turn-out appeared low.
Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP’s deputy leader, said that the party fell victim to negative campaigning by Labour “full of half-truths and distortions”.