GORDON BROWN was dealt a major blow to his credibility as the next Prime Minister when the Liberal Democrats sensationally captured the constituency where the Chancellor has his home in a shock by-election result early this morning.
Willie Rennie pulled off a huge political coup for his party when he overturned a 11,562 Labour majority and delivered a swing of more than 16 per cent to defeat Catherine Stihler, the Labour candidate, in the Chancellor’s political backyard by 1,800 votes.
In his victory speech Mr Rennie said: “Tonight the voters of Dunfermline and West Fife have sent a powerful message to Downing Street that will rock the foundations of both No 10 and No 11.
“Labour has taken the people for granted up and down the country for too long. It is time Tony Blair and Gordon Brown both got the message — too much spin and not enough delivery. The Lib Dems are now the major challenger to Labour in their heartland.”
The result was a massive boost for the Lib Dems after weeks when they have been beset by internal problems, including the resignation of their former leader, Charles Kennedy, after he admitted a drink problem, and controversies involving two of those challenging to replace him: Mark Oaten and Simon Hughes.
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The Lib Dem victory also amounted to a vote of confidence in Sir Menzies Campbell, the acting leader, who is MP for a neighbouring constituency of North East Fife.
Sir Menzies was replaced yesterday as favourite to succeed Mr Kennedy by Chris Huhne. The result will be a massive relief, though, to the whole of his party because it shows that it has not lost its gift for springing by-election surprises despite the shambles of recent weeks.
Labour strategists at the count privately blamed the aftermath of the Iraq war for the result. One said: “People on our side have been saying that the Iraq War has slipped off the political radar but this result shows that it hasn’t. It’s a dreadful result for us.”
During the campaign the 100th and 101st British victims of hostilities in Iraq died and were brought home. Both were members of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.
The Scottish Nationalists came third with 7,261 votes and the Conservatives, as expected, came fourth with 2,702 votes.
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The poor Tory showing is an embarrassment for David Cameron, the Conservative leader, who made a direct appeal to Liberal Democrats in the constituency to come over to the Conservatives, claiming that he was a “liberal Conservative” and that his party now agreed with the Lib Dems on Iraq. That apparent gaffe was exploited to the full by Tony Blair in the Commons but he may well have helped the Lib Dem cause.
The result means a further cut in Labour’s Commons majority when Mr Blair is facing revolts on terrorism law, ID cards and schools reform.
The Lib Dems won after fighting a campaign in which they flooded the constituency with hundreds of activists, some of them from the South of England.
They were also helped by Labour incoherence over local issues such as the Forth Road Bridge tolls, the run-down state of the centre of Dunfermline and the downgrading of the local hospital.
The Labour campaign got off to the worst possible start when a major computer printer firm, Lexmark, announced the closure of its local plant with the loss of 700 jobs in Rosyth, in the heart of the constituency.Turn-out in the by-election was 48.7 per cent, down 11 per cent from the general election in May last year.
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BY-ELECTION
WILLIE RENNIE (Lib Dem)
12,391 (35.83%)
Lab 10,591 (30.63%)
SNP 7,261 (21.00%)
Con 2,702 (7.81%)
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Majority 1,800
Turnout 48.69%
GENERAL ELECTION May 2005
RACHEL SQUIRE (Lab) 20,111 (47.44%)
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Lib Dem 8,549 (20.17%)
SNP 8,026 (18.93%)
Con 4,376 (10.32%)
Majority 11,562
Turnout 59.9%