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Measuring Glasgow North East
- Posted by James Macintyre
- 13 November 2009 11:33
Triumph for Labour; disaster for SNP
The scale of the Labour victory in the Glasgow North East byelection in the seat of the former Speaker Michael Martin has surprised some commentators, and no doubt angered the rightwing Tory blogosphere. Early this morning the new MP for the region, Willie Bain, and the Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy hailed the result as a personal endorsement of Gordon Brown and his handling of the economy. We will see.
What is clear is that the result is disastrous for the supposedly insurgent Scottish National Party. Coming after recent polls showing -- as always -- a clear majority of Scots in favour of remaining in the Union with England that is greater than the sum of its parts, this outcome will be a bitter disappointment to seperatists and a relief to Labour whose lead over the SNP has now jumped from 16.3 per cent to 39.4 per cent -- in a swing of 11.5 per cent.
With this, and the wave of sympathy created for Brown by the Sun's own goal on his letters to the families of the fallen in Afghanistan, this has -- unfashionable though it may be to admit it -- been a relatively good week for the Prime Minister.
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