The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

A very bad night for the Lib Dems in Scotland

The Lib Dems lose their deposit after winning just 2.2 per cent of the vote in the Inverclyde by-election.

By George Eaton Published 01 July 2011 10:26

Despite talk of the SNP pulling off a shock defeat, Labour was always likely to win last night's Inverclyde by-election. In the end, the party's margin of victory - 5,838 votes - was greater than many activists expected, and Ed Miliband can celebrate his fourth consecutive by-election win this morning.

The SNP, who came within 511 votes of capturing the sister seat in last month's Scottish Parliament elections, were hopeful of victory but Labour's majority of 14,416 proved too great to overturn. It's further evidence that while Alex Salmond has established the SNP as the natural party of devolved government, Labour is still the party of choice in Westminster elections.

The other noteworthy thing about last night was the disastrous performance of the Lib Dems. Their share of the vote plummeted from 13.3 per cent to 2.2 per cent, losing the party its deposit, and they were pushed into fourth place by the Tories. Sophie Bridger, the Lib Dem candidate, won just 627 votes on a respectable turnout of 45.4 per cent, only 339 more than the Ukip candidate, Mitch Sorbie.

The recriminations have already begun, with the Scottish party attributing its defeat to Nick Clegg's toxic reputation. As the former MSP Ross Finney commented: "There were clear issues of trust in the leadership". Expect to see the Scottish Lib Dems do even more to differentiate themselves from the national leadership over the coming months.

The result in full

Iain McKenzie (Lab) 15,118 (53.8%, -2.2%)

Anne McLaughlin (SNP) 9.280 (33%, +15.5%)

David Wilson (Con) 2,784 (9.9%, -2.1%)

Sophie Bridger (LD) 627 (2.2%, -11.1%)

Mitch Sorbie (UKIP) 288 (1%, -0.2%)

Labour majority: 5,838 (20.8%, -17.6%)

Turnout: 28,097 (45.4%, -18%)

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Tags: SNP Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg Scotland

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25 comments

Sat, 2011-07-16 17:24 — trevor marwood (not verified)

Surely there is also tactical voting by Tories as well.They know it would benefit them if the SNP had beat Labour.It was the same in May the LibDem vote collapsed and they went to the SNP with the tactical Tory voting,they have nothing to loose.However I do agree that Labour should move to the true centre of politics and not where Bliar set it !!

Fri, 2011-07-01 14:04 — Stuart Eels (not verified)

lovely jubbly!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tue, 2011-07-05 14:00 — mike cobley (not verified)

Some of the comments from 'source close to Nick Clegg' on the Inverclyde catastrophe beggar belief. See -
http://news.scotsman.com/news/Lib-Dems-divided-as-former.6794654.jp
Truly thats the kind of slapdown one would normally associate with bunker-like denial. Honestly, you'd think that the party leadership really doesnt care if the party's national support and political clout falls off a cliff, just as long as they can say that they got 75% of the manifesto enacted!

Fri, 2011-07-01 14:32 — the odd carrier (not verified)

i will be going into my local bookies later today to see what odds i can get on there being no lib dem mpsat westminster at the next general election. It is mind boggling that as a lib dem leader you can be gay or a drunk or have an extra marital affair or be old but the one thing you do not do is to go back on electoral promises not least of all to students. If Clegg keeps his deposit at the next election then he is a very lucky man.

Fri, 2011-07-01 14:48 — Bill Fraser (not verified)

Labour still on the slide, its majority slashed from well over 14,000 to less than 6,000 in seat so safe for Labour in the past that even a wheelie bin with a red rosette on it would have easily won the seat for Labour.

Fri, 2011-07-01 15:01 — Statingthebloodyobvious (not verified)

Dear Bill. It was a by-election. Turnout is always down at by-elections. Therefore majorities are always down. Dur. Look at the percentages. Yours, Statingthebloodyobvious

Thankyouforstatingthebloodyobvious's picture

Fri, 2011-07-01 15:11 — Thankyouforstatingthebloodyobvious (not verified)

Statingthbloodyobvious,

I don't normally comment on articles here, but thank you for pointing out that a reduced majority means NOTHING when turnout was down 20%! Absolutely ridiculous logic.

Fri, 2011-07-01 15:30 — Bill Fraser (not verified)

Excuses, excuses, excuses... with this kind of thinking Labour will never return to office...

And by the way the turnout was down 18% not 20% ...

Fri, 2011-07-01 15:30 — Dave C (not verified)

In a weak defence of Bill Fraser, he's merely echoing the line put out by the BBC.

Headline: "Labour wins Inverclyde by-election with lower majority"

Lead sentence: "Labour has won the Inverclyde by-election for the UK parliament but its majority has been more than halved."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-13980594

This BBC report doesn't give vote share anywhere. A neutral lead sentence might have read, "Labour has won the Inverclyde by-election for the UK parliament but its share of the vote reduced slightly."

A poor show by the BBC.

Fri, 2011-07-01 15:42 — Mizar (not verified)

Dave C is right to pick up the BBC.

I know this off topic. But this lunch BBC News were featuring a woman who, it was said, were prosecuted for falsely claiming a welfare benefit. The item was worthy of the Daily Mail. It was a trivial item, and did not merit national news. The BBC even accosted the woman and challenging her after the court, demanding that she should apologise.

What a disgusting performance.

Fri, 2011-07-01 15:47 — elrob

It seems that Mr or Ms Statingthebloodyobvious has won thi slittle contretemps. I have no idea of the logic behind the comments of Thankyouforstatingthebloodyobvious.

80% of something is less than something, quite simple.

Fri, 2011-07-01 16:28 — matthew fox (not verified)

@Mizar

Shouldn't the BBC accost Philip Green for all the tax he avoids.

Mon, 2011-07-04 19:48 — Nick9

So Clegg manages 627 votes, out of 28,097 which is all of 2.3% of the turnout. And this is the man they called 'Kingmaker'?

Never in such a short period of time has one man done a party so much damage, the Liberals will never make a come back.

Good.

Fri, 2011-07-01 17:09 — Zakalwe (not verified)

When UKIP are consistently on a par with or above the Lib Dems in the polls, will they get as much media coverage, do you think

Fri, 2011-07-01 18:28 — tamster (not verified)

Great news. 2.2%....wonderful.

Will the Lib Dems ever actually get it that they are finished if they don't stop supporting the children of Thatcher ?

Fri, 2011-07-01 19:39 — matthew fox (not verified)

I think Ming Campbell and Charles Kennedy will be planning there retirement, they have no chance surviving, regardless of what happens over the next 4 years.

Fri, 2011-07-01 21:36 — hugh markey (not verified)

Stop your ticklin', Jock!

Welsh Wizard

Fri, 2011-11-25 17:46 — Kamadev Sargent

Fri, 2011-07-01 22:01 — Ivan Miletitch

Ahah!!! LibDems lost their deposit! The reward for betrayl ...and that's just the start I reckon, I just hope the notoriously amnesic british electorate haven't forgotten by the next general election!

Fri, 2011-07-01 11:19 — Acamar (not verified)

2% and going down!

Personally I think it is a joke to have a 20 year old candidate for Westminster.

Fri, 2011-07-01 11:51 — Mike S (not verified)

I hope Danny's enjoying his time in the sun....

Fri, 2011-07-01 12:30 — Dave C (not verified)

13.4% of the vote went from the Conservatives, Lib Dems, and UKIP to the SNP, a party that's slightly to the left of Labour. Scottish politics seems to be in a class of its own.

Sat, 2011-07-02 08:56 — Golding (not verified)

LEAKED EMAILS SHOW BRITISH GOVERNMENT WORKED WITH NUCLEAR COMPANIES ON PR CAMPAIGN TO DOWNPLAY FUKUSHIMA — DEGREE OF COLLUSION “TRULY SHOCKING”

British government officials approached nuclear companies to draw up a co-ordinated public relations strategy to play down the Fukushima nuclear accident just two days after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and before the extent of the radiation leak was known.
Internal emails seen by the Guardian show how the business and energy departments worked closely behind the scenes with the multinational companies EDF Energy, Areva and Westinghouse ...
Officials stressed the importance of preventing the incident from undermining public support for nuclear power.
[The Guardian 30 June 2011]

‘BRITISH GOVERNMENT DEEPLY INVOLVED IN BLATANT CONSPIRACY DESIGNED TO MANIPULATE THE TRUTH — VERY EFFECTIVE ATTEMPT TO ‘CALM’ REPORTING OF TRUE STORY OF FUKUSHIMA’

Calls by prominent Liberal Democrats for Chris Huhne to resign immediately as Energy and Climate Change Secretary after emails were released detailing his officials’ efforts to coordinate a PR response to the Fukushima disaster with the Nuclear industry.
[The Guardian 1 July 2011]

Zero integrity.

Sat, 2011-07-02 10:02 — G.Day (not verified)

People. This gloating is so unseemly. Not.

Fri, 2011-07-01 13:31 — Suzanne (not verified)

Your right Dave. Scotland wants a genuine Social Democratic option. That's why Labour are on the slide in Scotland. They've moved too far to the right for the Scottish electorate. Their Westminister vote holds up slightly better than Holyrood because Labour can obviously be more effective at fighting the Tories.
More than anything it will be the seemingly never ending shift to the right in UK politics that will be the problem for unionist party's come the referendum.