Landslide wins for Labour in West Lothian
LIKE much of the rest of Scotland Labour enjoyed a tumultuous night in West Lothian winning both the Livingston and Linlithgow & Falkirk East strongholds in landslide victories.
Labour candidates Graeme Morrice and Michael Connarty recorded 10,791 and 12,553 majorities respectively over closest rivals the SNP, who saw the Labour seats as fair game this election after expenses controversies.
Early indications pointed to a Labour victory after the first second counts (of the actual votes) were announced on the Livingston side at 11:35pm and the Labour piles stacked up higher than those of the other parties. It was the same on the Linlithgow side of the hall in West Lothian College an hour later.
Mr Morrice, who replaced deselected Jim Devine as Labour's candidate for the Livingston constituency, grabbed 23,215 votes - 48.5 per cent of the 47,907 who voted.
This was a swing of almost 8,000 to Labour from the by-election which saw Mr Devine voted in following former Home Secretary Robin Cook's death in August 2005.
"I am absolutely delighted with the result," said Mr Morrice. "It's better than I ever imagined in my wildest expectations.
"We have 23,205 reasons to be happy. Voters came out in great numbers and it's a great testament to them. It was a hard-fought and clean campaign locally.
"It was a huge swing from the by-election which is testament to the electorate and I hope to be a good, conscientious MP for my constituents."
Returning Officer Alex Linkston announced before the first ballots came through the door that West Lothian Council had received 20,090 postal vote applications with a return of 81.5 per cent so a high turnout was expected.
And so it was with 63.1 per cent of the electorate voting in Livingston and 63.6 per cent in Linlithgow – much higher than five years ago.
The SNP's Lis Bardell was second in Livingston with a 4.4 increase on the 2005 vote with 12,424 votes – 25.9 per cent.
She was happy with the increase saying: "I'm happy with a rise and I knew we would increase our share of the vote as the tide is turning in our direction ripple by ripple.
"We made a good case and I'm disappointed but you have to work for it and the effort is continuous. Nothing is ever lost, you have to build for the next time. There is no resting on laurels."
Despite Nick Clegg's success on the national scene during the TV debates, the Lib Dems' Charles Dundas polled 4.3 per cent lower than 2005 with 5,316 votes and Tory candidate Alison Adamson-Ross trailed in fourth with 5,158.
BNP candidate David Orr was the most popular of the fringe parties taking 969 votes. His small entourage were shunned by members of the other parties all night. No surprise as one of the group had 666 tattooed on his knuckles.
When it came to Mr Orr's speech after the declaration, Graeme Morrice led the protest charge off the stage by the other candidates while the crowd booed, before Mr Orr lambasted the media for bringing his wife – rocker KT Tunstall's mum – into the election campaign. Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) members then marched out shouting "smash the BNP".
Among the other candidates who won't be receiving their 500 deposit back were UKIP's Alistair Forrest with 443 votes, SSP's Ally Hendry (242) and Independent Jim Slavin (149).
Labour has won the Linlithgow seat - called West Lothian until it was renamed in 1983 - in every election since the Second World War, with legendary MP Tam Dalyell winning 11 times since he was first elected in 1962 until his retirement in 2005.
Seven of those victories were against the SNP's Billy Wolfe and both candidates are in the Guinness Book of World Records for contesting the same seat the most times, but this time it was between Michael Connarty and the SNP's Tam Smith.
Connarty held his 24 per cent majority with 49.8 per cent (25,634 votes) to Tam Smith's 13,081 (25.4 per cent). The Lib Dems' Stephen Glenn was third 6,589 (12.8 per cent), while Tory Andrea Stephenson trailed in last with 6,146 (11.9).
In his victory speech Mr Connarty infuriated SNP activists by blaming the SNP Scottish Government for the 45 million cuts facing West Lothian Council. It also prompted a furious response on the podium from Mr Smith who brought the dejected SNP supporters back to life when he blamed Gordon Brown's UK government.
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Sunday 05 February 2012
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