LibDems lose out to Scottish Labour and SNP

4 May 12
Labour and the Scottish National Party both made significant gains in Scotland’s local elections at the expense of the UK coalition parties, especially the Liberal Democrats.

By Keith Aitken in Edinburgh | 4 May 2012

Labour and the Scottish National Party both made significant gains in Scotland’s local elections at the expense of the UK coalition parties, especially the Liberal Democrats.

The SNP fell well short of its hope of seizing Scotland’s biggest council, Glasgow, from Labour, which regained overall control. But there was a major consolation in winning control of Dundee – once an impenetrable Labour stronghold – and of neighbouring Angus. And the SNP emerged as the single largest party across the country.

First Minister Alex Salmond pointed out that the SNP was making gains across Scotland, on top of a previous high point in 2007. After five years in government at Holyrood, the SNP was confounding the orthodoxy south of the border that governing parties inevitably suffer losses in mid-term elections, he claimed.

Overall, Labour performed better than many in the party had anticipated. Its success in seeing off the SNP challenge in Glasgow has boosted hopes that it has at least slowed the momentum that swept the nationalists to majority government last year. ‘The SNP juggernaut appears to have landed in a Glasgow ditch,’ said Glasgow Labour group leader Gordon Matheson.

Labour also gained overall control in Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire but lost it in Midlothian, a council where once it held 17 of the 18 seats.

For the Liberal Democrats, the results were little short of disastrous. Particularly calamitous for them was Edinburgh, where they previously led a coalition with the SNP. The LibDem vote halved and council leader Jenny Dawe was among those losing their seats, as voter anger over the city’s ill-fated trams project added to the resentment elsewhere in Scotland over their role in the UK coalition.

There was little LibDem consolation anywhere. They suffered heavy losses even in former strongholds like Borders and Argyll, and lost ex-council leaders in Perth & Kinross and Aberdeen. The Tories too lost seats on several councils, but their losses – from a low base – were proportionately less than those of the LibDems.

The Single Transferable Vote electoral system means that no single party has won a majority in most of Scotland’s 32 unitary authorities, and the ultimate political tone of administrations will take a few days of intense horse-trading to emerge.

Turnout, at less than 40%, was down on previous figures, but higher than some had feared.

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