Livingston by-election, 2005
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The Livingston by-election, 2005 was triggered when Robin Cook, the Labour Party Member of Parliament for Livingston, in Scotland, died on August 6, 2005.
Notice of the vacancy in the constituency was published in the London Gazette on September 2, 2005, which allowed the Speaker of the House of Commons to issue the writ for the election on September 8 under the Recess Elections Act 1975. The poll was held on September 29, in the week of the Labour Party Conference, when the Labour candidate Jim Devine held the seat for his party.
A by-election for the Glasgow Cathcart seat in the Scottish Parliament was also held on the same day.
| Candidates for Livingston by-election, 2005 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Jim Devine | 12,319 | 41.8% | -9.3% | |
| Scottish National Party | Angela Constance | 9,639 | 32.7% | +11.1% | |
| Liberal Democrat | Charles Dundas | 4,362 | 14.8% | -0.6% | |
| Conservative | Gordon Lindhurst | 1,993 | 6.8% | -3.4% | |
| Scottish Green | David Robertson | 529 | 1.8% | ||
| Scottish Socialist | Steven Nimmo | 407 | 1.4% | -0.4% | |
| UK Independence | Peter Adams | 108 | 0.4% | ||
| Independent | Melville Brown | 55 | 0.2% | ||
| Alliance for Change | John William Allman | 33 | 0.1% | ||
| Socialist Party (GB) | Brian Gardner | 32 | 0.1% | ||
| Majority | 2,680 | 9.1% | |||
| Turnout | 29,477 | 38.6% | -19.5% | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | -10.2% | |||
| General Election 2005: Livingston | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Robin Cook | 22,657 | 51.1 | -4.1 | |
| Scottish National Party | Angela Constance | 9,560 | 21.6 | -1.7 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Charles Dundas | 6,832 | 15.4 | +5.5 | |
| Conservative | Alison Ross | 4,499 | 10.1 | +2.5 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Steven Nimmo | 789 | 1.8 | -1.2 | |
| Majority | 13,097 | 29.5 | |||
| Turnout | 44,337 | 58.1 | +2.0 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | -1.2% | |||
[edit] Reaction to results
Labour's retention of the seat, albeit with a reduced majority, was regarded by the party with satisfaction given the popularity of Robin Cook locally. The Scottish National Party was the only party to increase their vote from the general election, and although did not win, their swing of 10% from Labour was widely regarded as quite an achievement. The Liberal Democrats were generally regarded as having a poor result in that their vote fell.
There was a swing from Labour to Conservatives of 3%, but given the fourth place position of the Conservative Party in this seat, and their third place position in Scotland, the significance of this is debatable.
UKIP failed to even beat the Scottish Socialists, and did badly as is typical of them in Scotland.
In 2007 Angela Constance gained the Livingston seat in the Scottish Parliament (which has slightly different boundaries) from Labour.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- British Parliamentary By Elections: Campaign literature from the by-election
- BBC News: Date is set for Cook by-election
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