 |
British ruling Labour Party keeps seat in Scottish fiefdom
The win, although widely predicted, gives some welcome respite for Brown before an election which opinion polls suggest he will lose to the opposition center-right Conservatives.
With Labour’s share of the vote in the socially deprived Glasgow constituency up by six points to nearly 60 percent, Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy said it was a “remarkable victory” that vindicated Brown and his handling of the economic recovery.
“It is a really strong endorsement of Gordon Brown and what he is doing to get the country through this international recession,” Murphy told Sky News.
However, only a third of voters went to the polls, down from nearly half at the last election in 2005, and commentators said Labour would struggle to repeat the success nationwide.
“It was very much a Scottish by-election fought on local issues,” said John Curtice, politics professor at the University of Strathclyde. “It is not a trick that can be repeated south of the border. It doesn’t mean to say that the Labour Party has suddenly turned the corner.”
Center-left Labour, in power since 1997, has seen its support suffer during a deep and enduring recession and with a rising death toll among British troops in Afghanistan. Bain, 36, sought to play up the vote as a springboard for a Labour revival across Britain. Labour trails the Conservatives by upwards of 10 points in polls.
“The message for the general election is clear -- game on,” Bain told cheering supporters. “It was a resounding “No” to (Conservative leader) David Cameron.” Analysts caution against reading too much into one vote, but Labour needs to maintain its strong position in Scotland if it is to cling on to power or limit the Conservative majority.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| AMANDA PAUL |  |
||
| Ukraine: a lost country | |||
| MÜMTAZER TÜRKÖNE |  |
||
| The 52nd anniversary of May 27 | |||
| ABDULLAH BOZKURT |  |
||
| Turkey and Mexico: Distant yet so close | |||
| BERİL DEDEOĞLU |  |
||
| Yemen and beyond | |||
| ARZU KAYA URANLI |  |
||
| On Memorial Day a few words to make your day memorable | |||
| ABDÜLHAMİT BİLİCİ |  |
||
| Google kidnaps Gül! | |||
| CUMALİ ÖNAL |  |
||
| Critical months for Egypt | |||
| DOĞU ERGİL |  |
||
| Qualities of power | |||
| İHSAN YILMAZ |  |
||
| The Egyptian elections, Islam and Islamists | |||
| EMRE USLU |  |
||
| Operational errors | |||
| MARKAR ESAYAN |  |
||
| There is need for a new initiative | |||
| JOOST LAGENDIJK |  |
||
| Europe can’t have it all. Or can it? | |||
| HASAN KANBOLAT |  |
||
| Are Russian tourists being discouraged from visiting Turkey? | |||
| MELİH ARAT |  |
||
| Handmade | |||
| KLAUS JURGENS |  |
||
| Back to the ’80s | |||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
