Labour party gets shot in the arm

London: Labour celebrated an emphatic victory in the Glasgow North East by-election early Friday, boosting Prime Minister Gordon Brown's attempts to rally his weary party as it prepares for the general election.

The margin of Labour's victory, 8,111 votes, was higher than many expected, and allowed the party to claim it had proved its appeal to its core voters by substantially defeating the Scottish National Party (SNP), which last year embarrassed the prime minister by winning the Glasgow East by-election.

Labour's defeat of SNP candidate David Kerr is a significant blow for Alex Salmond. Scotland's first minister last month predicted that his party would win 20 seats at the coming general election but the SNP has now lost two of the last three Scottish byelections to Labour.

Before midnight the SNP's deputy leader, Nicola Sturgeon, had conceded her party had lost in the seat previously held by former Commons Speaker Michael Martin, who resigned in June in the wake of the MPs expenses scandal.

‘Game on'

Willie Bain, Labour's successful candidate, who captured 59.4 per cent of the vote, said: "The people have had their say. They've backed Gordon Brown and his efforts to secure our economic recovery.

"They've said a resounding no to Alex Salmond and his treatment of our great city, but also a resounding no to David Cameron. The people of our community haven't forgotten the last recession. The message for the general election is clear: 'Game on'."

Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy told GMTV yesterday morning: "It was a dramatic victory for Lab-our. The scale of the gap between ourselves and the SNP, and then far behind the Tories coming in third, was more than any of the commentators expected."

But he added: "The next election of course will be a big challenge and rightly a two-horse race between Gordon Brown and David Cameron... Let's get down to business, let the battle commence for the General Election when I'm confident that Labour will put up a fight."

The British National Party (BNP) came in fourth, just behind the Conservatives, despite losing its deposit. It was the BNP's best performance in a Scottish election.

The Tories' lacklustre result will damage their efforts to build up momentum for the general election.

Party officials claimed the BNP was used as a protest vote over the Commons expenses scandal.

The turnout was lower than hoped at 33 per cent and critics said the BNP's result was little different from the European elections in June, when it took 4.3 per cent in the Glasgow North East area.

A part-time law lecturer at South Bank University in London, Bain is on the left of the party. He opposes Post Office privatisation and wants pensions linked to earnings.

He said: "People recognised that they wanted someone who would stand up for the values of this constituency, focusing on jobs, focusing on social justice, trying to get a better deal for pensioners and those who haven't perhaps felt the full benefits of 12 years of Labour government."

Stewart Hosie MP, the SNP's campaign director, said: "We're disappointed not to do better and we will reflect carefully on the result and the lessons to be learned."

Senior SNP officials said they knew they faced a tough fight overcoming Labour, in one of its safest seats, which it has held since 1935.

But the SNP has formally asked for the Electoral Commission to investigate whether Labour abused the postal vote system after 1,100 postal votes were applied for less than three days before the deadline.