Tag Archives: labour

Links In Darkness: Monday 3rd October – Saturday 8th October

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These are the selection of posts I found interesting between Monday and Saturday:

Links In Darkness: Friday 19th August – Monday 5th September

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These are the selection of posts I found interesting between Friday and Monday:

Links In Darkness: Tuesday 2nd August – Thursday 11th August

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These are the selection of posts I found interesting between Tuesday and Thursday:

Links In Darkness: Friday 27th May

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These are the selection of posts I found interesting between Thursday and Friday:

Lothians Results for #sp11

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A historic result for this election, an incredible night for the SNP, taking an overall majority which was supposed to be impossible.  A disastrous night for Labour and the Liberal Democrats and disappointment for the Greens who stuck on 2 seats (2 regions to be declared).

In the Linlithgow constituency, SNP candidate Fiona Hyslop was returned 49.8% of the vote, a massive increase of 10.8%

Name Party Votes % +/-%
Fiona Hyslop SNP 17,027 49.8 +10.8
Mary Mulligan Labour 12,936 37.8 -2
Christopher Donnelly Conservative 2,646 7.7 -2.9
Jennifer Lang Liberal Democrat 1,015 3 -4.6
Mike Coyle National Front 558 1.6 +1.6
Turnout 34,182 52.5
Majority 4,091 12

In Almond Valley, Angela Constance turned a micro majority into a huge majority of 5542.

Name Party Votes % +/-%
Angela Constance SNP 16,704 54.3 +14.6
Lawrence Fitzpatrick Labour 11,162 36.3 -3.4
Andrew Robert Hardie Conservative 1,886 6.1 -1.9
Emma Sykes Liberal Democrat 656 2.1 -4.2
Neil McIvor National Front 329 1.1 +1.1
Turnout 30,737 51.1
Majority 5,542 18

In the Lothian Region, 3 Labour members were returned (Sarah Boyack, Kezia Dugdale & Neil Findlay) 2 Conservatives (David William McLetchie & Gavin Brown), Green (Alison Johnstone) and Independent, Margo MacDonald

Party Member Seats Votes % +/-%
Labour Sarah Boyack, Kezia Dugdale & Neil Findlay 3%E Labour 11,162 36.3 -3.4
Andrew Robert Hardie Conservative 1,886 6.1 -1.9
Emma Sykes Liberal Democrat 656 2.1 -4.2
Neil McIvor National Front 329 1.1 +1.1
Turnout 30,737 51.1
Majority 5,542 18

In the Lothian Region, 3 Labour members were returned (Sarah Boyack, Kezia Dugdale & Neil Findlay) 2 Conservatives (David William McLetchie & Gavin Brown), Green (Alison Johnstone) and Independent, Margo MacDonald

Party Member Seats Votes % +/-%
Labour Sarah Boyack, Kezia Dugdale & Neil Findlay 3 70,544 24.9 -1.3
Conservative David William McLetchie & Gavin Brown 2 33,019 11.7 -1.5
Green Alison Johnstone 1 21,505 7.6 +0.5
Independent – MacDonald Margo MacDonald 1 18,732 6.6 0
SNP None 0 110,953 39.2 +12.7
Liberal Democrat None 0 15,588 5.5 -7.3

All the West Lothian region results can be found on the West Lothian Council website.

Election Leaflets

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Over the course of the last few months, I’m sure we’ve all recently a few trees worth of election leaflets. For your entertainment (or otherwise) here is a Flickr slideshow of most of the leaflets I’ve received.

Note that I’ve had leaflets from SNP to Labour, Independents to Tory but nothing from the Liberal Democrats. Why haste thou forsaken us?

Linlithgow Constituency Preview

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The Linlithgow constituency promises to be a very tight battle between the incumbent Labour MSP Mary Mulligan and the challenger, SNP Lothian Region MSP Fiona Hyslop.  Playing bit parts this time are Conservative and LibDem candidates, Chris Donnelly and Jenni Lang.  There is also the frankly repugnant option of the National Front.

In the Linlithgow constituency at the last election, Mary Mulligan had a majority of 1160, but boundary changes have reduced that to just 294.  The seat is the number 2 SNP target and requires a swing from Labour to 0.4372%

The current poll results say the swing to the SNP is much greater than that and if you believe the polls, Fiona Hyslop will be coasting home.  We’ll see if the polls are much closer to reality this time.

Judging by the activity in my <street>, you’d think this was the safest seat in the country. But Labour have sent in multiple leaflets, trying to imply that daughters of East Renfrewshire Labour councillors live in my street and will be voting Labour.  Not likely.

Tomorrow, I’ll give a summary of the Lothian regions where the 2nd vote will go, give a short view on the AV referendum that is also on the same day.  I sent the candidates some questions that would help me decide who to vote for and will let you know the candidate’s responses (if they reply) and then on Election Day, I’ll actually say who I will vote for as at this stage I’m still not sure.

Linlithgow Candidate Profile: Mary Mulligan

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Mary Mulligan is the current MSP for Linlithgow having won the seat each year since 1999.  However, due to boundary changes, the notional majority is just 294 over SNP Fiona Hyslop, and given current pollings, Mulligan will face a real challenge holding onto her seat.

Mulligan was Labour’s Deputy Party Spokesperson for Housing and Communities in the last parliament and was previously spokesperson for Children.  She was a member of the following committees (Audit Committee, Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee, Local Government and Communities Committee)

With regards to voting, Mulligan voted against Labour on just 2 occasions[1] out of 568 and had a 93.7% attendance record.  You can see a list of Mulligan’s speeches in parliament at TheyWorkForYou.

Unlike Fiona Hyslop, Mary Mulligan is not on Labour’s Regional List for the Lothians so if she loses this seat she will be not returned to Parliament.

Mary Mulligan’s website is somewhat out of date and only has reference to old surgery dates and the latest news is from September last year.

[1] One rebellion was a interesting vote for a Robert Brown amendment to Fergus Ewing’s Antisocial Behaviour Bill

Newsnight Leaders Interviews, Series 2 No.3: Iain Gray

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Next up to face the not so subtle interviewing techniques of Gordon Brewer on #newsnicht is Iain Gray

Timing in politics everything. If Iain Gray had been the first Leader up, he may have got an easier time. But this interview came after a fresh set of poor poll results for Labour, the subway incident, a good performance from Alex Salmond on Question Time, and both Labour’s flagship policy and statistics on knives and Richard Baker were torn to shreds on Newsnight Scotland the previous night.

No wonder he looked terrified at the start. Highlight was the comment about the infamous Subway event “I did not run, I walked away”

For the whole series of interviews see my Newsnight Scotland Interview category

New poll predicts SNP will take Linlithgow and Almond Valley

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A new poll published in the Scotland on Sunday came out today showing a lead for the SNP

the SNP’s constituency vote stays the same at 40 per cent, Labour drop two to 37 per cent, the Tories hold steady on 11 per cent, while the Lib Dems pick up three points to 8 per cent. On the regional list, the SNP climb three points to 35 per cent, while Labour fall by six points to 33 per cent, The Tories stay on 12 per cent, the LibDems gain 2 points to 7 per cent, while the Greens are on 6 per cent.

Jeff from Better Nation ran these figures through his prediction calculator and thinks that both local constituencies, Linlithgow and Almond Valley will fall to the SNP now (on previous polls he had them as Labour seats)

Key FPTP wins for the SNP would include: Aberdeen Central (maj of 829 over Labour), Almond Valley (maj of 664 over Labour), Ayr (maj of 129 over Labour), Cunninghame North (maj of 572 over Labour), Edinburgh Pentlands (maj of 340 over Labour), Glasgow Southside (maj of 453 over Labour), Linlithgow (maj of 413 over Labour) and Stirling (maj of 150 over Labour)