Lib Dems storm to election victory

THE Liberal Democrats swept to a dramatic victory in the Dunfermline and West Fife early this morning, condemning Labour to its worst by-election defeat in Scotland for 18 years.

Willie Rennie, the triumphant new MP, overturned a massive 11,500 Labour majority, recording a swing of 16 per cent to the Liberal Democrats and, in doing so, dealt a devastating blow to Gordon Brown's political credibility.

The Chancellor had led this Labour campaign, spending many days in the constituency and dictating the party's approach. Mr Brown, who lives in the constituency, was desperate to show he could deliver election victories on his own doorstep, and his failure to do so will reverberate around the Labour Party.

Mr Rennie said: "This result will rock the foundations of Downing Street - both No 10 and No 11."

He added: "People are fed up with Labour for taking them for granted for far too long, they are fed up of too much spin, and the people of Dunfermline and West Fife have spoken for the rest of the country with their views on the Labour government."

Nicol Stephen, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader this morning described his party's success as "a sensational and historic victory".

Mr Stephen said: "It was an outstanding campaign with an outstanding candidate. It is clear the Liberal Democrats are a very powerful force for the future in Scottish politics, that we can win seats from the Labour Party in all parts of Scotland and that more and more people are turning to the Liberal Democrats."

Mr Rennie's win represented a massive fillip for his beleaguered party which has been battered and bruised, first by the forced resignation of Charles Kennedy over his drink problem and then Mark Oaten's sex scandal and the "outing" of Simon Hughes.

The Lib Dem win, the party's first by-election victory in Scotland since Nicol Stephen's success in Kincardine and Deeside in 1991, proved that the problems have not affected its ability to attract voters.

Mr Rennie secured 12,391 votes ahead of Catherine Stihler, the Labour candidate, on 10,591. Douglas Chapman, for the SNP, came third with 7,261 votes in a very disappointing night for the Nationalists which raises further questions over their ability to mount a credible challenge to Labour in next year's Scottish Parliament elections. Carrie Ruxton, the Tory candidate, was fourth with 2,702 votes.

With a turnout of 49 per cent, down 10 per cent down on last year's general election, the Liberal Democrats showed they had done much better than Labour at getting their vote out.

Labour strategists were trying to work out what had gone wrong. Early indications appeared to show that their supporters had simply failed to turn out.

The Liberal Democrats also benefited from a mood of change in the constituency.

They also picked a good candidate in Mr Rennie and he fought a typically intensive Liberal Democrat by-election campaign which succeeded in bringing the party its best by-election result in 15 years.

For Labour, yesterday's defeat represents the party's worst performance in a Westminster by-election since 1988 when Jim Sillars romped to victory for the SNP. This was despite the almost constant presence of Mr Brown. He was joined regularly by Alistair Darling, the Scottish Secretary and Jack McConnell, the First Minister.

However, Labour's campaign started badly and went downhill rapidly. The party's launch was overshadowed just 24 hours later by the loss of 700 jobs at Lexmark, an inkjet cartridge manufacturer in Rosyth. Then the party became embroiled in a series of controversies over the Forth Road Bridge, with Mr Brown appearing to dictate devolved policy to the Scottish Executive.

The Chancellor, who is in Moscow at a meeting of finance ministers today, was criticised for trying to interfere in Executive business, and Labour appeared divided and fractious from the start.

The Labour campaign did improve as polling day drew closer, but the arrival of David Cameron, the Tory leader, and Mr Kennedy, for his first major public appearance since his resignation as Liberal Democrat leader, caused further problems for the Labour campaign.

Alex Salmond, the SNP leader, also led his party's campaign, coming to Dunfermline on many occasions.

He seized on the problems of Dunfermline town centre as a main campaign issue and promised that the SNP would fight to regenerate it.

This proved to be popular and helped the Nationalists make some strides in the campaign, but not enough to challenge the Liberal Democrats or Labour for second place.

Scotsman