Scottish Christian Party - "A very encouraging result"

The Scottish Christian Party confirmed itself as a contender for a Scottish Parliamentary seat in Mid Scotland and Fife next year.

In the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election, that attracted less than half the electorate the Scottish Christian Party leader, Revd James George Hargreaves, came sixth in the poll, behind the five contesting parties that already have seats in the Holyrood Parliament: Liberal Democrat (12,391) Labour (10,591), Scottish National Party (7,261), Conservative (2,702), Scottish Socialist Party (537) and Scottish Christian Party (411).

Revd Hargreaves commented, “This is a very encouraging result, particularly when you consider the low key campaign that we ran. We sent out one letter and an Election Address and delivered copies of our party newspaper. Set this against the mountain of paper sent out by the other parties and you can see clearly that the Scottish Christian Party are a party that next year could win a Scottish Parliamentary seat in the Mid Scotland and Fife region. Over half of the electorate did not vote in this by-election. There will have been many Christian amongst the non-votes who over the next year we will seek to engage with and win their support.”

Revd Hargreaves congratulated the Liberal Democrats saying, “The Liberal Democrats and Willie Rennie, ran a spectacular text book Lib Dem campaign. I would have been surprised if they had not won. However, it must be noted that in this by-election they were an opposition party fighting the candidate of a very unpopular Labour Party in Government. Next year the Liberal Democrats will have to defend their record as a party of government in Scotland – that will be a totally different matter as the Liberal Democrats have a lot to answer for in Holyrood.”

The Scottish Christian Party narrowly missed beating the Scottish Socialist Party who extensively campaigned door to door. In the 2003 Holyrood elections the Scottish Socialist Party narrowly missed winning a seat. William Thompson, co-founder of the Scottish Christian Party noted, “The SSP playing at the top of their game, only achieve 126 votes more than us. Their candidate, John McAllion, was a notable Labour MP. Yet the Scottish Christian Party are nipping at the heels of the SSP and we have just entered the fray. I see no reason why we cannot surpass the SSP when we are up to full speed.”

Perhaps the most telling outcome was the fact that the Scottish Christian Party beat UKIP by almost 2 to 1. Revd Hargreaves said, “We have made our view, that Britain should make an orderly withdrawal from the European Union, crystal clear. However, there is more to our politics than the EU question. There is no point in the UK being out of the EU and not in Christ. What does it profit a country to win its independence from the EU and lose its soul? That’s the major issue.”

Revd Hargreaves also noted that, “Revd Dick Rodgers of the Common Good party probably siphoned off between 50 and 100 votes as Christians had to decide which church minister they would back. Nevertheless, the Scottish Christian Party’s uncompromising Christ-based message received the overwhelming endorsement of the Christian vote, giving the Scottish Christian Party four times as many votes as the Common Good party.” Revd Hargreaves added, “I have spoken with Revd Rodgers and it is my prayer that we can avoid the situation in the future where two Christian ministers are fighting each other at the polls.”

Scottish Christian Party