Glasgow North East off until November

The Herald

The Scottish National Party tried to bring forward the date of the Glasgow North East by-election yesterday. If they had succeeded, the contest would have been in August, possibly resurrecting for Labour their nightmare performance in Glasgow East last summer when the party managed to lose one of the safest Labour seats in the country to the SNP. As things stand, the vote will not be held until November, five months after the retirement of the sitting MP, former House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin.

If this was the Nationalists' attempt to seize the moral high ground, it was not very convincing. Otherwise, the two SNP MPs who attempted to move the writ before the Commons rose for the summer yesterday would have solicited in advance the support of the Conservatives, many of whose backbenchers were away campaigning in Norwich North. This enabled Labour to defeat the manoeuvre easily. The move also appeared hypocritical 12 months after the SNP firmly opposed the scheduling in the summer holidays of the Glasgow East poll.

In truth, an August poll would have suited the SNP no better than their opponents. Their candidate, former TV newsman David Kerr, has only just been chosen, after Councillor Grant Thoms decided against standing and a second choice, Councillor James Doran, was forced to withdraw following revelations about his finances.

Already Mr Kerr is having to defend himself over a condescending remark about Caledonian University in a constituency where attending any seat of higher learning would represent a considerable achievement for many residents.

However, the Labour Party may have had even more to lose from a summer poll. The closure and amalgamation of a number of local primary schools by the Labour-controlled city council is the burning local issue of the moment. By November, pupils will have settled in their new classes and tempers are likely to have cooled. And, if Labour lost an August election, it would risk launching a new whispering campaign against Gordon Brown in the run-up to the party conference.

As a result, Labour's excuses - that a summer poll would effectively disenfranchise those on holiday and leave no time to improve the very low voter registration figures - though true, sounded defensive. By flooding the lobby with English backbenchers to defeat the SNP attempt to move the writ for the by-election yesterday, Labour merely succeeded in looking as if they were running scared, which is exactly what the Nationalists' intended. In fact, in the European elections, this was one of the few areas where the Labour vote held up, albeit on a low turn-out. The party should have had the courage of its own convictions and accepted the SNP's challenge.

Delaying the election until after Guy Fawkes' night may allow an opportunity to boost voter registration but it leaves one of the poorest constituencies in the country without a sitting MP for five months, which is an affront to democracy. It is particularly unfortunate that a constituency with one of the highest rates of unemployment in the UK has no elected representative to speak for them at a time when drinks giant Diageo is threatening to close the distillery at Port Dundas with the loss of a further 140 jobs.