Ayr by-election 2000

'It is hypocritical for the Tories to attack Labour for slashing council services, as the Labour administration are merely continuing the policies forced on Scotland for 18 years by the Tories.' Alex Salmond, 14 th March 2000.

Tories accused of double standards in campaign

By Robbie Dinwoodie in the Herald

Both Labour and the SNP said the Conservatives spent the by-election campaign trying to have it both ways and now Mr Hague was compounding that by appearing on the hustings, while planning to make a keynote speech on tax cuts later in the day.

However, Mr Hague insisted that through good housekeeping it was possible to improve services while cutting taxes: "Of course you can. Every Conservative Government has improved service while lowering taxes."

This brought a scathing response from SNP leader Alex Salmond: "They can't have it both ways. You simply can't have tax cuts and keep the Carrick Street Halls open. It is hypocritical for the Tories to attack Labour for slashing council services, as the Labour administration are merely continuing the policies forced on Scotland for 18 years by the Tories.

"The Tory candidate must now tell us whether he wants more tax cuts like his leader, or whether he wants to prevent 'hundreds of local pensioners being put out in the cold' as his literature states."

Before last Christmas, the SNP was offered at 100-1 to take Ayr. Yesterday, the bookies cut the odds of that further, from 5-2 to 9-4. Tory odds were also trimmed and now stand at 3-1 on, while Labour have slipped to 7-1 - long odds for the defending incumbents in a seat.

The SNP is still talking up its chances of closing the remaining gap against the Tory front-runners. Nationalist candidate Jim Mather claimed: "We always thought William Hague was the fatal weakness of the Tory campaign. Now he's proved it. He has made it clear he wants to continue cutting taxes and cutting public expenditure. If the Tories win this election, we'll have to get used to more council cuts and job losses."

The Labour campaign also focused on public spending, unveiling a cross-section of Ayr people who have benefited from Government policies since the General Election. Scotland Office Minister Brian Wilson said contrary to the claims of opponents there had been real benefits gained, promises kept, and values and priorities reflected. On the non-appearance of the Prime Minister on the hustings, he pointed out that the SNP had attacked William Hague for coming and Mr Blair for not coming.

He denied Labour's candidate Rita Miller was poised to slump to third place.

Scottish Tory leader David McLetchie said the way to meet the people's aspirations on crime, education, health, and jobs was to cut down the size of government in Scotland. The boom in the number of Ministers, special advisers, and civil servants in general meant £24m was now being spent on bureaucracy.

March 15 th 2000