The Glasgow North East By-election 2009

'Senior figures in the Scottish Labour Party appear to be winning the argument for holding the Glasgow North-East by- election in the autumn rather than in July.' Lorraine Davidson in the Times, 23 rd May 2009..

Scottish Labour winning argument to delay Glasgow North-East by-election

By Lorraine Davidson in the Times 23 rd May 2009

Senior figures in the Scottish Labour Party appear to be winning the argument for holding the Glasgow North-East by- election in the autumn rather than in July.

Discussions have been taking place between Labour in Scotland and London over the best date to hold the contest to replace Michael Martin following his resignation as Speaker over the expenses revelations that continue to dog Westminster.

A Labour source indicated that the party now favoured holding off: "We don't want to be in a position of asking people to vote Labour in the European elections and then asking them to go back to the polls very soon afterwards."

The source claimed that the case for waiting until the autumn was gaining widespread support north and south of the Border.

Mr Martin will apply for the Chiltern Hundreds on June 21, which gives Labour three months of that date to hold a by-election.

Although the party does not want to make the mistake of rushing the contest, as it did with the by-election for Glasgow East last year, which it lost to the SNP, it will be afraid of holding the poll too close to its annual party conference Ñ the last one before a general election.

Willie Bain, a law lecturer and local party activist, is emerging as a favourite to contest the seat for Labour. Grant Thoms, a Glasgow city councillor, is the front-runner to become the SNP candidate.

However, the likelihood of the poll being put off means the parties may not have to make a swift choice and can afford to wait until it becomes clearer if anti-sleaze candidates come forward in the wake of the expenses scandal.

Paul McBride, a leading QC who defected to the Tories from Labour last month, dismissed reports that he was planning to stand as the Conservative candidate.

"I do not want to be an MP, an MSP or an MEP" he said.

Meanwhile, senior Tories stepped up calls for a general election. The frontbench MP Theresa May joined the party's Scottish leader, Annabel Goldie, and the Shadow Scottish secretary David Mundell, outside the Scottish Parliament to back the party's online petition for a snap election.

"It's in support of the view of a large number of members of the public that they actually want a general election," Mr Mundell said, adding that future relations with the SNP government has been looked at "very carefully" by the Tories.

Ms May said that if elected, the Tories would send ministers to Holyrood to explain budget decisions and talk through the Queen's Speech with MSPs. "These are some of the practical proposals we have for ensuring that relationship between Westminster and Holyrood," she said.