 | 'Lord Snapcase was reliable.' said Mr Sock gloomily. 'Remember when he made his horse a city councillor?' 'You've got to admit, it wasn't a bad councillor, compared to some of the others.' Local Government in Terry Pratchett's Discworld. |  |
| 'Lord Snapcase was reliable.' said Mr Sock gloomily. 'Remember when he made his horse a city councillor?' 'You've got to admit, it wasn't a bad councillor, compared to some of the others.' Local Government in Terry Pratchett's Discworld. | |
The by-election was caused by the resignation of Labour councillor Gerard Murray. Cllr Murray was the election agent of Rachel Squire at the general election in May.
The SNP candidate Douglas Chapman overturned a Labour majority of 333 to win by 67 votes. This represented a swing of 17.9 % from Labour to the SNP, bettering even the 11% swing at last week's Paisley South by-election.
If the SNP are able to take safe wards like Rosyth West & Dockyard only a week after 10,000 Labour voters stayed at home in Paisley South, the future does not look rosy should Labour be forced to call by-elections in Renfrewshire West and Glasgow Govan.
The Rosyth Dockyard part of the ward, which actually includes a fair number of houses, was until recently part of Gordon Brown's Dunfermline East constituency but is now in Dunfermline West which is held by Rachel Squire. Parts of this area look like a ghost town with entire streets (of formerly Navy) houses boarded up since the Naval Base was closed a few years ago. Rosyth is sometimes referred to as a "Garden City" having been built on a English model to provide housing for dockyard workers.
Rosyth is home to 7 scrapped nuclear subs which are set to remain there until well into the next millenium. Since 1993 1.5 million gallons of nuclear waste has been flushed into the Forth from these hulks.
The new SNP councillor, Douglas Chapman is 42, married and lives close to Rosyth. He works for a training company who are involved in getting long-term unemployed people back into work.
SNP Chief Executive Michael Russell, commenting on the result, said
"It is obvious that New Labour is now in deep trouble in Scotland. Having only survived last week's Paisley South by-election by the skin of their teeth, they have now lost a heartland council seat in Central Scotland because of the strength of SNP support, and because the voters that placed them in power just six months ago will not now cross their own doorsteps to vote for them again.
This seat is in the backyard of the Chancellor the Exchequer, Gordon Brown. His jacket, and that of his colleagues, is now on a shoogly nail!"
Following the by-election gain for the SNP, the political composition of Fife Council is Labour 53, Liberal Democrats 25, Scottish National Party 10, Independents 3 and Others 1. (The Tories have no councillors in Fife).
I am grateful to Jim Jackson for a profile of the ward and sending the results.
| 13 th November 1997 | 6 th April 1995 | ||||||
| Douglas Chapman |  | 366 | 44.2 % | Gerard Murray |  | 716 | 59.6 % |
| Maureen O'Sullivan | | 299 | 36.1 % | William Dunn | | 383 | 31.9 % |
| Jim Burke |  | 163 | 19.7 % | Thomas McElhinney | | 103 | 8.6 % |
| SNP gain from Lab | SNP maj | 67 | 8.1 % | Lab gain | Lab maj | 333 | 27.7 % |
Return to home page