|
|
Article: Labour's banana skin: the Monklands by-election. (John Smith's constituency in Scotland)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- June 4, 1994
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
TO THE Labour Party, the loss of their leader is tragedy enough. Worse still would be to lose the by-election now expected on June 30th in John Smith's Monklands East constituency in Scotland.
Surely Mr Smith's majority of 15,712 votes at the last election, and his 61% share of the vote compared with the mere 18% of his nearest rival, makes his seat safe for Labour? No, it does not. The by-election will not be an easy win over the Tories, but a bitter battle against the Scottish National Party. Labour has a poor by- election record against the SNP. In the 1987-92 parliament, in four Scottish by-elections in safe Labour seats, Labour's vote fell 14.9 percentage points ...