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The 2005 Livingston by-election was triggered when
Robin Cook Robert Finlayson "Robin" Cook (28 February 19466 August 2005) was a British Labour politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 until his death in 2005 and served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 until 2001 wh ...
, the Labour Party
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...
for Livingston, in
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
, died on 6 August 2005. Notice of the vacancy in the constituency was published in the
London Gazette London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...
on 2 September 2005, which allowed the Speaker of the House of Commons to issue the writ for the election on 8 September under the Recess Elections Act 1975. The poll was held on 29 September, in the week of the
Labour Party Conference The Labour Party Conference is the annual conference of the British Labour Party. It is formally the supreme decision-making body of the party and is traditionally held in the final week of September, during the party conference season when th ...
, when the Labour candidate Jim Devine held the seat for his party. A by-election for the Glasgow Cathcart seat in the Scottish Parliament was also held on the same day.


Results


Reaction to results

Labour's retention of the seat, albeit with a reduced majority, was regarded by the party with satisfaction. The Scottish National Party was the only party to increase their vote from the general election, and although they did not win, they achieved a swing of 10% from Labour. The Liberal Democrats' share of the vote fell by 0.6%. There was a swing from Labour to Conservatives of 3%, but given the fourth-place position of the Conservative Party in this seat, and their third-place position in Scotland, the significance of this is debatable. In 2007 Angela Constance gained the Livingston seat in the
Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, PĂ rlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holy ...
(which has slightly different boundaries) from Labour.


See also

*
Livingston (UK Parliament constituency) Livingston is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, to which it returns one Member of Parliament (MP). Elections are held using the first-past-the-post voting system. It was formed from parts o ...
*
Elections in Scotland Scotland has elections to several bodies: the Scottish Parliament, the United Kingdom Parliament, local councils and community councils. Before the United Kingdom left the European Union, Scotland elected members to the European Parliament. Sco ...


References


External links


Campaign literature from the by-election
*BBC News
Date is set for Cook by-election
{{Westminster by-elections in Scotland 1950-present 2005 elections in the United Kingdom 2005 in Scotland 2000s elections in Scotland Politics of West Lothian By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Scottish constituencies