2009 Glasgow North East by-election
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The 2009 Glasgow North East by-election was a by-election for the
Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
's
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
constituency of
Glasgow North East Glasgow North East is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (at Westminster). It was first contested at the 2005 general election. The current Member of Parliament (MP) is Anne McLaughlin of the ...
. The by-election was held on 12 November 2009 following the resignation of Michael Martin as an MP and as
Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: * Speaker of ...
following the MPs' expenses scandal. Martin was the first Speaker since Sir John Trevor in 1695 to be forced from office.
Willie Bain William Thomas Bain (born 29 November 1972) is a Scottish politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow North East from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Shadow DEFRA Minister from 2010 to 2011 and a Shad ...
, the Scottish Labour Party candidate, won with 59% of the vote. Just 33% of the electorate voted, which is the lowest ever percentage turnout in a Scottish by-election to the House of Commons. There was a longer than normal gap between a seat falling vacant and the by-election. On 22 July, during a brief debate in the House of Commons, the UK Government refused to move the writ before the summer recess. It is a convention (not always observed in practice) that mainstream political parties do not contest elections against sitting Speakers of the House of Commons. As such, Michael Martin won Glasgow North East without his former Labour Party label, and neither the Conservative nor Liberal Democrat parties had fought the constituency (or its predecessor, Glasgow Springburn) in either 2001 or 2005. This was the last by-election of the 2005–2010 parliament.


Candidates

Labour selected
Willie Bain William Thomas Bain (born 29 November 1972) is a Scottish politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow North East from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Shadow DEFRA Minister from 2010 to 2011 and a Shad ...
, a law lecturer and Constituency Labour Party secretary, as their candidate. Michael Martin's son
Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. The son o ...
, the MSP for the roughly equivalent Glasgow Springburn Scottish Parliament constituency, had ruled himself out. The Scottish National Party (SNP) selected David Kerr. They had previously selected James Dornan, their leader on Glasgow City Council, but on 12 July he announced that he was withdrawing as a candidate following allegations in the ''
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'' over past financial difficulties. The Conservative Party selected
Ruth Davidson Ruth Elizabeth Davidson, Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links (born 10 November 1978), is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2011 to 2019 and Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party in the Scottish ...
, a journalist and broadcaster, as well as a Territorial Army volunteer and Sunday school teacher. The
Scottish Liberal Democrats The Scottish Liberal Democrats ( gd, Pàrtaidh Libearal Deamocratach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Leeberal Democrats) is a liberal, federalist political party in Scotland, a part of the United Kingdom Liberal Democrats. The party currently holds 4 o ...
selected the South Lanarkshire councillor Eileen Baxendale as their candidate. The
Scottish Socialist Party The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP; gd, Pàrtaidh Sòisealach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Socialist Pairtie) is a left-wing political party campaigning for the establishment of an independent socialist Scotland. The party was founded in 1998. It c ...
decided to stand Kevin McVey, a party organiser from
Cumbernauld Cumbernauld (; gd, Comar nan Allt, meeting of the streams) is a large town in the historic county of Dunbartonshire and council area of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the tenth most-populous locality in Scotland and the most populated t ...
who promised to reject the £64,000 MP's salary and "live instead on the average skilled worker's wage - not a penny more". On the ballot paper the party opted to use the description "Scottish Socialist Party – Make Greed History" Solidarity initially called on the SSP, the Socialist Labour Party and themselves to adopt a "left unity" candidate. However, they later announced that they had selected
Tommy Sheridan Tommy Sheridan (born 7 March 1966) is a Scottish politician who served as convenor of Solidarity from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as convenor of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) from 1998 to 2004 and as co-convenor of Solidarity from 2 ...
to fight the by-election, claiming he might have stood down in favour of a left unity candidate. On the ballot paper the party used the full description "Solidarity – Scotland’s Socialist Movement" Former Big Brother housemate Mikey Hughes stood as an independent candidate. The
British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK gover ...
(BNP) selected Charlie Baillie as their candidate who stood as second candidate on the list for
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in the 2009 European Election. The
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, an umbrella organisation aiming to support
Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...
candidates in UK elections, selected
John Smeaton John Smeaton (8 June 1724 – 28 October 1792) was a British civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist. Smeaton was the fi ...
, the former Glasgow Airport baggage handler who became known for his intervention during the
2007 Glasgow International Airport attack The Glasgow Airport attack was a Vehicle-ramming attack, terrorist ramming attack which occurred on 30 June 2007, at 15:11 Western European Summer Time, BST, when a dark green Jeep Cherokee (XJ), Jeep Cherokee loaded with propane canisters was ...
as its first candidate for a Westminster election.Smeaton pledges to 'badger' MPs
, ''
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'', 25 September 2009
On declaration of his candidacy in September, he was given the third shortest odds to win the seat.Lorraine Davidson,
Have-a-go hero John Smeaton third favourite for by-election victory
, ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'', 26 September 2009
David Doherty, an environmental protection graduate of the
University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...
, was the
Scottish Green Party The Scottish Greens (also known as the Scottish Green Party; gd, Pàrtaidh Uaine na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Green Pairtie) are a green political party in Scotland. The party has seven MSPs in the Scottish Parliament as of May 2021. As of the 20 ...
candidate. The Socialist Labour Party stood Louise McDaid, who topped their party list for
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
in the 2009 European Election. Mev Brown stood as an independent candidate. Colin Campbell stood for The Individuals Labour and Tory (TILT). Official candidate names and ballot paper descriptions were confirmed by Glasgow City Council on 28 October 2009.Candidates
Glasgow City Council


Result


2005 election result


See also

* 2009 Speaker of the British House of Commons election


References

{{Westminster by-elections in Scotland 1950-present Glasgow North East by-election Glasgow North East by-election 2000s elections in Scotland Glasgow North East by-election By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Glasgow constituencies 2000s in Glasgow Springburn