The BBC reports:
The Inverclyde Westminster by-election is expected to take place on 30 June, after Labour moved the writ in the Commons allowing it to take place.
It follows the death last month of sitting Labour MP David Cairns, from pancreatitis, at the age of 44.
Labour has a majority of 14,416 in Inverclyde, but holds the Scottish Parliament seat of Greenock and Inverclyde by 511 votes.
The party previously said a 30 June date was “unlikely”.
Labour had said last week it was keen to avoid having a by-election during the school holidays and indicated its preference for a “long lead-in time”, to set the date back for about two months.
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10 Comments
I hope no-one will threaten me with suspension from the party for saying I hope the SNP absolutely destroy Labour here!
Bolivia – actually that would be a very bad idea for us. What we’re needing is a strong campaign / performance from ourselves, coupled with a Labour win to at least throw sticks at the SNP bandwagon. An SNP win would only encourage Salmond further – not a good thing for anyone, least of all Scotland.
*ducks to avoid inevitable Cybernat attack*
We got 7% in Greenock & Inverclyde at the Scottish Parliament election. I hope we’re not going to waste a pile of cash fighting this hard.
@David – we need to do something, if only to save the deposit.
We are a campaigning party or we are nothing. A by-election is a wonderful opportunity to engage with voters, identify our supporters and build our membership. If we do nothing, as in Barnsley, we face humiliation.
unlikely tio win inverclyde any decade soon.
while the scottish liberal democrats are going through an understandable identity crisis, we do need to do as Paul’s said. One of the best things about Chris Rennard was always being able to put a good spin on byelection prospects and results. David Cairns was an excellent, liberal, MP, and the people of Inverclyde deserve better than a straight choice between a career SNP politician or a party loyalist from Iain Gray and Ed Miliband’s Labour party.
I think we should take a minute to remember the late MP David Cairns, whose life was so tragically cut short by illness.
An important constitutional refom to remember him for is that his initial election led to the repeal of the act of 1801, which had disqualified many clergy from being MPs.
An SNP win would only encourage Salmond further – not a good thing for anyone, least of all Scotland.
You’ll have to explain this widespread assumption that Lib Dems must be unionists. The party-political reasons are fairly obvious, but I’ve yet to hear a coherent liberal case for the union. Would an independent Scotland necessarily be a less liberal society than at present? And if not, why the rabid opposition?
The LD’s position on this issue seems to me a dogma without a foundation, born purely out of their status as a “national” party and a political need to oppose a rival than because it makes any practical or ideological sense.
Sorry, screwed up the formatting in the first paragraph of the above post. It should read:
An SNP win would only encourage Salmond further – not a good thing for anyone, least of all Scotland.
You’ll have to explain this widespread assumption that Lib Dems must be unionists. The party-political reasons are fairly obvious, but I’ve yet to hear a coherent liberal case for the union. Would an independent Scotland necessarily be a less liberal society than at present? And if not, why the rabid opposition?
The LD’s position on this issue seems to me a dogma without a foundation, born purely out of their status as a “national” party and a political need to oppose a rival than because it makes any practical or ideological sense.