Brown hails poll win
2008-11-07 14:16
London - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown hailed on Friday a surprise by-election win as proof his handling of the financial crisis can help his government recover from a record poll slump.
Brown, whose ratings plumbed unprecedented depths earlier this year, had faced the prospect of another in a string of embarrassing defeats in the election in Glenrothes, in his own Scottish backyard, according to polls.
But his Labour Party's candidate won 19 946 votes, against 13 209 for his Scottish National Party, whose leader had predicted that the SNP would win the parliamentary seat in the longstanding Labour stronghold.
"What I have learned from this by-election is that people are prepared to support governments that will help people through the downturn and offer real help to people," Brown told reporters in Downing Street.
Before the world economic chaos struck, Labour officials had all but written off their hopes of retaining the seat in the by-election, triggered by the death of sitting lawmaker John MacDougall.
Labour has been behind in polls since Brown pulled back from announcing a widely expected general election last October, fuelling speculation that he was doomed at the next general election which must be held before mid-2010.
One of the worst defeats
The governing party has suffered a string of crushing poll defeats under Brown, including in London where veteran Labour mayor Ken Livingstone was ousted by Conservative Boris Johnson in disastrous local elections in May.
In one of its worst by-election defeats, Labour was trounced by the SNP at Glasgow East in July, surrendering its 25th safest seat in Britain and a majority of 13nbsp;500.
But Brown's poll ratings - his party had been more than 20 points behind the opposition Conservatives - have surged back up in recent weeks, on the back of praise for his handling of the global financial crisis.
And the British premier took the risk of personally campaigning in Glenrothes, which is the neighbouring constituency to Brown's own in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, along with his wife Sarah.
The result represents a blow to the SNP and its hopes of securing victory in a referendum on Scottish independence from London which it wants to hold in 2010.
The SNP, under First Minister Alex Salmond, has led the devolved government in Edinburgh since last year, enjoying a honeymoon period thanks to popular policies such as scrapping council tax.
But some opposition politicians have accused it of arrogance and assuming it would win Glenrothes. Its deputy leader Nicola Sturgeon told the BBC she was "deeply disappointed".
'Britain is strong'
Salmond - whose party adopted the slogan of US president-elect Barack Obama, "yes we can", on the campaign trail - accused Labour of "negative scaremongering" earlier this week.
Scottish Labour lawmaker Anne McGuire told the BBC: "We did get the benefit of Gordon's confidence in handling the international situation without any shadow of doubt, linked to the local issues."
Labour candidate Lindsay Roy, the headmaster at Brown's old school, voiced his support for Brown in his victory speech and cited the premier's record of economic success as well as the importance of local issues in the campaign.
"With Gordon Brown, Britain is strong. With Gordon Brown, Labour has won here in Glenrothes and central Fife," Roy said.