Glasgow Cathcart by-election, 2005

The Glasgow Cathcart by-election to the Scottish Parliament was held on 29 September, 2005. It was caused by the resignation from the Scottish Parliament of Mike Watson, who won the seat at both the 1999 and 2003 elections.

On 15 November, 2004, Watson had been charged with two counts of fire-raising while attending a private reception at Edinburgh's Prestonfield Hotel three days previously. After initially registering not guilty pleas to both charges on 23 August, 2005, on 1 September he changed his plea on the first count to guilty, and had a not guilty plea accepted on the second charge. Sentencing has been deferred till 22 September. On the same day Watson admitted his guilt, he resigned from the Scottish Parliament necessitating the by-election.

The short time span between Watson's resignation and the by-election has been the cause of some controversy. George Reid, the Parliament's Presiding Officer set the date citing that it was in the best interests of the public to have it on this date, the date already set for the Livingston by-election caused by the death of Robin Cook as having alternative dates would have led to months of electioneering, which he felt was against the public interest. The Scottish National Party (SNP) leader, Alex Salmond felt that the Labour Party had brought undue pressure to bear on the Presiding Officer though and angrily charged that the date was set merely to suit Labour's purposes as they were worried about a strong SNP challenge (the SNP had come second in the constituency in recent elections).

Charan Gill, a well known Glasgow entrepreneur had a high profile attempt at becoming Labour's candidate for the by-election, and was reputedly supported by First Minister, Jack McConnell. However he only joined the Labour Party days before the deadline for application and Labour's Scottish Executive Committee ruled that he was ineligible under the term's of the party constitution. Former City of Glasgow Council Leader, Charlie Gordon was chosen as their candidate on 9 September. Others in the frame for Labour were former teacher and current Councillor Irene Graham; voluntary sector worker Archie Graham, who is also the husband of Glasgow Pollok MSP Johann Lamont; and Manjinder Singh Shergill, a business analyst with ScottishPower.

Maire Whitehead, a previous candidate in Cathcart and a former Primary School Headteacher was chosen by the SNP as their candidate on the same day as Gordon was selected by Labour. She defeated Bill Kidd, twice a candidate elsewhere in Glasgow and the SNP Trade Union Group organiser and Tommy Tonner, a Glasgow based consultant.

The Scottish Socialist Party chose Ronnie Stevenson; the Liberal Democrats, Arthur Sanderson; and former Lord Provost of Glasgow Pat Lally, who stood as an independent in the seat in 2003, fought it once again. Richard Cook, who also stood in the seat in 2003, was the Conservative candidate whilst the Greens picked Chloe Stewart, a 31 year old NHS employee in Glasgow, and the UKIP chose Bryan McCormack. Chris Creighton put his name forward as an independent candidate.

Result

Election box begin no clear
title=By-election 2005: Glasgow CathcartElection box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Charlie Gordon
votes = 5,811
percentage = 37.7
change = −1.5Election box candidate with party link
party = Scottish National Party
candidate = Maire Whitehead
votes = 3,406
percentage = 22.1
change = +5.8Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Richard Cook
votes = 2,306
percentage = 15.0
change = +2.0Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = Arthur Sanderson
votes = 1,557
percentage = 10.1
change = +2.3Election box candidate with party link
party = Independent (politician)
candidate = Pat Lally
votes = 856
percentage = 5.6
change = −5.3Election box candidate with party link
party = Scottish Socialist Party
candidate = Ronnie Stevenson
votes = 819
percentage = 5.3
change = −7.3Election box candidate with party link
party = Scottish Green Party
candidate = Chloe Stewart
votes = 548
percentage = 3.6
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Independent (politician)
candidate = Chris Creighton
votes = 59
percentage = 0.4
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = United Kingdom Independence Party
candidate = Bryan McCormack
votes = 54
percentage = 0.4
change = "N/A"Election box majority
votes = 2,405
percentage = 15.6
change = −7.3Election box turnout
votes = 15,416
percentage = 32.0
change = −13 Election box hold with party link
winner = Labour Party (UK)
swing = -3.7

Previous election result

Election box begin
title=Scottish parliamentary election, 2003: Glasgow CathcartElection box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Mike Watson
votes = 8,742
percentage = 39.19
change = −8.9Election box candidate with party link
party = Scottish National Party
candidate = David Ritchie
votes = 3,630
percentage = 16.27
change = −11.9Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Richard Cook
votes = 2,888
percentage = 12.95
change = +0.7Election box candidate with party link
party = Scottish Socialist Party
candidate = Malcolm Wilson
votes = 2,819
percentage = 12.64
change = "N/A"Election box candidate
party = Local Health Concern
candidate = Pat Lally
votes = 2,419
percentage = 10.84
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = Tom Henery
votes = 1,741
percentage = 7.8
change = −0.3Election box candidate
party = Parent Excluded
candidate = Robert Wilson
votes = 68
percentage = 0.3
change = "N/A"Election box majority
votes = 5,112
percentage = 22.92
change = +3Election box turnout
votes = 22,307
percentage = 45
change = −7.5Election box hold with party link
winner = Labour Party (UK)
swing = +1.5

ee also

* Elections in Scotland
* List of Scottish Parliamentary by-elections