Hamilton South by-election, 1999

On August 4, 1999 NATO announced that the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Hamilton South, in Scotland, the Rt. Hon. George Robertson, had been chosen as its new Secretary-General. This meant that Robertson was required to resign his seat which he had won as a Labour candidate in the 1997 general election. The seat had fallen vacant in a Parliamentary recess, and the law does not permit a byelection to be called during a recess if the sitting member resigns by taking the Chiltern Hundreds. The Labour Party did not wish to wait until the end of the recess to call the election as it would give opposition parties longer to campaign.

The problem was solved when Robertson was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Robertson of Port Ellen on August 24, 1999, instantly vacating his seat. As of 2004 this remains the last elevation of a sitting MP. The writ for the byelection was moved immediately. Labour selected Bill Tynan, a locally-based Trade Union official, to defend the seat. The Scottish National Party, which was likely to provide the main challenge, chose Solicitor Annabelle Ewing. Despite not living locally this was a useful choice as Ewing was the daughter of Winnie Ewing who had defeated Labour to win the Hamilton byelection of 1967. The Scottish Socialist Party fought a strong campaign for the seat, and Stephen Mungall was nominated by a local group protesting against the ownership of the local football team Hamilton Academical F.C..

Twelve candidates stood, the most in any Scottish by-election.

Polling day in the by-election was on September 23. The Labour Party narrowly held on to the seat, after a recount; the Liberal Democrats polled embarrassingly poorly, which many interpreted as voter dissatisfaction with their decision to join the Labour Party in a coalition in the Scottish Executive. Their sixth place was the worst placing in a by-election by any major party since the Liberal candidate in the Glasgow Camlachie by-election, 1948 also came sixth. The Scottish Socialist Party beat the Conservatives, and even Stephen Mungall saved his deposit.

Results

Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Bill Tynan
votes = 7,172
percentage = 36.9
change = -28.7Election box candidate with party link
party = Scottish National Party
candidate = Annabelle Ewing
votes = 6,616
percentage = 34.0
change = +16.4Election box candidate with party link
party = Scottish Socialist Party
candidate = Shareen Blackall
votes = 1,847
percentage = 9.5
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Charles Ferguson
votes = 1,406
percentage = 7.2
change = -1.4Election box candidate with party link
party = Independent (politician)
candidate = Stephen Mungall
votes = 1,075
percentage = 5.5
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = Marilyne MacLaren
votes = 634
percentage = 3.3
change = -1.9Election box candidate with party link
party = ProLife Alliance
candidate = Monica Burns
votes = 257
percentage = 1.3
change = -0.7Election box candidate with party link
party = Socialist Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Tom Dewar
votes = 238
percentage = 1.2
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Scottish Unionist Party (modern)
candidate = Jim Reid
votes = 113
percentage = 0.6
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = United Kingdom Independence Party
candidate = Alistair McConnachie
votes = 61
percentage = 0.3
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Natural Law Party
candidate = George Stidolph
votes = 18
percentage = 0.1
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Independent (politician)
candidate = John Drumond Moray
votes = 17
percentage = 0.1
change = "N/A"Election box majority
votes = 556
percentage =
change = Election box turnout
votes =
percentage = 25
change = Election box hold with party link
winner = Labour Party (UK)
swing = -22.6

Mungall used the description "Hamilton Accies Home, Watson Away", referring to demands by some fans that Hamilton Academical should play their home matches locally and that Watson, a prominent shareholder, should go.

Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = George Robertson
votes = 21,709
percentage = 65.6
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Scottish National Party
candidate = Ian Black
votes = 5,831
percentage = 17.6
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Robert Dow Kilgour
votes = 2,858
percentage = 8.6
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = Richard Pitts
votes = 1,693
percentage = 5.1
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = ProLife Alliance
candidate = Colin Gunn
votes = 684
percentage = 2.1
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Referendum Party
candidate = Stuart Brown
votes = 316
percentage = 1.0
change = "N/A"Election box majority
votes = 15,878
percentage =
change = Election box turnout
votes =
percentage =
change = Election box hold with party link
winner = Labour Party (UK)
swing =

ee also

* Hamilton South (UK Parliament constituency)
* Elections in Scotland
* List of United Kingdom by-elections