By Craig Smith

LABOUR CANDIDATE Lindsay Roy was last night celebrating after proving the doubters wrong by winning the Glenrothes constituency by-election—albeit with a reduced majority.

The SNP had been strongly tipped to overhaul the 10,664 majority built up by the late MP John MacDougall after their remarkable victory in the Glasgow East by-election in July.

But there was to be no such repeat in Glenrothes as Mr Roy mustered 19,946 votes to hold the seat for Labour—recording a 6737 majority.

SNP candidate Peter Grant, who is also leader of Fife Council, came second with 13,209 votes, while Conservative hopeful Maurice Golden came a surprise third.

Turnout, however, was poor, as only 52.37% of the 69,155 electorate cast their vote—down on the 56.1% recorded at the last general election.

As well as a success for the party in its own right, the Labour triumph will also be seen as a timely boost for Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who broke with tradition to campaign in the constituency next to his own Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath seat.

Mr Roy, who will step down as rector of the Prime Minister’s former school in Kirkcaldy, paid tribute to all those who have supported him during a gruelling campaign.

“The charges and cuts to the elderly and disabled from the SNP council must stop now,” he said.

“I’ll work hard to match the work done by John MacDougall, who did such an excellent job, and I will try to help Fife through difficult economic times.

“I also pledge my support to the leader of our country, Gordon Brown—someone who has worked very hard for all of us, not just in Fife but throughout the UK.

“With Gordon Brown, Labour is strong and with Gordon Brown, Labour has won here in Glenrothes and Central Fife.”

Although Glenrothes has long been considered a safe Labour seat, the SNP will be disappointed not to have seized control after Tricia Marwick’s victory in the Central Fife Scottish Parliamentary elections last year.

The Nationalists have been odds on with the bookies since the by-election race began, having fought a campaign which has been repeatedly supported by visits from First Minister Alex Salmond.

The evening started with rumours of a narrow SNP win but as the count went on, it became clear that Labour’s efforts had paid off handsomely.

Despite the outcome, however, Mr Grant remained upbeat, maintaining that the cut Labour majority had sent a message to the Prime Minister and his party at Westminster.

Offering his “warmest and sincerest” congratulations to Mr Roy, he said, “We’ve seen the SNP vote in this constituency increase by over 50% and that is a magnificent result by anyone’s standard.

“We have got a vote tonight that is possibly the biggest Parliamentary vote the SNP has ever got.

“It’s a long, long time since the SNP came anywhere near this result.”

Mr Grant also thanked his party for fighting a “positive and upbeat” campaign, also paying tribute to the late former SNP councillor Michael Woods, who died recently.

The Conservatives won the battle for third spot in the constituency, as candidate Maurice Golden pipped Lib Dem hopeful Harry Wills into fourth place by earning 1381 votes to Mr Wills’ 947.

Mr Wills said, “We’ve enjoyed the campaign and fought a very good campaign, I think.

“We’ve raised issues that others didn’t raise and we campaigned on a combination of tax cuts to improve people’s lot, but I also thought we fought on some very good local issues.

“I’m very happy with the hard work that the campaign team has put in and I’ve also been supported all the way by my wife Trudy.”

A delighted Mr Golden added, “Considering we did so well in 2005, to come so close is fantastic.

“Just to stake a claim in the centre of Liberal Democrat territory has been a good achievement.”

Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party candidate Jim Parker polled 296 votes, ahead of Scottish Socialist candidate Morag Balfour, who received 212 votes.

UKIP candidate Dr Kris Seunarine had 117 votes, while Solidarity candidate Louise McLeary managed just 87 votes.

l See also pictures on Page 9.