Jackie Baillie backs Iain Gray as Scottish Labour leader despite national electoral disaster

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After spending the evening at the count for the two constituencies of Dumbarton and Clydebank & Milngavie I had what could be described as an interesting evening surrounded by the party activists and candidates.

Jackie Baillie managed to defy the national trend and her majority from the last election in 2007 remained largely unchanged from 2007.

2011 Scottish election result for Dumbarton

I interviewed Jackie after her election win and asked her about Labour’s fortunes in Scotland and whether Iain Gray should step down and if he did would Jackie Baillie step forward in a leadership contest.
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Election day is here…

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And that means a coffee induced headache at 2am at the count tonight. I will be out and about and tweeting what people are saying about the election. Follow @kirsteenfraser or follow the hashtag #sp11. I will be at the counts for Dumbarton and Clydebank and Milngavie tonight so I look forward to a big sleep tomorrow.

See you on the other side!

Election day will be judgement day for Iain Gray

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Thursday is now the day of destiny for Labour in Scotland. The party has been dealt another death blow in the run-up to tonight’s final leaders debate on STV. The latest poll by TNS-BRMB for STV has revealed some chilling numbers for Labour. For the number crunchers

Constituency
SNP: 45%
Lab: 27%
Con: 15%
LD: 10%

Regional
SNP: 38%
Lab: 25%
Con: 16%
LD: 9%
Green: 8%

Seats (via http://scotlandvotes.com)
SNP: 61 (+14)
Lab: 32 (-14)
Con: 18 (+1)
LD: 9 (-7)
Green: 8 (+6)

Some crazy odds for election day

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The emails I get almost daily now from William Hill have made for some interesting reading.

The SNP are now 1/6 favourites with William Hill to win the Scottish Election. Labour, who were once odds-on favourites themselves, have now drifted out to 7/2, with the Lib Dems and Conservatives both quoted at 125/1. Here is the breakdown of some constituencies so far. I hope to keep updating them up until election day and expand the list.
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Constituency of Dumbarton in the West of Scotland electoral region

Whit’s happening in Dumbarton Toon?

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Constituency of Dumbarton in the West of Scotland electoral region

May god have mercy upon my soul but I live in a wee town called Helensburgh which is part of the Dumbarton constituency. Now don’t look at me like that I could hardly be described as the Helensburgh yuppie stereotype. As pointed out recently on my website there is a strange feeling in the political air right now in my constituency and recent hustings has done nothing to clear it. My part of the constituency has always been politically ‘quirky’ to put it mildly while Dumbarton has generally been stanch Labour since Adam was a boy. However as Bob Dylan once sang, these times are a-changin.
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Kelvingrove Street party festivities end in arrests

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Article and video footage featured on STV News 30th April 2011

Revellers enjoying the festivities. Photo: Gavin Reynolds

An impromptu street party at Kelvingrove Park ended this evening in violence and discord after rival gangs caused mayhem as innocent revellers enjoyed the festivities. The event had attracted 4000 party-goers after an event was posted on Facebook inviting people to the unofficial event at one of Glasgow’s most popular parks. There had been fears by local council officials that over 10,000 people may have descended on to Kelvingrove Park -though this later proved unfounded- and Glasgow City Council had urged people to stay away from the party citing safety fears.

A council spokesperson stated prior to the event: “We strongly urge people to find a safer alternative way of celebrating. There are concerns that huge numbers of people descending on Kelvingrove will cause disruption and disturbance for other park users, including families.”

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Labour’s rocky hold on Dumbarton

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There is a curious thing happening to the Scottish political scene right now, and it’s something that a few of the old hands are having difficulty understanding. I don’t usually get too bogged down in covering my local political scene preferring to cover national and international issues but in recent weeks I have noticed a curious phenomenon overtaking the streets of the Dumbarton constituency.

Dumbarton once one of the most impenetrable Labour heartlands in Scotland might just turn SNP yellow in just two short weeks. That’s if the latest Ipsos Mori polling is to believed, the SNP have now overtaken Labour by 11 points and look to make gains not only in the regional vote but the constituency vote as well. But how has this happened? Why was there such a massive turnaround in the SNP’s fortunes in a matter of weeks? Speaking to a few people in my local area reveals why.

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