McConnell back, but endorsement far from ringing

An independent candidate fighting on a single issue last night sent shockwaves through the Scottish political system with a spectacular victory to oust a leading Labour MSP.

Dr Jean Turner secured 31 per cent of the vote to snatch the seat of Strathkelvin and Bearsden from Labour's Brian Fitzpatrick with a campaign to protest against plans to rationalise Glasgow's hospital system. The win reflected Dr Richard Taylor's win in Wyre Forest in the 2001 Westminster election. His was also a campaign of protest against the closure of a local hospital.

It was a night of victories for the independents as the former Labour rebel Dennis Canavan was returned in Falkirk West with 14,703 votes while in Edinburgh veteran nationalist Margo MacDonald, who split from the SNP last year, looked set to be returned as an Independent list MSP.

On a night in which apathy and disillusionment were the only clear winners in the Scottish Parliamentary election, as the majority of Scots voted with their feet and stayed away from the ballot box, Dr Turner's victory sent a clear message that many voters were fed up with the party system.

With estimated voting figures of about 45 per cent across the country, and as low as 28 per cent in some areas, it appeared that the people's verdict on devolution and the performance of their first parliament in almost 300 years was far from positive.

Just four years ago in the 1999 inaugural Holyrood elections turnout was 59 per cent but yesterday's bad weather conspired with the general mood of apathy across the country to severely reduce the enthusiasm of previous years.

By the time the first results came in just after midnight it was clear that the First Minister, Jack McConnell, would return to the post in the new Parliament despite a predicted fall in the Labour vote, but would need to continue his coalition with the Liberal Democrats. In his constituency of Motherwell and Wishaw a 49.03 per cent turn-out saw Mr McConnell returned with 13,739 votes – a majority of 9,259 and an 8 per cent increase on his share of the vote.

"We have campaigned in this election to win more votes for Labour. Now we must deliver more progress for Scotland," said Mr McConnell.

One of the biggest success stories of the night was the performance of the resurgent Scottish Socialist Party whose sole MSP and leader, Tommy Sheridan, was expected to be joined by a number of new comrades in the Parliament at the expense of the Tories and the SNP. In Hamilton South the SSP went from almost zero to 9 per cent of the vote and they managed to secure 7 per cent in Glasgow Rutherglen. Their share of the vote was up in almost every constituency.

"Scotland is a massively wealthy country but the problem is that wealth is owned by a tiny minority and we want to redistribute that wealth," said Mr Sheridan.