Colinton result a huge blow to Edinburgh's Tories

5.11.44pm GMT Mon 15th Nov 2004

Mike Crockart, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson for Edinburgh North & Leith, today said the recent result of the Colinton by-election showed the Tories to be a spent force in Edinburgh and that only the Liberal Democrats would be able to seriously challenge Labour in next year's General Election.

A disastrous night for the Tories

On the 28th of October, Liberal Democrat, Stuart Bridges came just 150 votes short of winning the previously safe Conservative council seat of Colinton. The Liberal Democrat vote increased from 12% last year to 42% this time round. The Tory vote fell from 63% to just 46%.

Commenting on the result, Mike Crockart said:

"This is a remarkable result. At a time when the Tories are making much talk of a great revival, they have come close to losing, not just one of their safest council seats in Edinburgh but one of their safest seats in the whole of Scotland. That result is a credit to Stuart Bridges and his team."

The Colinton result was also notable for the poor performance of the Labour Party, which received less than 8% of the vote. Colinton is situated in the Edinburgh South West seat being contested by Alistair Darling in next year's General Election.

Mike added,

"It is now obvious that only the Liberal Democrats are seriously able to challenge Labour's hold on the City of Edinburgh. There will be many sitting Labour MPs who now realise that it is not the Conservatives they need to worry about next year. I am looking forward to that campaign with renewed confidence."