2005 Livingston by-election

The 2005 Livingston by-election was triggered when Robin Cook, the Labour Party Member of Parliament for Livingston, in Scotland, died on 6 August 2005.

2005 Livingston by-election

29 September 2005
Turnout	38.6%
First party Second party   Lab Candidate Jim Devine Angela Constance Party Labour SNP Popular vote 12,319 9,639 Percentage 41.8% 32.7% Swing 9.3% 11.1%   Third party Fourth party   LD Candidate Charles Dundas Gordon Lindhurst Party Liberal Democrats Conservative Popular vote 4,362 1,993 Percentage 14.8% 6.8% Swing 0.6% 3.4%
MP before election Robin Cook Labour Elected MP Jim Devine Labour

Notice of the vacancy in the constituency was published in the London Gazette on 2 September 2005, which allowed the Speaker of the House of Commons to issue the writ for the election on 8 September under the Recess Elections Act 1975. The poll was held on 29 September, in the week of the Labour Party Conference, when the Labour candidate Jim Devine held the seat for his party.

A by-election for the Glasgow Cathcart seat in the Scottish Parliament was also held on the same day.

Result

Livingston by-election, 2005

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jim Devine	12,319	41.8	9.3
	SNP	Angela Constance	9,639	32.7	11.1
	Liberal Democrats	Charles Dundas	4,362	14.8	0.6
	Conservative	Gordon Lindhurst	1,993	6.8	3.4
	Scottish Green	David Robertson	529	1.8	New
	Scottish Socialist	Steven Nimmo	407	1.4	0.4
	UKIP	Peter Adams	108	0.4	New
	Independent	Melville Brown	55	0.2	New
	Alliance for Change (UK)	John William Allman	33	0.1	New
	Socialist (GB)	Brian Gardner	32	0.1	New
Majority			2,680	9.1	20.4
Turnout			29,477	38.6	19.5
	Labour hold		Swing	10.2

Previous election

General Election 2005: Livingston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robin Cook	22,657	51.1	1.9
	SNP	Angela Constance	9,560	21.6	2.0
	Liberal Democrats	Charles Dundas	6,832	15.4	5.5
	Conservative	Alison Ross	4,499	10.1	2.5
	Scottish Socialist	Steven Nimmo	789	1.8	1.2
Majority			13,097	29.5	0.1
Turnout			44,337	58.1	2.0
	Labour hold		Swing	1.2

Reaction to result

Labour's retention of the seat, albeit with a reduced majority, was regarded by the party with satisfaction. The Scottish National Party was the only party to increase their vote from the general election, and although they did not win, they achieved a swing of 10% from Labour. The Liberal Democrats' share of the vote fell by 0.6%.

There was a swing from Labour to Conservatives of 3%, but given the fourth-place position of the Conservative Party in this seat, and their third-place position in Scotland, the significance of this is debatable.

In 2007 Angela Constance gained the Livingston seat in the Scottish Parliament (which has slightly different boundaries) from Labour.

See also

• Livingston (UK Parliament constituency)
• Elections in Scotland

External links

• Campaign literature from the by-election
• BBC News: Date is set for Cook by-election
• Scottish Election Results 1997 - present