Labour bounces back in bye-election to House of Commons

London, Nov 7 (PTI) In a sign of Prime Minister Gordon
Brown's political recovery, the ruling Labour party Friday
romped home victorious in the by-election to the House of
Commons from the Scottish seat of Glenrothes, in a campaign
spearheaded by Brown's his wife Sarah.

The margin of victory over the Scottish National Party,
which took everyone by surprise, marked an abrupt end to Alex
Salmond's honeymoon as Scotland's First Minister and a
thumping personal endorsement for Brown.

Labour's candidate 59-year-old Lindsay Roy, headmaster of
Brown's old school, secured the seat for Labour with 19,946
votes, a majority of 6,737.

The S.N.P. came second with 13,209. Maurice Golden, the
Conservative candidate, was third with 1,381, and Harry Wills,
of the Liberal Democrats was fourth with 947.

The by-election followed the death of the sitting Labour
M.P., John MacDougall.

With this victory, Labour's working majority in the
Commons goes up to 63.

The triumph, that came in the constituency neighbouring
Brown's in Fife, was the first evidence that Labour's
improvement in the polls appears to be real.

Holding the seat that Labour won with a 10,664 majority
in 2005 meant that Brown's decision to break with tradition
and campaign in the contest - along with his wife, Sarah, who
made several visits - paid off. PTI HSR
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