Labour hold off SNP in North Lanarkshire

Coatbridge North & Glenboig saw an easy hold for Labour on first preferences alone. In the absence of the minor party and independent candidates seen in 2007 and 2009, both Labour and the SNP saw their vote share rise. However, the SNP fell short of catching Labour, who won a little over half the vote.

Julie McAnulty's vote came in lower than the combined vote of the SNP and Julie's independent candidacy in 2009, suggesting that she may have lost some of her independent voters under her new party colours. She still performed well in a strongly Labour ward however, improving substantially on the SNP vote share in both 2007 and the 2009 by-election, with a percentage of the vote that would comfortably elect two SNP councillors here next May.

The Conservative share fell again on both 2007 and 2009 despite the reduction in candidates, possibly a result of a tighter squeeze between Labour and the SNP or otherwise a decline in popularity that gives a gloomy forecast for their hopes of retaining their sole North Lanarkshire seat next year. The Lib Dems, standing for the first time, polled a slightly smaller share of the vote than the Green candidate in 2009.

The turnout was very poor, with barely 1 in 5 registered voters turning out despite a day of unseasonably warm weather. This is still slightly better than the turnout seen at the last Lanarkshire by-election in East Kilbride West, but it's difficult to draw comparisons when considering that election was held during a severe all-day storm!

With no change in seats, North Lanarkshire Council remains under the control of a safe Labour majority administration.

North Lanarkshire Council
Lab		SNP		Ind		Con			LD			CIA
41	-	22	-	4	-	1	-		1	-		1	-
Coatbridge North & Glenboig
By-Election Candidate						Votes		Vote %			+/-*
Michael McPake (E)						1529		52.4%			+3.1%
Julie McAnulty						1139		39.0%			+10.4%
Robert Burgess						174		6.0%			-4.3%
Graham Dale						78		2.7%			+2.7%

* change from 2007

Kristofer Keane