SNPputbrave face on losing one of their MPs
THE faces of the candidates and supporters as the votes were counted in Glasgow told a story from the minute the very first ballot boxes were opened.
At the stroke of 10pm and the results of the exit poll were announced SNP people began to look worried.
Labour on the other hand had incredulous smiles on their faces.
Neither believed it to be true and it made for an anxious few hours as the counters tallied the votes.
It was supposed to be straightforward, seven SNP MPs would be returned to Westminster with little challenge from their rivals.
As the counts progressed it became clear the Labour fightback in the city was genuine and there was talk of winning some seats.
The SNP knew that 2015 was a high-water mark and that majorities would be cut and seats lost elsewhere in the country but in Glasgow the signs were still of success.
By the end of the counting the SNP were still satisfied with the result, if disappointed they had lost Anne McLaughlin in North East.
Susan Aitken, fresh from her success in the council elections admitted times had changed considerably since two years ago.
The new SNP leader of Glasgow City Council said: “We are very pleased and we have to be pleased.
“We knew this would be a very very different election this time and it would be an enormous challenge to get anywhere near where we got last time.
“The result in 2015 came very much out of the blue, we did not expect that.
“Politics has changed a lot since then, even in the last couple of months.
“Brexit has changed a great deal. We have seen a unionist coalition, Labour and the Tories telling voters to vote tactically for each other, and the other parties in Scotland have decided that the SNP is their enemy. Rather than Labour challenging the Tories.”
Ms Aitken said the SNP still won the election despite the reduced majorities and loss of one seat.
She added: “It’s clear that Glasgow remains an SNP city.
“Equally there has been a realignment and we have to learn lessons from that and we have to keep talking to the people of Glasgow, finding out what they want and need form us.
“In this cycle, the SNP has been in government for 10 years so for us to have just won the council from Labour for 40 years, the first time anyone can remember political change in Glasgow in the council.
“For us to have held on to all but one of the seats in Glasgow, I think is a remarkable achievement.”
Labour were also pleased with the result which puts them back as a fighting force in Glasgow.
Anas Sarwar, Glasgow MSP said: “Any Labour person who would have told you this is what they expected would have been lying.
“We had hoped to make progress but we have done much more. This result in Glasgow shows Labour is back fighting for progressive values that people of Glasgow believe in.”
Across Scotland he said the values and leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.
He said: “People woke up to the fact there is a progressive agenda.
“One that talks about fighting poverty and inequality.”
Across the UK he said Theresa May had taken an almighty gamble and he said it had “failed spectacularly”.
Frank McAveety, leader of the Labour Group in Glasgow City Council said: “Labour is back in the game and we have something to play for know.”
Anne McLaughlin, SNP’s only casualty in the city, was disappointed to lose her North East seat which she won two years ago with the biggest ever swing in the city.
She said: “I’m disappointed that’s one word for it.
“There is a silver lining, I’ll get my life back I suppose.
“Politics is very, very hard especially when are going down to Westminster all the time.
“You find you’re letting down your family all the time and your friends.
“You have no time for yourself. So in that respect I’m getting my life back and that’s the way I’m looking at it - it’s a silver lining.”
She kept her spirits up and joked she might purse a career i n television.
She added: “When asked what she was planning to do as her time in Westminster had come to an end, she joked “Maybe I’ll get a part in Coro- nation Street” before admitting “I have really no clue what I’m going to do.
“I really don’t know. I only lost out by a few hundred votes.
“I suspect the Labour party were doing an under-the-radar campaign.
“They weren’t being terribly highprofile, it seemed as though they were only campaigning a few times a week but I think they were doing a lot more than that.
“I think the Corbyn effect has also had an effect.
“The irony is that the SNP in Westminster had far more support for their policies, which are very similar to SNP policies, than his own MPs.” RESULTS PULLOUT PAGES 29-36