It’s statistically inevitable (or highly likely at least) that a few readers of this blog are residents of the Coatbridge South ward. If you’re one of them, and if you haven’t voted SNP in today’s by-election yet, please do us all a favour and pay a trip to your local polling station before 10pm. This is an unusually important contest because the SNP and Labour are so evenly matched on North Lanarkshire Council. As far as I can see (and admittedly it’s always a bit hard to get up-to-date figures), if Labour win tonight they’ll be the largest party by one seat, and if the SNP win they’ll be the largest party by one seat. Either way, Labour will remain in power thanks to their grubby informal deal with the Tories, but that state of affairs will be considerably less comfortable for them if they’re only the second-largest party.
On paper the SNP should have every chance of taking this one – they won the popular vote in the ward last May. But unfortunately since the general election there have been a number of local by-elections in former Labour heartlands which have seen significant swings from SNP to Labour. So the result could go either way, and every vote counts.
