Though a swing to the nationalists had been expected, Mike Russell, chief executive of the SNP, said the 11- per-cent swing achieved showed Paisley could be won in Scottish Parliament elections. "Six months after the biggest majority for any government this century, Labour is teetering on the brink of defeat in a heartland constituency."Donald Dewar, Secretary of State for Scotland, noted that for the first time in 10 years a government had held a by-election seat.. is that a Labour government delivering on its promises to the people of Scotland leaves the Nationalists with ... nowhere to go."On a 42.98 per cent turn-out Mr Alexander secured 10,346 votes, Ian Blackford (SNP) 7,615; Eileen McCartin (Lib Dem) 2,582 and Sheila Laidlaw (Con) 1,643. Labour's majority in a traditional safe seat was cut from 12,750 for Mr McMaster last May to 2,731.The low turn-out was put down to voter fatigue at the third poll in seven months, dreary weather and disillusion with the troubled Renfrewshire council.
The Tories and Liberal Democrats fielded local women candidates but were always going to be also-rans.Mr Alexander said the people of Paisley South had kept faith with Labour "The message ... Though he was born and brought up in Renfrewshire, the son of a Church of Scotland minister, he was presented as the "local boy" who had gone away and bettered himself.The Scottish National Party never went for the jugular over Labour sleaze, partly because of the nasty reputation of their own councillors, and failed to ignite a campaign in which they were the only serious challenger. Stephen Goodwin reports from the Renfrewshire town on another successful operation by Labour's head-office strategists. Even as voters went to the polls in Paisley South a councillor suspended by the Labour Party pending the outcome of an inquiry into alleged misconduct was being stripped of a committee post worth pounds 11,000. Yet the mud flying around Renfrewshire since Gordon McMaster gassed himself, leaving a note alleging smears by neighbouring MP Tommy Graham and former deputy whip Lord (Don) Dixon, never stuck to Douglas Alexander.The young Edinburgh lawyer who helped write Chancellor Gordon Brown's speeches seemed a world away from politics Paisley-style.
But there is no commercially available method to test for the malformed protein which causes v-CJD Charles Arthur, Science Editor. Douglas Alexander's election in the Paisley South by-election is vindication of a low-profile campaign which led to him being dubbed the 'invisible man'. Six of the "unsatisfactory" places visited were knackers yards or hunt kennels where meat is fed to animals and not intended for human consumption.The Government has struggled to counter growing fears that blood donors already incubating v-CJD might pass it on to recipients.Now Mr Dobson has asked for an assessment of risks. There is no proof that people receiving transfusions can be infected by blood from someone with any form of CJD.
The Government yesterday tried to allay fears about Creutzfeldt- Jakob Disease contaminating blood supplies by announcing that it will launch research to see whether blood products should be treated to eliminate the risk. The announcement by Frank Dobson, Secretary of State for Health, follows advice from the Government's expert committee, Seac, which advises on measures against CJD and BSE, and especially v-CJD, the human form of BSE. The announcement came as figures showed that in October 11 meat-processing plants failed to meet all the controls put in place to stop the spread of BSE-infected materials. Though officials called the numbers covering inspections of nearly 700 premises "disappointing", the infringements did not constitute a serious health risk. He attacked Mr Hague's rejection of the single currency for 10 years as a "purpose- free piece of ideological posturing" which was neither in Britain's national interest nor in the interests of the Conservative Party.. It came as he told a London conference of pro- European Tory MPs that the Conservative Party should not lurch towards "more fundamentalist" policies in a bid to distinguish itself from Labour.He said the Government had made a series of mistakes on economic policy and said the Tories needed to re-establish themselves as the party of market economics.Leaders of Conservative Mainstream strongly denied their conference was the beginning of a "party within a party" to challenge the more Euro-sceptic leadership of William Hague.There were also concerted efforts to damp down speculation of a break- away and a rebellion next week by pro-Tory Europeans when the party leadership has insisted on a three-line whip to vote against the Government on the Amsterdam treaty.The Positive European group, led by Peter Temple-Morris, the Tory MP who nearly defected to Labour, have decided as a group to back Mr Hague in voting against the Government, although some Conservative MPs may still abstain.That could avoid a confrontation with the Tory leadership, and talk of Tory MPs losing the whip for refusing to vote with Mr Hague was being dismissed last night at Westminster.However, the determination of the group to challenge the leadership line on Europe was reaffirmed by Lord Howe, another former Chancellor. Kenneth Clarke, Neil Kinnock and Lord Jenkins yesterday joined forces to support the Euro. Colin Brown, Chief Political Correspondent, says the cross-party alliance could be storing up trouble for William Hague.
The heavyweight trio of the former Tory Chancellor, Kenneth Clarke, the European Commissioner and former Labour leader, Neil Kinnock, and Lord Jenkins, the Liberal Democrat leader in the House of Lords, yesterday joined forces to promote a cross-party alliance in support of a pro-European campaign, including the single currency. The three were made vice-presidents of the European Movement, a cross- party grouping which includes backbench MPs from the three main parties and is dedicated to promoting Britain's interests in Europe.Mr Clarke made a rallying call to other pro-Europeans across Britain to join the campaign. They will now examine which ingredients used exclusively in cosmetics can also be banned.In addition, 19,300 mice could be saved next year when the Government intends to ban them from being infected with diseases to produce vaccines.Cosmetic testing only makes up a tiny fraction of the 2.7 million animal experiments carried out for medical reasons each year.Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop, said: "At last we can celebrate a great first step after 21 years of campaigning.". Campaigners yesterday welcomed the end of animal experiments to test cosmetic products. The move was seen as an important step, even though it will only save about a tenth of the 2,800 animals killed each year to test cosmetics. The ban, announced yesterday by Lord Williams, the Home Office minister, will at this stage only cover the testing of finished products, rather than the ingredients that make up the vast bulk of the experiments. The decision, which was first revealed in The Independent on Wednesday, follows a dramatic about-turn by the Government who just two weeks ago said that cosmetic testing would have to continue, despite giving an election pledge to outlaw it.Lord Williams said yesterday that his officials had contacted the three research companies carrying out cosmetic testing and they had agreed to stop. It is not possible to draw a line in the sand between the civil servants who would work for this new breed of party hacks and the hacks themselves."Mr Heseltine warned that the process would stimulate leaks, and bring an inevitable retaliatory backlash from the next Tory government."This unwelcome and divisive process will encourage civil servants unsympathetic to the government to leak contrary information to balance the books," he said."It will encourage any subsequent government to demand the resignation of men and women known to have been sympathetic to the outgoing regime."It will bring into question the traditional independence of the Civil Service, particularly at election times.". I can never remember the understanding causing any tension or indeed misunderstanding."Any half-experienced minister knew where party political advocacy took over from the defence of government policy, he said, and, when it did, Conservative Central Office provided an excellent conduit to the media.But Mr Heseltine said: "I deeply distrust any attempt now to blur the clear distinction that used to exist."There can be only one purpose behind the Labour Government's determination to politicise the Government Information Service," he added.