Scottish Elections '99

1999 presented one of the most important years in Scottish political history.
There were three key elections to be fought with a combined total of more than 1300 seats being contested.


Scottish Election Campaign News from March '99 until Election Day

4th March 1999 - British PM Tony Blair visits Scotland for 2 days to rally the Labour Party.
An ICM Scottish Parliament Opinion poll suggests the SNP will win 53 seats, Labour 43, Lib Dems 20 and the Conservatives 13. 61% of those surveyed felt that Prime Minister should stay out of the Scottish election campaign.
5th March 1999 - A System Three opinion poll puts Labour on 59 seats, SNP on 47, the Lib Dems on 15 and the Conservatives on 8 seats. The same poll also assessed voting intentions for the May council elections and reports that a large swing to the SNP from the Labour Party will cost Labour around 200 council seats. Meanwhile, in Glasgow, Tony Blair again launches into a "nat-bashing" speech. Paddy Ashdown arrives in Scotland for the Lib Dems conference. The SNP identified £150 million in Scottish expenditure which could be redirected to remove Student fees - a key election pledge by the SNP.
6th March 1999 - Donald Dewar addresses Labour's Party Conference. At the Lib Dem Conference Paddy Ashdown gave his last keynote speech before his retirement in June. He said "After these elections Britiain will never be the same again".
7th March 1999 - A Strathclyde Professor of Economics said it was "not obvious" that Scotland needs political Union with England. The SNP welcomed the news which also stated that Scotland's economy was as robust as any in Europe.
8th March 1999 - A System Three opinion poll covering 40 Scottish constituencies indicates that 72% of people see themselves as "Scottish" while just 24% see themselves as "British". An SNP spokesman welcomed the news - "The diminishing sense of Britishness in the modern Scotland is no doubt related to the fact that Britain itself is diminishing".
9th March 1999 - Gordon Brown delivers March '99 budget. On the whole his taxation changes were well received (but they don't all take effect immediately). However, the Conservative Party's leader William Hague referred to G.Brown as the "pick-pocket Chancellor" and Tony Blair as the "artful dodger". The cost of petrol increased so that Britain has the highest prices in Europe - although this is seen as an environmental measure to discourage car use, Scottish rural communities will be worst hit as they depend upon travel by car and will be forced to use the expensive fuel as they have no alternative forms of travel.
10th March 1999 - Budget analysis is still in the news.
11th March 1999 - A long serving South Lanarkshire councillor defected to the Scottish National Party after becoming dismayed at Labour's mismanagement of local government.
12th March 1999 - Scottish National Party held its conference in Aberdeen. The party announces its plan to raise income tax by 1p in April 2000. SNP Treasury spokesman John Swinney said the £700m tax revenue, gained over three years, would be spent on Scottish housing, education and health. Labour's Cancellor Gordon Brown said the plan was "totally incompetent".
13th March 1999 - SNP delegates voted to accept their party's tax plans. Political commentators said it had "ignited" the election campaign.
14th March 1999 - The SNP tax plans are still in the news....and during a BBC TV debate on the issue Labour's Donald Dewar admitted he is prepared to use the tax raising powers of the Scottish Parliament "when it is necessary".
15th March 1999 - The Mirror Newspaper reports that a telephone poll found that 80% of Scots would be prepared to pay more tax to improve public services. However, another poll contradicts this and states that 68% are not in favour of the SNP tax plans.
16th March 1999 - Tony Blair tells London's Caledonian Club that the SNP is a "risk you simply cannot afford". The SNP hit back, accusing Tony Blair of possessing a "child-like grasp of economics". They also said Labour was running scared ahead of the Scottish elections.
17th March 1999 - A new poll puts Labour 10% ahead of the SNP - but it is would not be enough support to form a majority if the result was repeated in the election.
18th March 1999 - Union bosses are unhappy at Labour's public spending cuts. Trade Unions now find themselves in support of the SNP penny tax plan - but they are in the embarrassing position of being unable to support it because of their close association with the Labour Party.
19th March 1999 - SNP Leader Alex Salmond launched his party's penny tax campaign. The extra penny would help raise money for Scotland's health, education and housing. The Chancellor Gordon Brown argued that a penny tax rise would damage Scotland's economy. Conservative Leader William Hague claimed Labour would also raise the tax: "Promises from Labour about tax are not worth the paper they are written on".
20th March 1999 - A Labour MP faces community service after being found guilty of election expenses fraud.
21th March 1999 - NATO prepares strategy against Yugoslavian Serbian regime accused of ethnic cleansing.
22th March 1999 - Labour's attacks on the SNP's tax plans backfired and sent the Labour Party spin-doctors into chaos: The Chancellor had criticised the SNP penny tax rise but was embarassed by contradictory quotes by the Labour's Scottish Devolution Minister who in 1998 defended a tax rise and denied that it would damage businesses.
23th March 1999 - International affairs dominates the news as NATO begins airstrikes on Yugoslavia.
24th March 1999 - Falkirk West MP Dennis Canavan formally announced he was standing as an "Independent" for the Scottish Parliament after Labour officials did not pick him to contest the seat he has held for 25 years. Mr Canavan has substantial local support and his decision to join the election race to win the "safe" Labour seat will make it a 3-way contest between Canavan, the SNP and New Labour. Scottish trade union leaders called on the government to lower the voting age to 16.
25th March 1999 - Labour's suspended MP Mohamed Sarwar is cleared of all charges relating to alleged electoral fraud. The MP welcomed "a great day for justice".
26th March 1999 - Tory Leader William Hague's 38th birthday!!. Hague, Tony Blair and Paddy Ashdown (Lib Dems Leader) all pledged there support for the Nato airstrikes in Serbian Yugoslavia. Russia and China are against it.
27th March 1999 - A nato fighter plane is shot down over Yugoslavia. Scotland's football international match(scheduled for this day) was postponed as their Bosnian opponents were unable to make it to Glasgow because of the conflict.
28th March 1999 - Actor Sean Connery may be about return to his native Scotland according to some reports. Connery who is a well known supporter of the SNP is also expected to make public appearances with nationalist Leader Alex Salmond on the run up to the elections.
29th March 1999 - SNP Leader Alex Salmond made a televised statement on the conflict in Yugoslavia. He said criticised Nato's bombing campaign. The action "made matters even worse for the very people it is meant to help". Salmond suggested that "we could expend the billions of dollars currently being flung at Serbia in high explosives on stepping up our humanitarian efforts to help Kosovo".
30th March 1999 - Alex Salmond faced criticism for his statement on the Yugoslavian conflict. Meanwhile Dafydd Wigley the Leader of Plaid Cymru supported the SNP stance: "Are we really preventing a humanitarian catastrophe - or are we exacerbating it? ... .... ... We only hope that those who started this action know how to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion". Opinion polls from the Daily Record newspaper showed 60% to be FOR Nato's bombing. A teletext poll found that 74% were AGAINST it.
31st March 1999 - SNP leader again defended his comments on the Yugoslavian conflict. He one support from Labour MPs Tony Benn and Tam Dalyell.
1st April 1999 - Three American soldiers captured by the Serbian military. Bombing of Serbian Yugoslavia continues.
2nd April 1999 - A Herald Newspaper poll shows that Labour have a clear 10 point lead over the SNP ahead of the Scottish Elections. The projected putcome of the elections would give Labour 60 seats, SNP on 39 seats, Lib Dems on 18 and the Conservatives at 12. However, a poll on income tax found that 52% supported the SNP's taxation plans, with 37% supporting Labour and 11% who did not know.
3rd April 1999 - Airstrikes continue in Eastern Europe.
4th April 1999 - News dominated by the plight of Kosovan refugees fleeing the war in Yugoslavia. the Scotland on Sunday Newspaper reports opinion polls that back the SNP stance on the Yugoslavian crises. Another poll shows that Tony Blair is considered by the voters to be Labour's best campaigner in the forthcomming election.
5th April 1999 - A teletext phone poll result found that the SNP would get 55% of the vote, Conservatives on 23%, Labour on 20% and the Liberal Democrats on 3%.
6th April 1999 - Official Start of Election Campaigning. Labour's Donald Dewar began a tour round Scotland claiming that the SNP were determined to divorce Scotland from the UK. The Liberal Democrats promised £60m to be spent on scottish education. The Tories launched their poster campaign with Scottish Party Chairman (R Robertson) declaring "The Millbank (London Labour HQ) mafia are directing Scottish Labour's campaign". The SNP began campaigning by distributing its 10 point pledge card which seeks: to abolish student tuition fees, to abolish quangos, proposals for Scottish independence, and investment in schools & education...etc.
7th April 1999 - The Liberal Democrats announced their election manifesto plans in a campaign entitled "raising the standard". Other news: The Secretary of State for Scotland announced at a press conference that an American merchant bank had agreed to invest in a finance centre in Scotland. Scotland had beaten of competition in London, the middle-east and elsewhere. Donald Dewar suggested that independence would scare off future business investment in Scotland but a spokesman for the bank said they had taken into account a 15 year strategy before agreeing to come to Scotland thus implying that the company was not worried by the prospect of Scottish independence.
8th April 1999 - SNP and the Conservatives published their election manifestos. Tony Blair and Paddy Ashdown are campaigning in Scotland. The David Hume Research Institute today produced a report that shows Scotland would be better off being independent.
9th April 1999 - Green Party launches manifesto for election. It was announced that the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales would be present when the parliament opens on June 1st.
10th April 1999 - Alex Salmond, Donald Dewar, Jim Wallace and David McLetchie clashed in their first ever UK wide broadcast between the main Leaders in a live TV debate. Scotland rugby team wins in Paris.
11th April 1999 - Wales beat England to secure Scotland's first 5-nations rugby championship win since 1990. The Scottish rugby team get presented with the 5-nations trophy the following evening in Murrayfield, Edinburgh.
12th April 1999 - Labour launches its election manifesto. Most commentators say it seems "recycled" from the last election. Scottish Socialist Party reveals its election manifesto.
13th April 1999 - Ship-building on the River Clyde may end. News of this forces the government to take action and a task force is set up to try and save jobs. The Scottish Trade Union Congress looks set to snub Labour's PFI (private finance initiative) election plans. Conservative leader, David McLetchie said that NHS staff morale was at an all-time low under Labour.
14th April 1999 - A top union official resigned from the Labour Party claiming that NEW Labour were asking unions to "defend the indefensible".
15th April 1999 - The Conservative's UK leader William Vague visited Scotland to try and boost his party's poor opinion poll ratings. An opinion poll commissioned by the Daily Record suggested that Labour would be five seats short of an overall majority after the elections. Labour officials were forced to admit Scottish spending would fall in comparison the England over the next few years.
16th April 1999 - The SNP announced it would be contesting a record 1052 council seats on May the 6th.
17th April 1999 - It is Saturday, the time where political activists hit the streets just weeks before the elections. SNP attacks Labour over the Private Finance Initiative. Lib Dems criticise Scottish independence. Conservatives say that Scottish Labour are full of Tony Blair's puppets. Labour's Donald Dewar hails his "football partnership" to help young footballers.
18th April 1999 - There are rumours that film star Sean Connery will make his first keynote political speach at an SNP rally in the near future - this has neither been confirmed or denied. It is alleged that the SNP leader said "Tony Blair would sell his own granny to a glue factory"!.
19th April 1999 - Donald Dewar addresses the Scottish Trade Union Congress. Alex Salmond also speaks there. The SNP launches its manifesto for local government. The Conseratives campaign against the European single currency saying that they will keep the Scottish pound.
20th April 1999 - The Scotsman Newspaper reports that a damaging report into the Scottish Office's handling of the salmon farming crisis is to be "hushed up until after the election". Gordon Brown claimed Scottish independence would cost jobs.
21st April 1999 - Tory Leader David McLetchie surprised journalists by admitting "Scotland could be better off under independence". Liberal Democrats came under fire for being too soft on the issue of drugs. The SNP criticised the government over fuel prices stating that Scotland has the most oil in Europe and yet Scotland pays the most for petrol. The Labour Party campaigned on health issues.
22nd April 1999 - The latest opinion poll suggests Labour will win 63 seats, the SNP will win 34 seats, with 18 for the Lib Dems, 13 for the Conservatives and 1 independent. If this was repeated in the election it would leave the Labour Party two seats short of an overall majority, however they could try and govern as the single biggest party.
23rd April 1999 - Sean Connery flies in to promote his latest film. There are still suggestions that film star will assist in the SNP campaign. The SNP took their campaign to the people in a bid to by-pass the Labour dominated media and get a clear message across to the electorate.
24th April 1999 - Asked what he thought about Donald Dewar, Connery qqipped "what team does he play for?". The SNP confirmed that on Monday night that the actor would make a speak at the Edinburgh Conference Center.
25th April 1999 - A new piece of research questioned the cost of independence. The SNP rebutted the claims and pointed to other reports that show Scotland would be better off with independence.
26th April 1999 - The day's campaigning is dominated by the SNP rally at the Edinburgh International Conference Center. Leader Alex Salmond addresses the audience with SNP legends Winnie Ewing and Sean Connery. Connery wants Scotland to be "an equal nation".
27th April 1999 - A Biography of Labour Spin-doctor Peter Mandelson reveals that Labour and the Lib Dems may have entered into a secret pact in 1996 which agreed a strategy to campaign against the SNP in elections and avoid campaigning against each other. Labour's English Sports Minister said Scotland and England should not have separate national football teams and wants them to unite and play as Great Britain.
28th April 1999 - The SNP are to launch a free newspaper in the run up to the election in order to bypass the pro-Labour reporting of the Scottish typed media. In the world of football: Scotland play Germany in a friendly international and record a historic 1-0 win.
29th April 1999 - Nato makes excuses after one of its "SMART" bombs, destined for a target in Yugoslavia, strikes a building in Bulgaria 50 miles away. In a televised debate the SNP leader Alex Salmond stands by his earlier criticism of the Nato bombing campaign. A new opinion poll shows that the SNP is closing the gap on Labour, however Labour would still be the biggest single party but it would be a hung parliament.
30th April 1999 - The SNP publish the "economic strategy for independence" which states that an independent Scotland would have a £2 billon surplus in 2002/3 and would be able to meet the criteria for membership of the EU single currency. Tony Blair in Scotland to criticise the nationalists. William Hague of the Conservatives also in Scotland to campaign.
1st May 1999 - The SNP's opponents criticise their independence strategy. Another poll suggests that te SNP is gaining on Labour. Labour are still expected to be the biggest party in the new parliament.
2nd May 1999 - Crowd disturbances inside and outside the stadium marred the "old firm" football match in Glasgow. Rangers 3-0 win over Celtic gave them the Scottish Premier League Championship.
3rd May 1999 - Scotland's Steven Hendry wins a record seventh world snooker championship in Sheffield. Sean Connery speaks positively about Scotland's future in a political broadcast for the Scottish National Party. The SNP beleived that Labour will witholding a damaging government report into PFIs (Private Finance Initiatives) which are one of Labour's key policies in this election.
4th May 1999 - An opinion poll for the Scottish Express Newspaper gives Labour 56 seats, SNP 43, tories 17 (moving into 3rd place), Lib Dems on 11 seats. Alex Ferguson (manager of Manchester United) has his face used to endorse the Labour Party on a campaign poster. Liberal Leader states live on television that a pre-condition of any coalition fees will be the removal of student tuition fees.
5th May 1999 - Eve of polling and parties seek to sway undecided voters. The final opinion polls suggest that Labour will still be the single biggest party but will not succeed in gaining an overall majority.
6th May 1999 - ELECTION DAY to the first Scottish Parliament for more than 300 years - Scottish electorate chooses its representatives for the new parliament. Polls are open for between 7am and 10pm. Votes counted through the night and first results expected throughout the night. 129 parliament seats are to be fought. There are elections to over a thousand council seats as well. Results were announced throught the night