British PM's party wins by-election ahead of general poll

I / London November 13, 2009, 13:51 IST

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour Party easily won a by-election in Glasgow today, in what is likely to be the embattled leader's last test at the ballot box before the general election.

Labour comfortably defeated the Scottish National Party into second place, winning almost three times as many votes, to hold the Glasgow North East seat in Scotland's biggest city, official poll results showed.

"Tonight the people have had their say and they backed Gordon Brown and his efforts to secure our economic recovery," Labour candidate Willie Bain said.

"People in my community have spoken not just for the constituency but for the country. The message for the general election is clear, game on," he said.

Labour had been widely expected to win the seat, which was made vacant by the resignation of Michael Martin, the parliamentary speaker, over his handling of a lawmakers' expenses scandal that rocked British politics this year.

That scandal added to Brown's woes, as he struggles to revive miserable poll ratings and avoid a widely-forecast defeat to the opposition Conservatives in the general election due by next June.

But Labour has held the area's seat for 74 years, and secured 12,231 votes or 59.39 per cent of the vote.

The Scottish National Party (SNP), which forms a minority government in the devolved Scottish Parliament, won 4,120 votes or 20 per cent.

Far-right British National Party was beaten into fourth with 1,013 votes or 4.92 per cent behind Conservatives.