AGL 38.20 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.13%)
AIRLINK 129.30 Increased By ▲ 4.23 (3.38%)
BOP 7.85 Increased By ▲ 1.00 (14.6%)
CNERGY 4.66 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (4.72%)
DCL 8.35 Increased By ▲ 0.44 (5.56%)
DFML 38.86 Increased By ▲ 1.52 (4.07%)
DGKC 82.20 Increased By ▲ 4.43 (5.7%)
FCCL 33.64 Increased By ▲ 3.06 (10.01%)
FFBL 75.75 Increased By ▲ 6.89 (10.01%)
FFL 12.83 Increased By ▲ 0.97 (8.18%)
HUBC 110.72 Increased By ▲ 6.22 (5.95%)
HUMNL 14.03 Increased By ▲ 0.54 (4%)
KEL 5.22 Increased By ▲ 0.57 (12.26%)
KOSM 7.69 Increased By ▲ 0.52 (7.25%)
MLCF 40.08 Increased By ▲ 3.64 (9.99%)
NBP 72.51 Increased By ▲ 6.59 (10%)
OGDC 189.18 Increased By ▲ 9.65 (5.38%)
PAEL 25.74 Increased By ▲ 1.31 (5.36%)
PIBTL 7.38 Increased By ▲ 0.23 (3.22%)
PPL 153.45 Increased By ▲ 9.75 (6.78%)
PRL 25.52 Increased By ▲ 1.20 (4.93%)
PTC 17.92 Increased By ▲ 1.52 (9.27%)
SEARL 82.50 Increased By ▲ 3.93 (5%)
TELE 7.63 Increased By ▲ 0.41 (5.68%)
TOMCL 32.50 Increased By ▲ 0.53 (1.66%)
TPLP 8.48 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (4.31%)
TREET 16.74 Increased By ▲ 0.61 (3.78%)
TRG 56.01 Increased By ▲ 1.35 (2.47%)
UNITY 28.85 Increased By ▲ 1.35 (4.91%)
WTL 1.34 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (3.88%)
BR100 10,659 Increased By 569.2 (5.64%)
BR30 31,331 Increased By 1822.5 (6.18%)
KSE100 99,269 Increased By 4695.1 (4.96%)
KSE30 31,032 Increased By 1587.6 (5.39%)

Britain's ruling Labour Party won a surprise election victory in a Scottish town on Friday, a sign Prime Minister Gordon Brown's handling of the financial crisis has revived his political fortunes. Just months ago, some Labour members openly questioned Brown's leadership after the party scored poorly in local elections and fell 20 points behind the opposition Conservatives in the opinion polls.
But Brown's determined handling of the banking meltdown has cut the Conservative lead to nine points, despite economists warning that Britain is on the brink of recession. Thursday's vote for a parliamentary seat in Scotland, where Labour's main rival is the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP), provided the first firm evidence at the ballot box of a "Brown bounce". Asked if Labour would now go on to win the next election, due by mid-2010, Brown told a news conference: "The undivided focus of governments and of ministers is on taking people through these difficult times.
"We have got to get the banks resuming their lending, we've got to help people with their gas and electricity bills and we've got to get the rest of the world working with us."
Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who was tipped earlier this year as a potential challenger to Brown, said the result was an endorsement of the prime minister's leadership. The comfortable margin was a surprise as bookmakers had tipped the SNP, which overturned a huge Labour majority in another parliamentary election in Scotland in July, to win.
The SNP reduced Labour's majority in Glenrothes, a former coal-mining area bordering Brown's own constituency. But it held on to the seat, vacated after the sitting Labour member of parliament died, by more than 6,700 votes.
"With Gordon Brown interest rates are at a record low, helping hard-working families ... With Gordon Brown, Labour has won here in Glenrothes," Labour candidate Lindsay Roy, the head teacher at Brown's old school, said in his victory speech. Newspapers hailed Brown as "the comeback king" and said the win would silence talk of an internal leadership challenge. "Against the odds, Brown bounce is back", a headline in the Times said above an analysis which said Labour was back in the race to win the next national election.
"Six weeks ago there were huge questions over whether he would lead Labour into the next election. Now there are none," wrote Philip Webster in the Times. The election was held on Thursday as the Bank of England slashed British interest rates by 1.5 points to 3 percent, the lowest in more than 50 years, to try to avert a deep recession.
Some commentators predicted that a win in Glenrothes might tempt Brown to call a snap parliamentary election before the economy worsens, although this is unlikely. "He would be a fool if he did," Professor John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, told.

Copyright Reuters, 2008

Comments

Comments are closed.