Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other cabinet giants such as Chancellor Alastair Darling and Defence and Scotland Secretary Des Browne would lose their seats at the next Westminster election if the swing achieved by the SNP in Glasgow East was replicated across the country, the SNP claimed today.

Speaking as the SNP celebrated a swing of 22.54 per cent that enabled them to overturn Labour’s majority of 13,507 and take the Glasgow East seat, SNP Westminster leader and party business convener Angus Robertson MP said that a similar swing at the next general election would enable the SNP to pick up an additional 37 seats from Labour. 

He said: "This is a brilliant swing for the SNP and would deliver the party 37 Labour-held seats at the next Westminster election including the Prime Minister's own seat of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. 

"Those 37 Labour MPs must now be quaking in their boots at the thought of an SNP which gathers such support in their former heartlands.” 

In addition to the Prime Minister, Chancellor and Scottish Secretary, other MPs now predicted to be vulnerable include Scotland Office minister David Cairns who managed Labour’s campaign in Glasgow East, Europe Minister Jim Murphy and the former Home Secretary John Reid. 

Robertson said the by-election swing shows that the SNP’s target of 20 seats at Westminster, which was set by party leader, First Minister Alex Salmond earlier this year, is now “well within our grasp.” 

Earlier this morning the newly elected MP for Glasgow East, SNP councillor John Mason, said the result was “off the Richter scale”.  

He said: "Three weeks ago the SNP predicted a political earthquake. This SNP victory is not just a political earthquake, it is off the Richter scale. It is an epic win, and the tremors are being felt all the way to Downing Street. Labour MPs across Scotland will be quaking in their boots." 

Meanwhile Labour’s candidate, Margaret Curran MSP said she regretted not winning the by-election for Labour, but did not regret standing. 

"I regret that I did not win this for Labour. And I do believe the Labour Party has to listen and hear the message of the people of Glasgow East. But let me say to you as a continued elected representative in East Glasgow, that my commitment to them is undiminished. But I do not regret standing in this election. Labour is a cause and not a career, and it is a cause I will continue to pursue." 

While Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie MSP said the by-election result told two stories.

She explained: “There are two stories. The abject humiliation of Labour and the clear need for a general election, and the evaporation of the Liberal Democrats as a meaningful force in Scottish politics.

“The Lib-Dems came into this by-election as a strong third with the Conservatives as the marginalised underdog. We both faced a ferocious squeeze from the SNP and Labour, but it was the Scottish Conservatives and Davena Rankin who saw off that challenge to come a resilient third whilst the Lib-Dems sank without trace into the realm of lost deposits.”

Goldie said that the Scottish Conservatives are polling well above their last general election result in Scotland and are “fighting fit and up for it” when the general election is called.

She added:  “In UK politics there is one certainty. Neither the SNP nor the Liberal Democrats will be forming a UK Government. The people of Glasgow East have had their say. It’s time the rest of the country was given the same support.”

RESULT OF GLASGOW EAST BY-ELECTION

The result of the by-election for Glasgow East, held on Thursday 24 July, 2008, has been declared.

Chris Creighton, Independent                                            67

Frances Curran, Scottish Socialist Party                                555

Margaret Curran, Scottish Labour Party                          10,912

Eileen Duke, Scottish Green Party                                       232

Hamish Howitt, Freedom-4-Choice                                 65

John Mason, Scottish National Party                                     11,277

Tricia McLeish, Solidarity                                              512

Davena Rankin, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party         1639

Ian Robertson, Scottish Liberal Democrats                               915

The majority was 365.  The turn-out was 42.25 per cent. The total number of electors eligible to vote in the Glasgow East by-election was 62,051.