"SNP will be 'hard pushed' to hold Dundee East," say LibDems

2.37.15pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 9th Apr 2006

Dundee - key electoral battleground in 2007

SNP claims that they are on course to win Dundee West at the 2007 Scottish parliamentary elections have been dismissed by Dundee Liberal Democrat party secretary Michael Charlton as "the stuff of fantasy, flying in the face of the real public mood."

"Perhaps the SNP hasn't noticed but at the last parliamentary by-election in Dunfermline and West Fife, the Nationalists flat-lined and came a derisory third - it was the Liberal Democrats who successfully beat Labour," said Mr Charlton today.

The Liberal Democrats pointed to the last parliamentary election in Dundee West last May, where despite SNP claims that Dundee West was a key target seat, the SNP share of the poll increased by only 2.2% compared to a Liberal Democrat increase of 5.2%.

Mr Charlton claimed that the SNP failure to win at parliamentary elections had "reduced them to commissioning their own polls because they can't win the real ones." He pointed out that, far from winning Dundee West, the SNP will be "hard pushed" to defend Shona Robison's 90 vote wafer thin majority in Dundee East.

"It was very clear from the Westminster election last May that the SNP squeaked home on votes that are not within the Dundee East boundary for Scottish Parliament elections - the SNP will be really pushed to hold the Dundee East seat on the Scottish parliament boundaries," continued Mr Charlton.

The Liberal Democrats have pointed to their increased parliamentary vote share across Dundee and their increased share at the last Dundee council elections to claim that the 2007 elections in Dundee are "wide open."

"Just over a week ago, the Liberal Democrats came from fourth place to win a "safe" Labour council seat in Glasgow. There is no doubt that the momentum is behind the Liberal Democrats, not the SNP," concluded Mr Charlton.

Related Link:

SNP Claims - The Courier.