Even by the standards of by-elections, the Glasgow East campaign will go down as idiosyncratic: the Westminster election dominated by issues that are decided at Holyrood.

Even by the standards of by-elections, the Glasgow East campaign will go down as idiosyncratic: the Westminster election dominated by issues that are decided at Holyrood. The possibility of a heartland Labour constituency delivering a blow to Gordon Brown's government has attracted a merry-go-round of party leaders, shadow ministers and London-based commentators to deliver soundbites about the lives of people on low incomes. There is no argument that this particular swathe of urban Scotland has more than its fair share of poverty, ill health and the multiple miseries which flow from the misuse of drugs and alcohol. Yet the join-the-dots portrait of the constituency produced by rehashing the statistics (a life expectancy five years below the Scottish average for men, and one of the highest national rates of dependence on benefits) has produced a reaction in which all the main candidates have been forced to accentuate the positive. The reality is that it is one of the poorest areas of a city which suffered the steepest post-industrial downturn in Britain, but which has also seen regeneration and employment initiatives make inroads into deprivation, and now hopes for a genuine legacy from the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

The talk on the doorsteps has been of the rising cost of food and fuel, of pensioners' heating allowances and, in an area of low car ownership, free travel passes. The Labour candidate, Margaret Curran (largely unsupported by government ministers) has pursued doggedly the popular causes of tackling crime and antisocial behaviour and improving job prospects, but as MSP for part of the constituency and a former Scottish minister, she knows better than most that the domestic agenda is almost entirely devolved to Holyrood. Issues reserved to Westminster have had only the briefest moments in the spotlight. Proposals to change the benefits system to move people into work more quickly will affect large numbers of voters but have not become a fiercely divisive issue. Equally, criticism by the Catholic Church of Labour support for the human embryology bill and refusal to back a tightening of abortion law has not dominated the campaign.

Despite its high profile, this has been a notably good-tempered, clean fight. That is particularly remarkable since it was brought about by the sudden resignation of the Labour incumbent of 29 years, David Marshall. Although this was due to ill health, it happened as his expenses claims came under scrutiny. Only in the final few days (to the surprise of many commentators) has Alex Salmond promoted the by-election as a plebiscite on the achievements of the Labour government in London versus the SNP government in Edinburgh, although he has appeared 11 times on the campaign trail.

At the General Election in 2005, Labour had a 13,000 majority in Glasgow East, but constituencies where the majority is so overwhelming that they are described as places where votes are weighed rather than counted, do nothing for the democratic process. The by-election has turned a spotlight on this neglected constituency which has forced all the parties to argue their case and the high rate of return of postal ballots is the first encouraging indication that the prospect of a closer contest has had a galvanising effect on the electorate. Inevitably, in a by- election, there has been much talk of the result "sending a message". The voters of Glasgow East should send the message that they are not apathetic by turning out in large numbers to make their democratic choice.