“SNP shock for Labour in Govan,” read the main headline in the Glasgow Herald of Friday, November 9, 1973.
The report beneath began: “The Scottish National Party came back to life today by winning the Govan by-election from Labour... Repercussions affecting the future political life of Scotland can be expected to follow the SNP triumph in Govan - beginning with an overhaul of Labour’s woeful election machine and, in the wake of the Kilbrandon report on Home Rule, a reinforced commitment by the Government to press on with devolution.”
Amid scenes of “near-hysteria” by her supporters, Margo MacDonald, a 29-year-old former teacher from Blantyre, was declared, at just after 1am, the winner in Govan. On an “extremely low” poll she had wiped out the Labour majority of more than 7,000, turning it into a Nationalist one of 571. She announced: “It’s champagne for us right now. Scotland is on the way and Govan has an MP.”
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Herald DiaryA Herald leader noted: “Govan was safe for Labour if anything ever was. Even in the SNP’s municipal heyday in Glasgow in 1968 they made little headway in the Govan wards. This time a good candidate with a strong and attractive personality won the day for the SNP against an old-style Labour opponent who got no response from an electorate perplexed by the social disruption of redevelopment.”
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