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| Britain |
| Blair suffers in elections, risks losing Scotland |
| 2007-05-05 |
| British Prime Minister Tony Blair's party risked losing control of the Scottish parliament to a pro-independence rival on Friday and his government also suffered losses in local elections. Thursday's elections to councils in England, the Scottish parliament and Welsh assembly were the last chance for 39 million voters to give their verdict on Blair's decade in power. Blair's popularity has slumped due to the Iraq war and a series of political scandals, and he is expected to announce next week he will leave office by July. Finance minister Gordon Brown, a 56-year-old Scot, is almost certain to succeed him. With results likely to dribble in throughout Friday it was too early to call the Scottish parliament vote but there were clear signs of a swing to the Scottish National Party (SNP). With 74 of the 129 seats decided the SNP gained 12 and Labour lost seven. Opinion polls had suggested the SNP, which wants independence from Britain, could oust Labour as the biggest party in the parliament. The opposition Conservatives took comfort from a BBC projection that showed its share of the national vote had risen to 41 percent, above a 40-percent threshold deemed necessary to win a parliamentary election. "Not a brilliant night for us but certainly not a brilliant night for (Conservative leader) David Cameron. He's not got the surge he needs to sweep us out of power," said Labour Party chairman Hazel Blears. Blair has been Labour's most successful leader, winning three parliamentary elections in a row. But polls suggest voters have lost trust in him since he took Britain into the Iraq war. SNP leader Alex Salmond has pledged to hold a referendum on Scottish independence in 2010 if his party wins control of the Edinburgh parliament. |
| Posted by:Fred |