Labour keeps seat in Scottish fiefdom

By Keith Weir

GLASGOW (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour Party enjoyed an unexpectedly comfortable win on Friday in a vote for a parliamentary seat in one of its Scottish strongholds, probably the last such test of public opinion before a national election due by next June.

Labour candidate Willie Bain polled almost three times as many votes in Glasgow North East as second placed candidate David Kerr from the pro-independence Scottish National Party, maintaining Labour's grip on a seat it has held for 74 years.

The win, although widely predicted, gives some welcome respite for Brown before an election which opinion polls suggest he will lose to the Conservatives.

With Labour's share of the vote in the socially deprived Glasgow constituency up by six points to nearly 60 percent, Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy said it was a "remarkable victory" that vindicated Brown and his handling of the economic recovery.

"It is a really strong endorsement of Gordon Brown and what he is doing to get the country through this international recession," Murphy told Sky News.

However, only a third of voters went to the polls, down from nearly half at the last election in 2005, and commentators said Labour would struggle to repeat the success nationwide.

"It was very much a Scottish by-election fought on local issues," said John Curtice, politics professor at the University of Strathclyde. "It is not a trick that can be repeated south of the border. It doesn't mean to say that the Labour Party has suddenly turned the corner."

'GAME ON' FOR ELECTION