Labour’s losses in Thursday’s Scottish parliamentary election have been ascribed in part to ongoing controversy over the development of the parliament’s Holyrood building.
The Holyrood issue is also being seen as a factor in the low turnout, with only 43% of Scotland’s electorate having voted.
The parliament building is being developed by Bovis Lend Lease on the site of Scottish & Newcastle’s former headquarters in Edinburgh’s Holyrood district.
The budget for the scheme has exceeded initial estimates by a factor of 10, with Scottish Labour leader Jack McConnell saying that the final bill would exceed £400m.
With eight of the parliament’s 129 seats set to declare their results, Labour had 50 seats, having lost first-past-the-post constituencies that it won in 2000.
The Scottish National Party had won 24 seats, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats 16 each, the Greens six, the Scottish Socialist Party five and independent candidates four.
Labour and the Liberal Democrats are expected to form a coalition in the governing Scottish Executive.
References: EGi News 02/05/03
