Brown reeling amid ballot chaos

By George Jones, Brendan Carlin and Toby Helm
Daily Telegraph
Last Updated: 4:40pm BST 05/05/2007

The political map of Britain was reshaped dramatically last night after the Scottish National Party ended Labour's 50-year dominance of Scotland and cast a shadow over Gordon Brown's expected "coronation" as Prime Minister.

The pro-independence SNP snatched a wafer-thin victory - becoming the biggest party in the devolved Scottish Parliament at Holyrood winning a total of 47 of the 129 seats, with Labour just one behind on 46.

It was a highly symbolic defeat for Labour, which took a beating from voters across Britain in the final electoral verdict on Tony Blair's decade at Number 10.

It was also a body blow for Mr Brown, who regards Scotland as his political power base, after he had taken a central role in Labour's unsuccessful campaign to halt the nationalist advance.

Last night the Chancellor appeared to attempt to distance himself from Labour's setback.

While other cabinet ministers, including John Reid, the Home Secretary, and Hazel Blears, the party chairman, gave television and radio interviews, Mr Brown issued a press release in which he promised that Labour would "listen and learn" the lessons of its defeat.

The SNP's historic victory, within weeks of the 300th anniversary of the Act of Union between Scotland and England, was marred by a chaotic voting system which resulted in as many as 100,000 votes for the Scottish Parliament and councils north of the border being declared invalid.

The embarrassing technical failures, confusion about how to fill in ballot papers and problems with postal votes were described by Sir David Steel, the Scottish Parliament's first presiding officer, as worse than elections in the Third World.

And an international observer who attended described the process as "totally unacceptable".

Robert Richie, executive director of US-based Fair Vote, was present at the invitation of the Electoral Reform Society, compared the problems with the notorious US presidential election in Florida in 2000.

"There are undoubtedly lessons to be learned there and voters would be justified in being frustrated," he said.

Last night Alex Salmond, the SNP leader, said Labour had lost its "divine right" to rule Scotland. "Scotland has changed for good and forever," he declared. But he faces days of political horse-trading as he attempts to put together a coalition that will enable him to become Scotland's First Minister. The SNP's narrow victory threatens uncertainty and potential instability, particularly if Mr Salmond seeks confrontation with a Government led by Mr Brown.

Mr Salmond will need the support of at least two other parties - probably the Liberal Democrats and the Greens - to form a majority government. A stumbling block to the support of other parties will be Mr Salmond's commitment to hold a referendum on independence within four years. However, yesterday the SNP leader said there was scope for "flexibility".

There was a "new mood" in Scotland and his party would govern in the "national interest" if it formed the next Scottish Executive, Mr Salmond added.

However, Jack McConnell, the Scottish Labour leader and current First Minister, refused to concede defeat last night. He pledged to "keep all options open" and said Labour would be "reflecting" on how best to move forward.

Mr Blair attempted to put a brave face on the worse electoral performance of his premiership, claiming it provided "a perfectly good springboard to go on and win the next General Election".

David Cameron passed his first big electoral test as the Conservatives won 860 council seats in England and emerged with the strongest showing in local government for almost 30 years.

The Tories swept Labour out power in the south, reversed a Liberal Democrat advance into its heartlands and began the long haul of rebuilding a power base in the north.