Griffiths scrapes to victory at Edinburgh South

Construction minister Nigel Griffiths has held on to his Edinburgh South seat by only 400 votes. Regulations minister Phil Hope also had a close call. He retaine Corby but with a reduced majority of 1,517.

Griffiths edged out Liberal Democrat candidate Marilyne MacLaren, who polled 13,783 votes compared to Grittiths’ 14,183. The result represented a 6.5% swing from Labour to Liberal Democrat.

The Conservatives trailed in 3rd with 10,291 votes, a 1.4% increase on the 2001 election.

Griffiths won 33.2% of the vote compared to 32.3% for the Liberal Democrats, and 24.1% for the Conservatives. Turnout was 42,693 which at 70% was an increase in 9.8% since the last election.

In Corby there was a swing of 4.5% from Labour to Conservative as Phil Hope won with a reduced majority of 1,517. The Labour vote was 43.8% compared to 40.6% for the Conservatives and 13% for the Liberal Democrats.

Overall Labour secured its third term in office but with a greatly reduced majority, estimated to be about 66 seats.