2005 Livingston by-election

2005 Livingston by-election

← May 2005 29 September 2005 2010 →
Turnout38.6%
  First party Second party
 
Lab
Candidate Jim Devine Angela Constance
Party Labour SNP
Popular vote 12,319 9,639
Percentage 41.8% 32.7%
Swing Decrease9.3% Increase11.1%

  Third party Fourth party
 
LD
Candidate Charles Dundas Gordon Lindhurst
Party Liberal Democrats Conservative
Popular vote 4,362 1,993
Percentage 14.8% 6.8%
Swing Decrease0.6% Decrease3.4%

MP before election

Robin Cook
Labour

Elected MP

Jim Devine
Labour

The 2005 Livingston by-election was triggered when Robin Cook, the Labour Party Member of Parliament for Livingston, in Scotland, died on 6 August 2005.

Notice of the vacancy in the constituency was published in the London Gazette on 2 September 2005, which allowed the Speaker of the House of Commons to issue the writ for the election on 8 September under the Recess Elections Act 1975. The poll was held on 29 September, in the week of the Labour Party Conference, when the Labour candidate Jim Devine held the seat for his party.

A by-election for the Glasgow Cathcart seat in the Scottish Parliament was also held on the same day.