Contractors join protest vote in Ayr

While Clause 28 and the Scottish Assembly took the blame in the headlines for Labour's defeat in the Scottish Parliament by-election in Ayr, contractors in the region were also registering their own protest vote.

The Conservatives won their first directly-elected seat in the Scottish Parliament and their first Scottish by-election gain for 33 years when they overturned the slender Labour majority in Ayr.

The Tory candidate John Scott polled 12,580 votes giving him a majority of 3,344 with the Scottish National Party second on 9,236 and Labour fell to third with 7,054 votes.

Labour won the seat at last May's election by just 25 votes, the smallest majority in the Scottish Parliament. However, the Labour MSP, Ian Welsh, resigned in December.

As national commentators attributed the down-turn in the Labour vote to discontent about the controversial Clause 28, Donald Dewar's embattled Edinburgh administration; mid-term blues and concerns about pensions, Ayrshire contractors have been quietly making their own point.

One Ayr-based contractor said: " The last MP was Labour and it was on a very slender majority of 25 votes. There are possibly 100 or so contractors working at BAe, Prestwick, some of whom will be eligible for votes.

"I for one am using the vote as a way of expressing my displeasure at IR35 to the Labour Government."