WHEN Socialist Isobel Lindsay voted yesterday it was a labour of love.
She voted with her heart and put X beside the name of her husband,
Scottish National Party candidate Tom McAlpine.
Tom was fighting to retain his seat in Biggar for the SNP in the new
South Lanarkshire Council.
However, 12 miles away in Lanark, Isobel had been campaigning for a
Labour candidate. She did not canvass in Biggar for her husband.
She did, however, make the tea for SNP followers using her home as the
local headquarters.
Isobel was a key figure in the SNP's hierarchy but walked out because
the party refused to co-operate with the Scottish Constitutional
Convention.
Yesterday Isobel, 51, a mother-of-three, headed for the polls and
said: ''There's no Labour candidate in Biggar so I have no difficulty.
But had there been a Labour candidate Tom would still have got my
personal vote.''
A lecturer at Strathclyde University's Department of Government,
Isobel believes that a Labour government is Scotland's best hope of
progressing its interests and forming a Scottish Parliament.
Tom, 61, said: ''There are no fights about politics between Isobel and
me, just sensible discussion.
''Of course I'm delighted Isobel voted for me. But it is a bit easier
for her as there is not a Labour person standing.''
Tom was in a straight fight with Tory candidate Charles Thorpe, 38.
He fought on his past record of success in getting new council house
and sheltered houses as well as a day-care centre for the town.
Mr Thorpe decided to stand because he was furious at council attempts
to foist the Biggar road plan on local residents.
*A man from the west coast of Scotland yesterday made a political
protest at his local polling station because he was not allowed to vote.
For German Reiner Luyken has lived in Achiltibuie, Wester Ross for the
past 18 years and was able to vote in the Highlands and Islands European
elections last year.
But Britain is not due to ratify the part of the Maastricht Treaty
which allows EU residents to vote in other member countries' elections
until next January.
The 40-year-old asked for a report to be sent to the Returning Officer
after he was refused the right to register his vote at Achiltibuie
village hall.
He is now calling on other disenfranchised EU nationals to do the same
in the local elections in England and Wales and make a strong political
point.
Mr Reiner said: ''There seems to be a lack of understanding about the
situation people like myself find themselves in. If enough people
highlight the problem something may be done about it.''
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