Eddie Barnes - By-Election 2am

Finally, after a prolonged count, the results for Glasgow North-East have come back in with Labour increasing its percentage share from the 2005 election, claiming 59% of the vote, up from 53% in the 2005 general election. The SNP has remained relatively stagnant - its 20% share of the vote was marginally up on the 17% it got in that same election. That makes it a 3% swing to Labour. After all the hue and cry of the last few weeks, they have won at a canter.

But the drama of the night at the SECC was the battle for the third spot. Up until a few minutes before the count, there was a growing consensus in the hall that the BNP had beaten the Conservatives into third place, handing them what would be a major publicity coup. The BNP candidate Charlie Baillie was already parading around the hall, claiming it was a fantastic night for his party.

But then the results came in, showing that the Tories had beaten the BNP by 62 votes. I think I can say without fear of contradiction that it was the first time in recent political history that a hall full of politicians in Glasgow was united in support of the Conservatives. There followed a dignified protest from the entire group of politicians. As Baillie stood up to the microphone to make his post-result speech, they all simply walked off, as did most of the watching crowd. The BNP's surge in Scotland was over before it had begun. The Conservatives are now breathing a huge sigh of relief.

All that has rather taken away the attention from a good night for Labour. However, the question tonight is whether they can translate that support into less favourable territory.

Glasgow NE: Willie Bain, Labour. EDDIE IZZARD DROPS BY

It is not every day that a famous comedian drops into my campaign centre to lend support to the by-election battle, and so it was a great pleasure to welcome Eddie Izzard to Springburn this morning.

We are all familiar I am sure with Eddie Izzard on stage, but it is great to meet the man behind the jokes. As tempting as it was to share the odd joke, we thought we'd give him a break before his show tonight.

Funnily enough, it is not the first time I have met Eddie Izzard. We met by chance when he, quite literally, ran past me on Springburn Road back in September while he was taking part in his charity marathons.

When I heard he was in Glasgow today I asked him to pop by to speak to the campaign team and was delighted he said yes. Staff and volunteers showed him around the campaign centre and chatted to him about what we have been doing over the past few months. He was also genuinely interested to hear what my campaign is all about.

I have had great support throughout the campaign and I will fight to the last minute to convince people to choose me tomorrow. I've been out knocking on doors with Iain Gray, Douglas Alexander - and later I'll be with Jim Murphy.

Willie Bain

Labour's by-election candidate

Glasgow NE: Willie Bain, Labour. Sir Alex - united with team Labour

I was delighted to learn that Sir Alex Ferguson has decided to endorse my campaign for Glasgow North East.

As a Glasgow man himself, Sir Alex knows how the people of Glasgow think and feel. Despite his success, Sir Alex has always stayed true to his roots.

He knows that people need help now to get through these difficult times.

I think Sir Alex’s endorsement is a real boost my campaign. He is well respected by people here – and he knows a thing or two about running a good campaign.

You can head over to my website to see what he has to say. This is me at Petershill FC last week - in the rain.

Willie Bain
Labour's by-election candidate.

David Maddox: It's a local by-election for local people

The atmosphere of Glasgow North East in recent days has been something akin to the League of Gentlemen's mythical town of Royston Vasey.

The press releases from Labour and the SNP could almost have been written by Tubbs and her husband (and brother) Edward (pictured) from "the local shop".

People who don't approve of outsiders who don't understand their local ways, telling incomers "there's nothing for you here."

You can almost hear the incessant question "Are you local?" echoing around Springburn.

First we had Labour's Willie Bain banging on about being the "only local candidate". Then the SNP's David Kerr pretended to have been born there after pretending in the 2000 Falkirk West by-election that he was born in Cumbernauld.

His boss - Alex Salmond - compounded the problem by saying there were no maternity hospitals in Glasgow North East in 1973, when in fact there were two.

Then the whole thing came to an excruciating climax when in revenge, the SNP today put out a press release complaining that Mr Bain who lives in Springburn was claiming to be "local" in other parts of the constituency.

The whole episode is painfully embarrassing and parochial.

Why should anybody care?

Here's a thing - what about electing somebody with some ability?

Chris Mackie: By-election speculation

There is an interesting piece of counter-intuitive thinking in this blog post by Evening Standard lobby hack Paul Waugh on the difference between the Norwich North and Glasgow North East by-elections.

His contention is that the delay in scheduling the Glasgow by-election is less to do with the Labour Party running scared of a Nationalist defeat and more to do with the thought that they might actually win the vote.

Here is the key section: "Why the difference between the two? Well, there's the obvious reason that Labour thinks it will actually win Glasgow whereas it seems to have given up hope in Norwich.
"But more relevant must be Labour's last by-election victory. Unlike Glasgow East, where the SNP gave Labour a kicking, Glenrothes saw Lindsay Roy sweep home relatively easily because lots of work had been put into finding the right candidate and doing the hard work on the ground."

There is undoubtedly some truth to this, but the delay in the Glenrothes campaign was not just about doing the hard work on the ground - it was also about mobilising a Labour machine in a constituency in which it had not faced credible competition for many years. Despite losing a seat they were confident of taking, the very fact Labour had to work so hard to win in Glenrothes was a triumph of sorts for the SNP. It points very clearly to a general election campaign to be fought in battlegrounds in which Labour activists are unused to fighting genuine contenders.

That must be a particular headache for local parties used to routinely returning incumbent Labour MPs, especially in the case of Glasgow North East, where, by virtue of Parliamentary convention, Labour has faced no notable opposition apart from the SNP in each of the elections since 1997. The headache might well become a migraine when the party studies its - already parlous - finances and finds that funds earmarked to fight nationally important marginals, have to be diverted to shore up its core vote in previously safe seats.

So yes, Labour may be confident of winning in Glasgow North East, but the apparent need to give its local activists as much time as it possibly can to run an effective campaign shows how fragile that confidence is.

David Maddox: Darling to woo Glasgow East? The answer

Just had a Labour spindoctor on the phone about the Chancellor's visit to Glasgow East.
"It's not what you think," he said. "Although obviously Glasgow east will be a key target in the next general election whenever that is."
He added: "Remember Margaret (Curran, the defeated by-election candidate who has just announced she will stand again) made a commitment in the by-election that win or lose she will bring Alistair Darling to ther constituency to hear the concerns of local people. That's what's happening today, although it will be a quick visit."
From what I remember of the Fort shopping centre in Easterhouse, the first place I went to during the by-election, Mr Darling may need to pencil in a bit more time. There were many shoppers there who had given up on Labour at the time and the relative poverty was underlined by the centre's propensity of pound, charity and loan shops.
But if things get to heavy for the Chancellor there is a shiny Labour Party office there for him to take cover in.