The Scottish National Party (SNP) managed an historic victory last night in Glasgow East, which held elections upon the retirement of its former deputy. In the district, one of seven in Glasgow, Labour had always won. In the last election, in 2005, they won with a 43% advantage over the runner up. But the voting yesterday showed that the polls were not wrong when they predicted a Labour defeat: The SNP took the seat by 365 votes. The pro-independence candidate, John Mason, captured 43% of the vote, enough to overtake the 40.7% of the Labourist Margaret Curran.

“An earthquake that is off the Richter scale,” said Mason about his victory. Meanwhile, the Labour candidate admitted that something must change within her party: "I do believe the Labour Party has to listen and has to hear the message from the people of Glasgow East," she said to the BBC. Meanwhile, Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP's number two, called the advance in their position a "movement of truly epic proportions."

Bad signs for Brown, excellent ones for those in favor of independence

The leadership of the British Labour Party was expecting a victory in Glasgow East, even if by only a little, to maintain their morale after Prime Minister Brown's team suffered in the English elections in Crewe and Nantwich in May. At that time, the election was called upon the death of the Labourist deputy Gwyneth Dunwoody, who in 2005 had defeated the conservative candidate by 18 percentage points—a distance that seemed great enough, but in the end was not enough: Labour lost the vote by 19 points.

The defeat in Glasgow East is more painful still because Labour squandered a 43% lead, an abyss that the SNP machinery was able to gobble up. The pro-independence party, which in 2005 won six deputy seats in Westminster, and now holds seven, seems to be lending credibility to the predictions of a few months ago by the Scottish Prime Minister, Alex Salmond. The pro-independence politician predicted that, at the next state-level elections, the SNP would seize 20 deputy seats. If the party is capable of comebacks like the one last night in Glasgow East, now there is no doubt that they are in a position to pull that off.

James Cameron calls for general elections

The reactions from Browns political opponents came quickly. The most notable came from the head of the Conservative Party, James Cameron, who called on the prime minister to call general elections. "Every time people are given a chance to vote, they show their desire for change," says Cameron. The opposition party says that the United Kingdom cannot "wait 18 months" for general elections to be called.

Headlines in the Scottish and English media

Scottish and English newspapers have spared no adjectives in describing the Labour defeat and the pro-independence party’s win. The Scotsmancalls the SNP victory “historic” and says Gordon Brown has been “hit by a political earthquake." The Heraldsays the pro-independence party has shown that “it can claim to pick off its targets anywhere in Scotland”. The Press and Journalhails the SNP's "sensational result" and says that it raises an “immediate questionmark” over Brown's future.

The Times of London reports that Glasgow East produced the "worst nightmare" that Gordon Brown could imagine. "No-one can overestimate the scale of the disaster" for Brown, says the daily. The Guardian calls it a Labour "catastrophe" and the "third humiliation in nine weeks." "Disastrous result," says the Daily Telegraph, who calls the SNP victory a "fatal blow" for Brown. A defeat "as depressing as it was unexpected," writes the Financial Times.

Further information in Scotland profile.