The Labour candidate has won the by-election held on November 6 in Glenrothes, a former mining town in east central Scotland and a traditional Scottish Labour stronghold. In theory the news should not have come as a surprise: in the last general election Labour won the seat by almost thirty percentage points. But almost everyone was predicting a victory for the Scottish National Party (SNP). Despite doubling its representation in Glenrothes, however, the SNP was still beaten by almost twenty points.

Journalists, political analysts and politicians from other Scottish parties have been quick to say that the SNP's "defeat" means "the honeymoon is now over" for the pro-independence party, which has maintained its popularity since Alex Salmond's win in the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections and even managed to take a traditional Labour stronghold in the Glasgow East by-election on June 24. Success in Glasgow East and the fact that the SNP won the corresponding constituency, Fife Central, at last year's Scottish elections, meant another SNP victory was widely expected.

Further information:

• Scotsman.com: Analysis: PM slams the brakes on Salmond's momentum and Big Glenrothes by-election win for Labour rocks Nationalists
• The Herald: Brown bounces back with Glenrothes win and Labour's victory suggests SNP honeymoon may be ending
• The Daily Record: Gordon Brown bounces back as Labour notch victory in Glenrothes by-election
• MónDivers: Frenada de l'SNP, que perd de llarg una elecció parcial a Escòcia