- guardian.co.uk, Friday December 22 2000 14.15 GMT
A low turnout, at 36.2% the lowest for a Scottish election since the second word war, and a 16% swing to the SNP combined to lose Labour 13,000 votes in the constituency.
New member Eric Joyce won by just 705 votes - a result due in part to the controversy surrounding Falkirk West's former MP, Dennis Canavan.
The Labour rebel vacated the seat after he was expelled from the party for standing as an independent in the constituency at the Scottish parliament elections last year.
The seat, which polled 8,492 votes for the government, is technically a Labour gain from independent.
Mr Joyce said after his win that he would be willing to work with Mr Canavan. The nationalists, whose candidate David Kerr won 7,787 votes, said a similar swing would claim Robin Cook, Alistair Darling and Brian Wilson's seats in a general election.
Result
Eric Joyce (Labour) 8,492 (43.54%)
David Kerr (SNP) 7,787 (39.93%)
Craig Stevenson (Conservative) 1,621 (8.31%)
Iain Hunter (Scottish Socialist Party) 989 (5.07%)
Hugh O'Donnell (Liberal Democrat) 615 (3.15%)
