Kennedy: 'We are in era of three party politics'
Updated on 06 May 2005
Charles Kennedy has said the election result shows Britain had entered a new era of three-party politics.
Kennedy said we were now in the era of three party politics.
The Liberal Democrat leader held on to his Ross, Skye and Lochaber seat, gaining a total of 19,100 votes.
Speaking after the declaration, Kennedy said: "The era of three-party politics right across the UK is now with us. That is something that I welcome."
He said the change was "a healthy development" and added that there had been progress for the Lib Dems "right across the land - in Scotland, Wales and right through England".
The outcome was "something to celebrate", Kennedy said.
The party seized Hornsey and Wood Green, where the Labour incumbent Barbara Roche had a majority of over 10,000.
But the so-called 'decapitation strategy' appears to have stalled, with the Lib Dems failing to take the Maidenhead seat of former Tory chairman Theresa May, Oliver Letwin's Dorset West seat or David Davis' scalp in Yorkshire.
However, the party scored an early hit when it took East Dunbartonshire from Labour after securing a swing of seven per cent.
The Lib Dems also took Cardiff Central from Labour, a seat where Jon Owen Jones was defending a majority of just 659.
