ABOVE - Charles Kennedy and Merkinch Enterprise chief executive Colin Downie take a moment to relax after the MP made his pre-election speech on the Internet.

RIGHT - The big yellow LibDem campaign bus arrives at Merkinch Enterprise.

AT THE General Election, Liberal Democrat Charles Kennedy was given resounding support when he was re-elected to represent the Ross, Skye and Inverness West constituency with 18,832 votes.
This represents a majority of 12,952, a big increase on the last election.

The Scottish Labour Party candidate Donald Crichton came second with 5880 votes while Ullapool-based Jean Urquhart, SNP, got 4901.
Angus Laing, Scottish Conservative & Unionist, took 3096, while representatives of the Countryside Party, the Scottish Green Party and the Scottish Socialist Party all failed to get into four figures.

Despite having responsibilities as the leader of the UK LibDems, during his campaign Mr Kennedy was much in evidence in his constituency. He made his pre-election speech on the Internet on Saturday 2nd June using Merkinch Enterprise’s new facilities in Grant Street, which he opened earlier this year.
Elsewhere, David Stewart again took Inverness East for Labour with 15,605 votes, a majority of 4716.

BELOW - Mr Kennedy had time to chat to Merkinch woman Joanne Bain with her son Steven, aged 9, and daughter Suzanne, 6 years, during his visit to No 14.