One of four UK parliamentary by-elections taking place that day, and one of two in Scotland; it was overshadowed in the media by the surprise SNP victory in Glasgow Govan.
[1] In the aftermath of his victory, the winning Conservative candidate, Alex Fletcher, said that he considered the result to be "a tremendous vote of confidence in the Government from the people of Edinburgh."
For the Liberal, Ronald Guild described the result as "a sad day for Scotland" and stated his belief that it meant that the Kilbrandon Report was "as good as buried".
[1] An editorial in the following day's The Glasgow Herald said that the by-election results in Govan and Edinburgh "were the worst ever for the Labour Party in Scotland."
It argued that in addition to the loss of what was considered a safe seat in Govan, "the failure of Labour to improve on their position in North Edinburgh" was significant given the perceived "unpopularity of the Government over prices."