ALEX Salmond today took responsibility for the shortcomings in the SNP campaign which saw them fail to win the Glenrothes by-election.
He accused Labour of conducting a "scaremongering" campaign over rising home care charges brought in under the local SNP-led council but pledged to "learn the lessons" from the episode.
Labour held the seat with a majority of 6,700-down from 10,664 – but the Nationalists had been widely expected to win the seat having overturned a larger Labour majority at Glasgow East earlier in the summer.
"The failure is of the campaign leadership, which is me effectively, for not recognising that we should have changed our campaign to face down a scaremongering campaign," Mr Salmond said today at the SNP headquarters in Edinburgh.
"That's my fault for not having my finger on the political temperature in the constituency."
Despite having visited the area a dozen times in the course of the campaign, Mr Salmond said today that he wished he had spent more time on the doorsteps gauging grassroots feeling.
A central feature of Labour candidate Lindsay Roy's campaign had been concerns over an increase in home care charges from £4 a month to £11 an hour,
Nationalist candidate Peter Grant is leader of the local Fife Council which introduced them.
The First Minister had predicted as recently as last weekend that the Nationalists would capture the seat but admitted today he had spoken prematurely.
"I was wrong about the by-election," Mr Salmond said.
"We're disappointed with the result. However, we're not disappointed with the campaign we fought.
"A campaign fought by Labour was a scaremongering and negative campaign but was successful.
"There are lessons to be learned and we will learn them but Peter Grant and the SNP will be back to beat that sort of campaign in Glenrothes and in other contests across the country."
The First Minister pointed out that the by-election had seen a 5% swing to the SNP but an increase in the size of the Labour vote saw them prevail.
Despite Prime Minister Gordon Brown breaking with recent tradition to visit the constituency twice, and his wife Sarah also going out on the campaign trail, Mr Salmond maintained the home care charges were the "overwhelming issue" in the Fife seat.
"Our mistake in my view, and it's a mistake I take responsibility for as leader, was that we should have recognised the threat from that issue and moved to a rapid rebuttal strategy earlier in the campaign."
The issue was not a central concern of voters a month ago, according to Mr Salmond, who said it emerged as a priority in the minds of the public only late on.
Mr Salmond said he remains confident that the Nationalists will reach their target of 20 Westminster seats at the next UK General Election, despite last night's setback.
He also played down claims that the party's "honeymoon" period is over after its historic victory in the Scottish Parliament elections last year and Glasgow East.
"I hope to extend the honeymoon a bit yet," he said. "We had a setback and while it's certainly true that we had virtually untrammelled political success for 18 months, nothing in politics or life continues in that vein forever.
"The job of confronting a setback is to learn lessons, to overcome it and come back stronger.
"That's what we intend to do."
The First Minister also rejected claims that the outcome had been a verdict on him personally against the Prime Minister who represents the neighbouring Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency.
"I wish we had been able to make this by-election a contrast between the records of the SNP government and the Labour Government in London.
"If we had been successful in making that the issue, as we did in Glasgow East, then I think we would have had a very different result.
"The Labour Party were successful in changing the issue of the by-election into something quite different."
The world economic turbulence has also yet to fully feed through to grass roots level which meant it largely did not count against Labour, according to Mr Salmond.
"We are not in the middle of a recession – we are at the start of an economic downturn.
"If we get to the middle of a recession, which seems unfortunately likely, then the political situation will change very substantially."
MORE GLENROTHES BY-ELECTION COVERAGE:•
Brown hails Labour success•
Big Glenrothes by-election win for Labour rocks Nationalists•
Analysis: PM slams the brakes on Salmond's momentum•
In pictures: Scenes from the Fife Institute in Glenrothes•
Gerri Peev's by-election blog