THE SNP have secured a Livingston by-election win with an increased voter share.
The Livingston South by-election was one of three taking place across Scotland yesterday – with Leaderdale & Melrose in the Scottish Borders and Aird & Loch Ness in the Highlands also holding votes.
SNP figures stepped in on Twitter to congratulate the newly elected Maria MacAulay, who won the seat with 43.9% of first preference votes – an increase of 3 points on the previous council election.
Meanwhile Labour’s support plunged by 10 points, with the Tories’ slipping back by nearly two points.
The Scottish Greens also saw an increase of support with 4.2%, up 1.7 points.
SNP Victory: Congrats to @MariaMacSNP the victorious SNP candidate in the Livingston South by-election and her whole campaign team. Good to see SNP vote up and both Labour and Tory support down. https://t.co/uYMAUGETF7
— Angus Robertson (@AngusRobertson) March 12, 2021
Angus Robertson tweeted: “SNP Victory: Congrats to @MariaMacSNP the victorious SNP candidate in the Livingston South by-election and her whole campaign team. Good to see SNP vote up and both Labour and Tory support down.”
Nicola Sturgeon welcomed the new councillor: "Many congratulations to @MariaMacSNP - new @theSNP councillor for Livingston."
Many congratulations to @MariaMacSNP - new @theSNP councillor for Livingston https://t.co/PZMDlCsqqh
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) March 12, 2021
Meanwhile, the Tories won the Leaderdale & Melrose seat, which was previously held by the SNP.
While the SNP saw a major increase to their first preference vote share, up 12 points to 30.2%, the Tories won 39.9% of the vote - up 8 points on the last election.
Three independent candidates who ran in 2017 did not run this time, meaning all parties saw an increase to their vote share.
Leaderdale and Melrose (Borders) By-Election, 1st Prefs:
— Ballot Box Scotland (@BallotBoxScot) March 12, 2021
Con ~ 1380 (39.9%, +8.0)
SNP ~ 1042 (30.2%, +12.4)
LD ~ 538 (15.6%, +6.2)
D (Ind) ~ 159 (4.6%, +4.6)
Grn ~ 152 (4.4%, +4.4)
Lab ~ 115 (3.3%, +3.3)
W (Ind) ~ 69 (2%, +2)
Con elected stage 7. pic.twitter.com/4RCOsk8NA7
Jenny Linehan will now join David Parker (independent) and Tom Miers (Conservatives) as a representative for the ward.
Meanwhile in Aird & Loch Ness, independent David Fraser won with 28.3% of first preference votes.
Highland Council now has 27 independent councillors, with 18 SNP, 10 Tory and nine LibDem representatives.
The SNP won the second highest amount of first-preference votes - just three less than Fraser - with 28.2%, an increase of nearly six points on the previous election.
The Tories were third with 23.4%, an increase of 3.7 points.
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