The Scottish Conservatives have made history as the party emerged victorious in the Westminster by-election for the first time in more than 50 years, taking Aberdeen South from the SNP.
Tory MSP Douglas Lumsden claimed the seat vacated by the SNP’s Stephen
Shortly afterwards the SNP claimed a victory in the Arbroath and Broughty Ferry by-election where Lara Bird held the seat for the party.
Lumsden, who is unable to sit in both parliaments due to a Holyrood ban on so-called dual mandates, is to resign from Holyrood just six weeks after winning re-election as a North East MSP.
South of the border, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham won the Makerfield by-election, paving the way for him to challenge Sir Keir Starmer as Labour Party leader.
The Scottish by-elections were triggered when sitting MPs – Flynn and his SNP colleague Stephen Gethins – resigned from the House of Commons after being elected to Holyrood.
Lumsden, a former oil and gas worker, said his constituents had sent a message that “the destruction of the oil and gas industry must stop now”.
The North East MSP defeated SNP candidate Richard Thomson, a former MP for Gordon, by a margin of more than 6,000 votes, with the Tories taking almost half of all ballots cast.
In her remarks, conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch described her party’s victory in Aberdeen South as a “significant” result, promising that she will “never stop fighting” for its constituents.
She said the result is “particularly significant” due to the support from those who had “never voted Conservative before”.
Badenoch said further that her party “is working to earn the trust of the country again”, and is “grateful and humbled” that residents of Aberdeen South voted for the Tories.
“Makerfield was about one man’s job. Aberdeen South was about thousands of jobs in oil and gas across our country and the future of an entire city,” she said.
Credit: BBC
