Labour has had its first success at the ballot box in Scotland since it was reduced at the general election to just one MP north of the border.
The party took a seat from the Greens in an Edinburgh City Council by-election in the Leith Walk ward. The SNP also held a seat in the same ward.
It was the first time in Scotland that a by-election took place to fill two vacancies in the same ward using the STV voting system.
Labour's win came despite a swing in first-preference votes of 7.6% from it to the SNP - but this was a much smaller swing in favour of the Scottish Nationalists than at the general election and in other Scottish council by-elections since then.
The Greens were unable to hold the seat even though their vote share fell by only 1.5 percentage points.
First-count voting for the two seats was: SNP 2,290, Lab 1,623, Green 1,381, C 501, LD 255, Ukip 102, Soc 97, Left 32, Ind 26, Libertarian 17.
The by-election followed the resignation of Deidre Brock, the new SNP MP for Edinburgh North & Leith, as a councillor and the resignation of a Green councillor.
In other council by-elections in England, Labour held two seats and Conservatives held two.
Labour's wins were at Sandwell (Blackheath ward) and Thurrock (West Thurrock & South Stifford). The Tories' successful defences were at Maidstone (Fant) and Tunbridge Wells (Southborough North).
A result is expected later from a Midlothian Council by-election following the resignation as a councillor of Owen Thompson, the new SNP MP for Midlothian.
Fourteen SNP MPs newly-elected in May have resigned as councillors to focus on their Westminster roles, prompting local by-elections.
Forthcoming contests in such circumstances are:
September 17: South Ayrshire - Corri Wilson (now MP for Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock);
October 1: East Ayrshire - Alan Brown (Kilmarnock & Loudoun); Fife - Peter
Grant (Glenrothes); West Lothian - Martyn Day (Linlithgow & Falkirk East).
October 8: Highland - Drew Hendry (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey).
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel