In this week's Scottish by-election in the Abbey Ward of Dumfries & Galloway Council, the Tories held on to the largest share of first preferences but were trumped by Labour after the SNP's transfers fell in their favour. All three parties' shares were up in the absence of Lib Dem and independent candidates this time around, but the Labour share was up notably higher, amounting to a 2.2% swing from Conservative to Labour on the first preference votes.
While the Tories led the first round by 40 votes, the transfer of the SNP's 678 left the race wide open, and with those transfers favouring Labour by nearly 100 votes, Labour candidate Tom McAughtrie pulled into the lead and took the seat.
|
| Stage | |||
Candidate | 1stP% | 1 | 2 | ||
Kath Lord (Con) | 39.7% | 1236 | 155 | 23% | 1391 |
Tom McAughtrie (Lab) | 38.5% | 1196 | 252 | 37% | 1448 |
Yowann Byghan (SNP) | 21.8% | 678 | -678 | - | |
No-Transfer |
| 271 | 40% | 271 | |
Interestingly the SNP, while increasing their vote share, saw nothing the like of their recent surges in by-elections elsewhere in the country. Whether this is down to the lack of a Lib Dem vote to squeeze or their historical weakness in the border areas of Scotland remains to be seen. Most likely it is down to a bit of both factors.
The result leaves the Conservative group in the council with just a two seat lead over Labour. The Conservative/Liberal Democrat administration already operate as a minority though, and a deal between Labour and the SNP to take control seems highly unlikely, especially when the council will be all up for election next May.
Dumfries and Galloway Council | ||||||||||||
Con | Lab | SNP | LD | IND | ||||||||
17 | -1 | 15 | +1 | 10 | - | 3 | - | 2 | - | |||
Abbey | ||||||||||||
By-Election Candidate | Votes | Vote % | +/- | |||||||||
Kath Lord | 1236 | 39.7% | +5.9% | |||||||||
Tom McAughtrie (E) | 1196 | 38.5% | +10.3% | |||||||||
Yowann Byghan | 678 | 21.8% | +4.0% | |||||||||
Kristofer Keane
0 comments:
Post a Comment