The Scottish Conservatives have won a Westminster by-election in Scotland for the first time in more than 50 years, taking Aberdeen South from the SNP in a contest framed as a referendum on the future of the North Sea oil and gas industry.
Tory MSP Douglas Lumsden, a former oil and gas worker, defeated SNP candidate Richard Thomson by 6,050 votes – a 14.69% swing from the nationalists. The Conservative vote share was 49.51%, with Lumsden receiving 14,308 ballots to Thomson's 8,258. Reform came third with 2,478 votes. Turnout was just 38%.
“Tories win Aberdeen South from SNP for first time in over 50 years, triggered by oil and gas campaign.”
The by-election was triggered by the resignation of SNP MP Stephen Flynn, who stood down to take up a seat at Holyrood after winning re-election to the Scottish Parliament last month. A Holyrood ban on dual mandates meant he could not hold both seats.
The Conservatives poured resources into the campaign, with party leader Kemi Badenoch visiting the constituency three times to hammer home the message that the SNP and the Westminster Labour government threatened North Sea drilling. In his victory speech, Lumsden said the people of Aberdeen had spoken 'loud and clear' that the 'destruction of the oil and gas industry must stop now'. He added: 'We said at the start of this campaign that it is a referendum on the oil and gas industry and the people of Aberdeen have given a resounding answer that we back the oil and gas industry.'
The SNP did hold onto the other Scottish seat up for grabs, Arbroath and Broughty Ferry, where Lara Bird – a qualified lawyer and former SNP researcher – won with a majority of more than 5,000 votes over the Conservatives. Bird said voters had 'rejected the politics of division and hate' and made clear that Scotland's future 'lies with independence'. Labour slipped to fourth place in the constituency, with Reform taking third.
Flynn, now Scotland's economy secretary, responded to the loss of his old seat on social media, writing: 'A tough night in Aberdeen that some will need to reflect on, quite heavily.' He noted that the party had lost the seat to the Tories in 2017 and won it back two years later, adding: 'I've no doubt that we can do so again. If we get things right.'
The defeat comes just weeks after the SNP won a comfortable victory in the Scottish election, but the party has since been rocked by the scandal surrounding former chief executive Peter Murrell's theft of £400,000 in party funds. The Guardian suggested some voters may have rebelled against the SNP over the affair.
Lumsden will now resign from Holyrood, with 49 days to do so under the dual mandate ban. His place in the Scottish Parliament will be taken by Fraserburgh councillor James Adams, the next candidate on the Conservatives' North East Scotland list.
The last time the Tories gained a seat from another party in a Scottish Westminster by-election was in 1967, when they took Glasgow Pollok from Labour.