The Scottish Conservatives have won a Westminster by-election for the first time in more than 50 years, taking Aberdeen South from the SNP in a contest dominated by 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 a margin of more than 6,000 votes, securing almost half of all ballots cast. The seat was vacated by the SNP’s Stephen Flynn, who resigned from the House of Commons after being elected to Holyrood.
“Scottish Conservatives win first Westminster by-election in over 50 years, taking Aberdeen South from SNP.”
Lumsden, who cannot sit in both parliaments due to a Holyrood ban on dual mandates, will resign from the Scottish parliament just six weeks after winning re-election as a North East MSP. He said his constituents had sent a message that “the destruction of the oil and gas industry must stop now”.
Aberdeen, chosen by the UK government as the home of its fledgling publicly-owned energy company GB Energy, is at the heart of the debate around the country's energy future. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch lauded the result as “significant”, noting support from those who had “never voted Conservative before”. “Makerfield was about one man’s job,” she said, referring to Andy Burnham’s Labour win in the Makerfield by-election. “Aberdeen South was about thousands of jobs in oil and gas across our country and the future of an entire city.”
Amy Cameron, from Greenpeace UK, warned that “false promises” from the Tories would not deliver a prosperous economic future for Aberdeen. She said a just transition must be strong enough for people to “let go of the industry that built their community” and “trust that the new economy will be ready to catch them”.
Shortly after the Tory win, the SNP claimed a victory of its own in the Arbroath and Broughty Ferry by-election, where Lara Bird – a qualified lawyer who has worked as an SNP researcher and adviser at Westminster – held the seat with a majority of more than 5,000 votes over the Conservatives. That by-election was triggered by the resignation of SNP MP Stephen Gethins after his election to Holyrood.
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 two Scottish by-elections were the first test of electoral sentiment since the general election, and the Tory victory in Aberdeen South has given Badenoch a rare cause for celebration as her party struggles to rebuild after a devastating defeat.