The Scottish Conservatives have won their first by-election since 1973, seizing Aberdeen South from the SNP in a contest Kemi Badenoch hailed as a message to both Labour and the nationalists. Tory MSP Douglas Lumsden took nearly 50 per cent of the vote, more than 6,000 ahead of the SNP's Richard Thomson on 28.6 per cent, while Labour slumped to 5.4 per cent and Reform finished third on 8.5 per cent.
The result was triggered when the SNP's Stephen Flynn, who had held the seat since 2019, resigned from the Commons after being elected to Holyrood in May's devolved elections. He is now Economy Secretary in John Swinney's government. Lumsden, himself a north-east MSP, must now resign from Holyrood because of a ban on dual mandates — just six weeks after winning re-election.
“Conservatives win first Scottish by-election since 1973 as Douglas Lumsden takes Aberdeen South with nearly 50% of vote.”
Addressing jubilant party activists, Badenoch said: "I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to be able to welcome Douglas Lumsden to parliament." Flanked by Lumsden and Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay, she contrasted the contest with the Makerfield by-election, where Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham won 55 per cent of the vote and is now expected to challenge Sir Keir Starmer's leadership. "The Makerfield by-election was about one man's job," Badenoch said. "The Aberdeen South by-election was about thousands of jobs all over the country but especially in the oil and gas sector." She added: "Aberdeen has sent a message to the Labour government and the SNP that we will not be ignored."
The campaign was dominated by anger over the decline of the oil and gas industry, which industry figures claim could lose 1,000 jobs a month by 2030 unless taxes and regulations are eased. Lumsden, a former oil and gas worker, said: "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." Findlay described the result as a "sensational victory" and a "referendum on oil and gas".
First Minister John Swinney acknowledged the party had lost because of the oil and gas issue. "The Conservatives mobilised a campaign which was about capturing the understandable anger there is in Aberdeen and the northeast about the issues affecting the oil and gas sector," he said, adding that he was trying to help the industry by urging Labour to scrap the Energy Profits Levy, which takes 78 per cent of profits. The UK government has chosen Aberdeen as the home of its fledgling publicly-owned energy company, GB Energy.
Flynn, whose constituency this was, issued a statement admitting it was "a tough night in Aberdeen that some will need to reflect on, quite heavily". He added that he believed the Nats could "do so again, if we get things right". The defeat is an early blow to Swinney, who won the devolved election just over a month ago, and comes as his administration is overshadowed by the scandal surrounding Peter Murrell, the estranged husband of Nicola Sturgeon, who has pled guilty to stealing £400,000 from the party and is awaiting sentence. Swinney has refused calls for an independent inquiry into the affair.