The Conservatives held the Abbey seat in the Council by-election down in Dumfries. The final result was Conservatives 2006 and Labour 1712 with the SNP finishing third. I was told on Wednesday by someone from within Labour that they feared finishing third but alas not.
***Update***
BBC Story
Full result:
Michael Thomson (Con) 2006 votes
Tom McAughtrie (Lab) 1712 votes
John McNaught (SNP) 833 votes
Graham McLeod (Ind) 216 votes
Keith Mycock (LD) 164 votes
Ultimately, a cracking result for Michael Thomson – the former independent councillor and thus a well kent face – but what does it mean for the SNP and Labour? I think the major surprise was the performance of the SNP. There was a belief from within Labour that they would be pushed into third place with the Nats coming second – they even ran quite an attack campaign on the Nat candidate - but in the end they were well off the pace. The Labour vote was still quite solid but losing the by-election isn’t great news for either Dumfries MSP Elaine Murray or D+G MP Russell Brown.
I received the following anonymous response:
Is this a resurgence of Tory support against a backdrop of SNP stagnation?
In May 2007 the Tories polled 34% of the vote whilst last night we got 43% although the Labour share of the vote also went up – from 28% last year. The Tories need a strong SNP in D+G as last time the SNP vote absolutely collapsed but this indicated just how soft the Nat vote is in Dumfries. They have, however, selected a man who is also a Councillor, Andrew Wood, so there is a chance he may attract some votes. We can but hope.
***Update***
BBC Story
Full result:
Michael Thomson (Con) 2006 votes
Tom McAughtrie (Lab) 1712 votes
John McNaught (SNP) 833 votes
Graham McLeod (Ind) 216 votes
Keith Mycock (LD) 164 votes
Ultimately, a cracking result for Michael Thomson – the former independent councillor and thus a well kent face – but what does it mean for the SNP and Labour? I think the major surprise was the performance of the SNP. There was a belief from within Labour that they would be pushed into third place with the Nats coming second – they even ran quite an attack campaign on the Nat candidate - but in the end they were well off the pace. The Labour vote was still quite solid but losing the by-election isn’t great news for either Dumfries MSP Elaine Murray or D+G MP Russell Brown.
I received the following anonymous response:
Is this a resurgence of Tory support against a backdrop of SNP stagnation?
In May 2007 the Tories polled 34% of the vote whilst last night we got 43% although the Labour share of the vote also went up – from 28% last year. The Tories need a strong SNP in D+G as last time the SNP vote absolutely collapsed but this indicated just how soft the Nat vote is in Dumfries. They have, however, selected a man who is also a Councillor, Andrew Wood, so there is a chance he may attract some votes. We can but hope.
7 comments:
Is this a resurgence of Tory support against a backdrop of SNP stagnation?
No mention of Tories dropping 5% in the Troup by election?
Anon (13:38)
Not seen the figures
I realised that sounded arsey, genuinely didn't mean it to. I understand that there's been a swing from the Tories to the SNP up North?
I think the figures are roughly
SNP 1721
Tory 515
Anon,
I know the Tories are down 5% whilst the Nats are up 15%.
STB
Interesting that the Nats are doing well in the North-East, not so well elsewhere. Could be something to do with Trump?
There is a bit of a North-South divide developing more generally in Scotland. There seems to be a genuine Tory revival in the South, where the Nats aren't making much progress. North of the Forth the Nats are still doing very well.
I think you'll find those figures are the terminal preferences rather than first preference figures, which means that votes for eliminated candidates have been double-counted.
http://www.dumgal.gov.uk/dumgal/documents.aspx?id=28247
First preferences were also a not-bad-for-you-guys:
Con 1713
Lab 1393
SNP 755
Ind 173
Lib 164
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