A FORMER Tory councillor has been selected by the LibDems to be their candidate to take on Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes at next year's Holyrood election.
Andrew Baxter, a former independent and now LibDem councillor for the Highlands, has been chosen to battle it out with Forbes for the Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency in 2026.
Baxter was previously criticised in the 2022 local election for standing in the Cromarty Firth ward for the Tories, more than 100 miles from his home, which the rival LibDem candidate branded “pathetic” at the time.
Baxter reportedly hit back at his rival candidate saying, “LibDem hypocrisy knows no bounds” and slated the party’s record in the local administration.
He is the chief of staff for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire MP Angus MacDonald, who unseated the SNP’s Drew Hendry last July.
Baxter returned to the Highland Council as a LibDem in November after winning the Fort William by-election, picking up 58% of the vote.
He had served as an independent councillor in the local authority for years but was booted out of council’s non-aligned group and reportedly accused his colleagues of forming a “quasi-political group” and later joined the Tories.
Following the announcement of his candidacy for the LibDems in next year’s Holyrood election Baxter said: “So many people feel like nothing works anymore and that politicians aren’t on their side.
“I am committed to listening to the people and communities that make up Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch and giving my all to make sure they have the representation they deserve.”
Forbes (above) won the Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency with 56% of the vote in 2021, while the LibDems finished third.
Speaking about Baxter’s candidacy Scottish LibDem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “Andrew will be a great MSP.
“His astonishing by-election victory last November showed that local people trust him to fight their corner.
“This is now a top target for my party at next year’s Scottish Parliament election.”
Baxter was first elected as an independent councillor in 2012.
He had stood for the Tories five years earlier but was unsuccessful with his second council bid for the Conservatives in 2022 also failing.
