Midlothian SNP set to take leadership of council after…

Midlothian SNP set to take leadership of council after election success

The SNP are set to take control of Midlothian Council after returning as the biggest party in the elections.

Both the SNP and Labour gained an extra seat as the Conservatives lost two, splitting the local authority with eight SNP, seven Labour and just three Conservative councillors returned.

Derek Milligan, who led the council's minority Labour administration, which had been in charge for the last five years despite not being the biggest party, said it would now be down to the SNP to decide what happens next.

And he pledged to work with the newly elected administration, insisting Labour would not be "in opposition".

He said: "It's been a positive result for Labour, we have an additional seat. The Conservatives are paying the price for partygate. The anger felt by people over the breaking of the rules is clear.

"There will be discussions between the three parties to see what we can do but the SNP is the biggest party and we will be looking to them to take the lead.

"We do not intend to go into opposition like in Westminster. We will not oppose things just to oppose them.

"There are hard decisions to be made and we need to ensure we protect our services. Where we can find agreement we will work together and be pragmatic."

The SNP will now meet to discuss who will take over as their leader following the decision by Cath Johnstone to step down ahead of the election.

The full list of councillors elected are:

Penicuik ward

Debbi McCall (SNP) FIrst Preference vote (FPv) 1,639

Willie McEwen (Labour) FPv 1,234

Connor McManus (SNP) FPv 589

Bonnyrigg ward

Dianne Alexander (SNP) FPv 2,117

Derek Milligan (Labour) FPv 2,428

David Virgo (Cons) FPv 1,012

Dalkeith ward

Colin Cassidy (SNP) FPv 1.012