THE Conservatives and Labour picked up seats from the SNP and LibDems in a by-election in Edinburgh.
Two councillors had to be elected in the Colinton/Fairmilehead ward after two resignations.
Louise Spence of the Scottish Liberal Democrats stepped down just eight days after her by-election win while the SNP’s Marco Biagi stepped down to take up a position with the Scottish Government.
Neil Cuthbert of the Scottish Conservatives and Labour’s Conor Savage were elected.
The Scottish Tories picked up 2027 first preference votes while Labour picked up 1146.
The LibDems meanwhile took in 1009 first preference votes and the SNP had 840.
Reacting to the news on Twitter/X, Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay said: “Great @ScotTories win in the Colinton and Fairmilehead by-election and a victory for common sense. Congrats to our new councillor Neil Cuthbert
With the results, the state of the parties in Edinburgh now looks like this:
- Labour – 11 councillors
- SNP – 17 councillors
- Scottish LibDems – 13 councillors
- Scottish Greens – 10 councillors
- Scottish Conservatives – 10 councillors
- Two independent councillors
It comes after the SNP won a seat from Scottish Labour in a by-election in Stirling.
Both Cuthbert and Savage will have a busy start as councillors are set to meet to discuss plans to introduce Scotland’s first ever visitor levy.
The move has been described as a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity by council leader Jane Meagher and will be voted on virtually amid the red weather warning brought on by Storm Eowyn.
