Scottish Conservatives Secure Aberdeen South By-Election Win, Challenging SNP and Labour

Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, stated that the Scottish Conservatives' by-election victory in Aberdeen South delivered a significant message to both Labour and the Scottish National Party (SNP).

Douglas Lumsden, a Tory MSP, secured the Aberdeen South seat, previously held by the SNP's Stephen Flynn. This marks the first time the Scottish Conservatives have gained a Westminster by-election seat since 1967.

Addressing party activists, Badenoch highlighted the national significance of the result, contrasting it with the Makerfield by-election, which she characterised as being about an individual's job. She asserted that Aberdeen South's outcome concerned thousands of jobs, particularly within the oil and gas sector, and demonstrated that the region and its industry would not be 'ignored' by either the Labour government or the SNP.

First Minister John Swinney acknowledged the SNP's loss, attributing it to the Conservatives' effective mobilisation of anger in Aberdeen and the North East over issues affecting the oil and gas industry. Swinney also noted his efforts to support the industry by urging Labour to abolish the Energy Profits Levy, which currently sees operators surrender 78% of their profits to the Treasury.

Lumsden, a former oil and gas worker, commented that his constituents had communicated a demand for the 'destruction of the oil and gas industry' to cease immediately. He defeated SNP candidate Richard Thomson by over 6,000 votes.

Concurrently, the SNP held the Arbroath and Broughty Ferry seat, with Lara Bird winning by more than 5,000 votes over the Conservatives. Bird, a qualified lawyer and former SNP adviser, declared that voters had 'rejected the politics of division and hate' and affirmed Scotland's future 'lies with independence'.

The by-elections were necessitated by sitting MPs, Flynn and Stephen Gethins, resigning from the House of Commons upon their election to Holyrood. Due to Holyrood's ban on 'dual mandates', Lumsden is required to resign as an MSP within 49 days, with Fraserburgh councillor James Adams set to take his place in the Scottish Parliament.