Liberal Democrat Louise Spence won an Edinburgh Council by-election in Colinton and Fairmilehead held 14 November with a majority of 1,229 votes.
Spence flipped the seat, which was formerly held by Labour’s Scott Arthur, who retired to successfully get elected as MP for Edinburgh South in the 2024 General Election.
Ballots were counted the morning after, and Returning Officer Paul Lawrence,, declared Spence the winner shortly after midday.
Speaking to the Edinburgh Reporter, Spence set out her initial priorities.
“I am excited to get to work.
“From the people I spoke to on the doors, the things that they are concerned about are their schools, and their roads, and the greenbelt.
“I am going to start with that, and I will keep on knocking on doors and finding out what the constituents are looking for.”
The by-election had an electorate of 19,907 cast 7,446 ballots— 45 of those ballots rejected by election staff.
Turnout was 37.4 per cent, down from the 59.3 percent seen in the same ward in the 2022 local elections.
Nonetheless, Spence’s victory was well received by her party.
Kevin Lang, leader of the Edinburgh Council Liberal Democrats, praised Spence on X for “an utterly sensational result.”
It is the first time that the party has won in the Colinton/Fairmilehead ward since it was established in 2007.
However, the loss for Labour narrows their presence in the City Chambers, which they lead as a minority.
The council now consists of 18 Scottish National Party, 14 Liberal Democrat, 11 Labour, 10 Green, 9 Conservative, and 1 independent councillors.
Unlike Westminster elections, which use first past the post, Scottish local and parliamentary elections use a single transferable vote system.
This is a form of proportional representation in which voters rank candidates by preference.
Spence received the most first preference votes (2,683), followed by Neil Cuthbert (Conservative) in second (1,454), and Sheila Gilmore (Labour) in third (1,441).
The next Edinburgh Council election, barring further by-elections, will be held in 2027.
“Edinburgh City Chambers, 15 November 2024” by Sebastien Jensen is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
