Lib Dem Louie Spence wins suprise victory at Colinton Fairmilehead by-election.
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00:00Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Paul Lawrence, the returning officer. I will now declare the result of the election in the Ward 8, Collins and Fairmont Headward, in the City of Edinburgh Council, with one Councillor to be elected.
00:15The electorate was 19,907 and the number of ballot papers received, 7,446, giving a percentage turnout of 37.4%.
00:31There were 45 rejected ballot papers. The quota of votes for a candidate to be elected was 3,701. The number of first preference votes for each candidate was as follows.
00:45Bonnie Briggs Bobb, 22. Matt Brown, Independent, 15. Marianna Clyde, Scottish National Party, 800.
01:03Neil Cuthbert, Scottish Conservative and Unionist, 1,454. Sheila Gilmore, Scottish Labour Party, 1,441.
01:19David Henry, Independent, 57. Tam Laird, Scottish Libertarian Party, 9. Grant Blidster, Reform UK, 268.
01:35Richard Lucas, Scottish Family Party, 51. Daniel Milligan, Scottish Greens, 393.
01:48Louise Spence, Scottish Liberal Democrats, 2,680.
02:07On behalf of the First Application of the Electoral Rules, I declare that the following is elected as Councillor for the Ward 8, Collins and Fairmont Headward, Louise Spence.
02:28This is a spectacular result for the Liberal Democrats and historic because we've never won in this ward before. I'm delighted for Louise Spence who is someone who is rooted in our community and will be a fantastic local councillor for the people of Collins and Fairmont Headward.
02:46This does have an impact on the arithmetic of Edinburgh Council which is already a very balanced and split council. We as a group are going to be meeting next week to consider what this by-election means as we go forward and we'll have more to say on that after we've met as a group.