Aberdeen South turns blue as Conservatives hail 'seismic' win, and SNP hold Arbroath

Douglas Lumsden won the Aberdeen South seat in the early hours of Friday morning, thanks largely to a tactical vote, according to Tory sources, securing 14,308 votes.

Meanwhile, the SNP tally collapsed from 15,213 in the 2024 general election to 8,258 in Thursday’s contest.

Labour also saw its vote share collaspe - it had come second in the general election with 11,455 votes, last night it received just 1550 votes.

Turnout in the by-election also fell from 59 per cent two years ago to 38 per cent.

Conservative campaigners said their focus on support for the oil and gas industry swung voters behind them, but the party had operated a huge ground campaign, and UK party leader Kemi Badenoch made weekly visits.

Douglas Lumsden said: “I’m looking forward to getting down to Westminster and really banging the drum for Aberdeen and the oil and gas industry.

“Labour have got to take note – this is a seismic victory tonight and they have got to change course on oil and gas, they’ve got to change course on energy.

“We need to have new licences, we need to scrap the (energy profits levy), we need to save those jobs.”

Mr Lumsden’s substantial victory – the first Scottish by-election win since 1967 – comes as the former holder of the seat, the former SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, now a Scottish Government minister, voiced his disquiet about the party’s campaign.

Posting on X after the SNP conceded defeat in the contest, Mr Flynn said: “A tough night in Aberdeen that some will need to reflect on, quite heavily.”

He added: “We lost Aberdeen South to the Tories in 2017, and we won it back two years later. I’ve no doubt that we can do so again. If we get things right.”

A senior party source also hit out at the SNP’s stance on oil and gas – a key issue in a city which has been dubbed as the oil and gas capital of Europe – suggesting voters do not understand the party’s energy policy or view it as “weak”.

Also posting on X, First Minister John Swinney said he was “very disappointed” with the result.

“Very disappointed with the result in Aberdeen South, @theSNP vote remains strong but it is clear that tactical voting has had a real impact on the result,” he said, congratulating Mr Lumsden and praising the efforts of SNP candidate Richard Thomson.

Speaking to journalists after the result, Mr Thomson said the Tories had “thrown the kitchen sink” at the campaign.

“We like not to be out-campaigned, but on this occasion, I think, just the sheer amount of resources that we were up against made it difficult to get the result we’d hoped for,” he said.

The guilty plea of former SNP chief executive – and Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband – Peter Murrell did not “make a bit of difference” to the party’s fortunes in Thursday’s poll, he added.

“If anybody raised it, it was usually an indication that they weren’t voting SNP anyway. I think any votes that were decided by that were decided a long, long time ago.”

Mr Thomson went on to criticise broadcast media coverage of the two by-elections in Scotland, with more focus, he said, being put on the Makerfield contest in north-west England.

The SNP did hold Arbroath and Broughty Ferry with Lara Bird taking the seat vacated by Stephen Gethins who, like Mr Flynn, quit Westminster for Holyrood.

Ms Bird – a lawyer and SNP adviser – won 9,802 votes in Thursday’s contest, with Reform’s Bill Reid second with 4,841.

Ms Bird said: “It was obviously the Tories’ night up in Aberdeen this evening, and obviously that’s a disappointing result for us.

“But the circumstances are very different. I’m just delighted for what we were able to achieve here in Arbroath and Broughty Ferry.

“As I said, an increased majority and an increased vote share is a really good result for us, and I’m really proud of the team and what we were able to achieve here.”

The turnout for the by-election was 31.36%, down from just under 58% at the 2024 general election.