Evelyn Tweed elected as Stirling’s MSP

Evelyn Tweed has been elected as Stirling’s new MSP.

The SNP Trossachs and Teith councillor received 19,882 votes, 48.6% of votes cast.

Tweed was followed by Conservative candidate Dean Lockhart, who achieved 12,987 votes (31.8%).

After her win Tweed thanked her team and outgoing Stirling MSP Bruce Crawford and delivered a message to voters:

“Thank you for voting for me to become the new MSP for Stirling.

“I am delighted and humbled that you have put your faith in me.

“I will work very hard for Stirling and Scotland.

“I am blessed to have a fantastic local SNP team and the support of Bruce Crawford MSP.

“Thank you to all the voters, I will not let you down.”

Both the SNP and the Conservatives increased their vote share in Stirling from 2016, with Tweed gaining an extra 0.9% and Lockhart bringing the Conservative vote up by 3.8%.

Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats saw their vote share lower at this election, with Stirling councillor Chris Kane receiving 6,556 votes (-4.1%) and the Lib Dem’s Fayzan Rehman receiving 1,466 (-0.5%)

Voter turnout in Stirling increased to 69%, with 59,285 casting their ballots.

While losing out on the constituency seat, Dean Lockhart will continue to serve as an MSP on the Mid-Scotland and Fife regional seat.

The Stirling result is one of 64 seats that the SNP held at the end of the election, just one short of an overall majority.

The turnout for the whole election was 63.2%, the highest of any Scottish Parliament election.

The Conservatives kept the same number of seats, Labour are down by two, the Greens picked up two seats and the Lib Dems have one less seat.

After the election, all party leaders have set out that COVID-19 recovery is the priority for the Scottish Parliament and will be working to get Scotland through the pandemic.

Featured Image: Evelyn Tweed MSP