The Conservative party candidate Katie Harrison has won the Forth and Endrick by-election for Stirling Council held last night
She won with 1,118 votes while Mhairi Duncan of the SNP came in a close second with 1,057 votes
The by-election was held following the death of previous Conservative councillor Paul Henke in July.
The Conservative’s victory means the council makeup remains the same and has prevented the SNP from increasing their majority
The full results were as follows:
Andrew Adam (Scottish Greens) – 317
Robert Davies (Independent) – 55
Mhari Duncan (Scottish National Party) – 1,057
Paul Godzik (Scottish Labour Party) – 380
Katie Harrison (Scottish Conservative and Unionist) – 1,188
James MacLaren (Scottish Liberal Democrats) – 175
Jeremy McDonald (Reform UK) – 298
A sigh of relief for the Tories
The Conservatives will be glad to have fended off the strong challenge from the SNP, as well as from their previous councillor Jeremy McDonald, who ran for Reform instead.
Following the election of Josh Fyvie in October of last year, the SNP took control of Stirling council, which was previously run by a Labour minority with Conservative backing. The Tories have managed to maintain their seven councillors and remain the second-biggest party in the council.
The governing SNP majority was formed alongside the Scottish greens and an Independent. If the SNP had won, the extra councillor would have enabled them to drop one of their coalition partners and have a much more confident majority.
However, the Conservatives have maintained their position in the rural ward and seem strong going into the 2027 council elections.
Featured Image Credit: Stirling Council
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