This time last week we were all celebrating the news of a stonking by-election win in Colinton/Fairmilehead in Edinburgh. We jumped from fourth place to first to elect Louise Spence after an intense campaign which saw activists from all over the city basically give up their lives for four months. This came just after the General Election, too. We are a party that prides ourselves in campaigning all year round, but we know that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. We’ve been sprinting now for 6 months. And it’s not over yet.
We’d known Louise well for years. She’d fought the ward in 2022, narrowly missing out on a seat.
On Tuesday came the shock that there was to be another by-election in the ward, which we had just won. SNP Councillor Marco Biagi, a former MSP, had taken up a role in the Scottish Government and resigned his Council seat.
That was nothing compared to the shock that hit Edinburgh Liberal Democrats just yesterday afternoon. A statement from Louise Spence explains:
I have had a sudden change in personal circumstances which meant I couldn’t in all conscience fulfil my role as a councillor.
At this time, my focus must be with my family. I have informed my Liberal Democrat colleagues of my changed circumstances and offered my resignation.
The Liberal Democrats rightly set high standards in terms of the service their local councillors provide. I myself argued that Colinton & Fairmilehead needed a local champion. While it would have been legally possible for me to continue as a councillor, I don’t believe it would be right to do so with my focus elsewhere.
This is why I have made the difficult decision to resign my council seat. With another by-election already due in the ward in February because of the SNP councillor’s resignation, my decision means this new vacancy can be filled at the same time; at no extra cost to the taxpayer. This is clearly the right thing to do for Colinton & Fairmilehead.
However, I know my decision will be deeply disappointing and frustrating for those who voted for me, for my council group colleagues and for all the Liberal Democrats who fought so hard to win the by-election. I am truly sorry at what has happened.
Group Leader Kevin Lang said:
As a council group, we are feeling a lot of hurt right now. We all worked hard on Louise’s campaign and did so in good faith.
Louise’s news was shared with the group for the first time on Thursday and once her changed circumstances were clear, we were in agreement that she had to resign immediately.
We make no apology for setting ourselves high standards as Liberal Democrat councillors. All of us work hard for our local communities and serve our constituents to the best of our ability.
My heart is breaking for everyone who put their time and effort into the campaign in good faith. I know that they will all be committed to making sure that the issues that the people of Colinton and Fairmilehead are actioned as we promised they would be.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
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8 Comments
Plus a dreadful set of results yesterday where we lost 3 seats and nearly a fourth.
I went outside for the first time in 2 years just to vote for Louise 😭 I do understand where she’s coming from and respect that, and I hope everything is okay re: personal circumstances. Considering the results of this by-election, I really hope we don’t see the Conservatives take her place…
All I can do is feel for all who worked so hard, and for Louise herself who sounds very principled, and clearly has a very difficult home position to be in.
Hope you can all stay together and support each other and build on the hard work already done to make it a double win in February.
Caron – so sorry to read this . Gut-wrenching for all concerned. May your further endeavours be fully rewarded!
Thanks for having the courage to refer to this story. Perhaps nthose of us who are not part of the inner circle of Edinburgh politics might be given a general idea of what these changes in personal circumstances might be?
@David We can express frustration but chewing over the details of someone’s private circumstances are not what we see about here. Suffice to say that nobody else in the campaign or council group knew till Thursday afternoon this week.
Thanks. @Caron, that’s helpful, but probably not much use to the poor souls who will have to go back on the doorstep for the next byelection. One newspaper (Telegraph) says she is moving to Dubai, and another (Times) says that she has been “forced” to put her house up for sale. Some clarity need not be intrusive. I dread to think what the social media coverage is like.
Frustrating though it’s very fortunate that it’s a double by election, meaning we can still hold the seat if we finish second in the final round. Which will still take allot of work but at least there aren’t very many elections to fight in Scotland normally, given there are only three election types with a ridiculous 5 year gap for each.
Here in England some of us have elections every year or more. In my city we’re due a fallow year next year so will instead be helping our neighbours with the county elections, this after having fought local+PCC elections in May, the general in July, a by election in October, a neighboring county by election a couple weeks after, and possibly another by election coming up in January.