Tag Archives: beatrice wishart

Great news from Shetland tonight as the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ Beatrice Wishart won the Scottish Parliament by-election with 48% of the vote.

The result in full is:

Beatrice Wishart (Scottish Lib Dems)5,659 (47.86%, -19.52%)
Tom Wills (SNP) 3,822 (32.32%, +9.27%)
Ryan Thomson (Independent) 1,286 (10.88%)
Brydon Goodlad (Scottish Conservative) 425 (3.59%, -0.07%)
Debra Nicolson (Green) 189 (1.60%)
Johan Adamson (Scottish Labour) 152 (1.29%, -4.61%)
Michael Stout (Independent) 134 (1.13%)
Ian Scott (Independent) 66 (0.56%)
Stuart Martin (UKIP) 60 (0.51%)
Peter Tait (Independent) 31 (0.26%)
14.40% swing Lib Dem to SNP
Electorate 17,810 – Turnout 11,824 (66.39%, up by 4.31%)

Willie Rennie was delighted:

What a win for @scotlibdems @BeatriceWishart – Shetland’s first ever woman parliamentarian. Builds on victories in Brecon and the Euros. Looking forward to more wins. #winning #shetland #liberaldemocrats

— Willie Rennie (@willie_rennie) August 30, 2019

Shetland stood up to @theSNP invasion with activists from the central belt alongside @NicolaSturgeon (3 times), @JohnSwinney (2 times) and almost every single MSP and MP. But they couldn’t even match the yes vote from 2014. #Shetlandbyelection #winning

— Willie Rennie (@willie_rennie) August 30, 2019

And Scottish Lib Dem Women’s Girls Supporting Girls initiative helped too, with visits from Jo Swinson and Christine Jardine.

Great to see so many women from across Scotland up for the final week to support @BeatriceWishart in the #shetlandbyelection #girlssupportinggirls pic.twitter.com/22z3bnw9pR

— Scottish Lib Dem Women (@sldwomen) August 26, 2019

Cheeky wee #girlssupportinggirls phone canvassing session to support the amazing @BeatriceWishart in today's #shetlandbyelection pic.twitter.com/Lkm52x98Qu

— Scottish Lib Dem Women (@sldwomen) August 29, 2019

A by-election in your safest seat is a scary thing, particularly when your party has caused it when previous incumbent Tavish Scott left politics to go and work for Scottish Rugby. He had a huge personal vote and had always by his own admission fought as himself rather than as a Lib Dem.

The SNP threw the entire kitchen at this because they knew that if we lost the seat, we would lose our status a a group in the Scottish Parliament. SNP MPs from the central belt had been pounding the streets of Shetland. They put a lot of fire power our way but we still got almost half the vote even with a strong challenge from Independent Ryan Thompson who was the biggest gainer.