Scottish Conservatives win Aberdeen South by-election from SNP

The Scottish Conservatives won a Westminster by-election for the first time in more than 50 years, taking Aberdeen South from the SNP.

Shortly afterward the SNP claimed victory in the Arbroath and Broughty Ferry by-election, where Lara Bird held the seat for the party.

The by-elections were triggered when sitting MPs Stephen Flynn and Stephen Gethins resigned from the House of Commons after being elected to Holyrood.

Aberdeen South candidate John Lumsden, a former oil and gas worker, defeated SNP candidate Richard Thomson by more than 6,000 votes and took nearly half of all ballots cast. Lumsden, who won re-election as a North East MSP six weeks earlier, must resign from Holyrood under its dual-mandate ban. He will have 49 days to step down. His seat will go to the next candidate on the Conservatives' North East Scotland list, Fraserburgh councillor James Adams.

Lumsden said his constituents had sent a message that "the destruction of the oil and gas industry must stop now."

In Arbroath and Broughty Ferry, Bird won with a majority of more than 5,000 votes over the Conservatives. The lawyer and former SNP researcher said voters had "rejected the politics of division and hate" and made clear that Scotland's future "lies with independence." Labour fell from second to fourth, with Reform in third.

Flynn, now Scotland's economy secretary, posted on social media that it had been "a tough night in Aberdeen that some will need to reflect on, quite heavily." He added that the SNP had lost the seat in 2017 and won it back two years later, and said he had "no doubt that we can do so again" if the party got things right.

The Conservatives last won a Westminster by-election in Scotland in 1973, when they held Edinburgh North. Their previous gain in such a contest was Glasgow Pollok from Labour in 1967.

South of the border, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham won the Makerfield by-election, which could open a path for him to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.