I was up to my neck yesterday, so apologies for being a bit late with this excellent news from the Highlands. In a break from the pattern of the recent past, the SNP have not underperformed expectations in a local council by-election – quite the reverse, in fact.
Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh by-election result (first preferences):
SNP 33.1% (+7.0)
Conservatives 26.0% (+7.6)
Independent – Greene 15.6% (+1.4)
Greens 9.0% (-2.2)
Liberal Democrats 8.0% (-5.4)
Labour 4.4% (-0.7)
Independent – Davis 3.3% (n/a)
UKIP 0.4% (n/a)
Scottish Libertarians 0.2% (n/a)
Technically, this was an SNP gain from the Liberal Democrats, but that’s just one of the familiar quirks of the STV system – in fact the SNP topped the poll in the ward last time around, and the Lib Dems trailed in fourth. Nevertheless, by any standards this was a dismal attempt from the Lib Dems at defending the seat – they suffered a net swing to the SNP of more than 6%. We probably shouldn’t get as excited about the SNP surge as we would do if it had happened in a central belt ward – there’s much more of a tradition in Highlands local politics of electing an individual, rather than a political party. But a splendid result for the SNP is always preferable to the alternative.
