The SNP’s Tommy Sheppard returns to Westminster next week with an increased majority of 10,417.
The votes cast were as follows :
Sheila Gilmore Scottish Labour Party 12,748 votes
Claire Miller Scottish Green Party 2,064 votes
Eleanor Price Scottish Conservative and Unionist 6,549 votes
Jill Reilly Scottish Liberal Democrats 3,289 votes
Tommy Sheppard SNP 23,165 votes
In his speech Mr Sheppard warned Boris Johnson to start listening to Scotland. He said : “It has been a remarkable result and I very much want to thank the people of Edinburgh East for putting their faith in me and returning me to parliament for a third time.”
He recognised that some of the people who voted for him were not naturally SNP voters, and might not even agree with Scottish independence at this time. But he explained that they agree that this decision should be made in Scotland and nowhere else.
“We have a mandate for the third time since 2014 to oppose Boris Johnson’s government, to try and oppose even at these final hours the Brexit the United Kingdom is contemplating and to assert the principle that the people here have the right to choose a better form of government should they so wish. From Monday morning we will prosecute that and fight for that mandate.
“Boris Johnson had better start listening to the people of Scotland, because if he doesn’t the people will take matters into their own hands, and decide their own future whether he likes it or not.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
