The city’s Transport Convener, Scott Arthur, has been elected an MP, saying it was still a surprise in his acceptance speech.
He thanked Joanna Cherry and then said: “It is truly humbling to have won actually. We did not come here tonight expecting to win so I cannot believe it. I want to thank everyone who voted for me. I will not let you down.
“We are on course for a Labour government led by Keir Starmer and it will have Scotland at its heart, and I genuinely cannot believe that I have got a chance to be part of that. I hope this is the end of an era here where Scotland is sending MPs into a government not into opposition. That is really important. The hard work now begins.”
Joanna Cherry,KC, said: “This is the first time I have had to make a leaving speech on election night and I hope it will be the last. Three times in a row the people of Edinburgh South West chose me to serve them and I am very proud of that, but now they’ve chosen Scott and I would like to congratulate Scott and Stephen his election agent and his campaign team. They’ve fought a good fight and they have earned this victory.”
On the SNP she said: “My defeat and the defeat of many other SNP candidates tonight means that my party must now have the courage to address what has gone wrong in recent years, otherwise this setback for the SNP will not be reversed. And I shall have a lot more to say about that in the days and weeks to come.”
And the question on everyone’s mind is – who will become the next Transport Convener?
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