West Lothian turned its back on the SNP in the General Election and embraced Labour for Westminster after a nine year- gap.
Thursday’s poll saw Nationalist majorities of 13,000 in Livingston and 11,000 in Bathgate and Linlithgow crumble.
Kirsteen Sullivan, the Labour depute leader of West Lothian Council, took the Bathgate and Linlithgow constituency while Gregor Poynton seized Livingston from Hannah Bardell.
The Conservatives, who climbed into second place in both constituencies in 2019 ,fell into fourth place behind Reform candidates in their first Scottish election.
In common with most seats the turnout was well down from the 66 per cent of 2019. In Bathgate and Linlithgow, turnout fell to 58.4 per cent and Livingston it fell to 57.6 per cent.
In Bathgate and Linlithgow Kirsteen Sullivan, for Labour took 19,774 votes against Martyn Day defending the seat for the SNP’s 11,451.
In Livingston Hannah Bardell conceded defeat after Labour won 18,324 votes to the SNP’s 14,796.
Speaking after the count at West Lothian College, newly-elected Gregor Poynton paid tribute to his SNP rival, Hannah Bardell.
He said: “I know from speaking to many people that there’s so many people she has helped in these last nine years as she has diligently gone about her work. I think she deserves your thanks for that.”
He added: “Today people across Livingston has voted for change to turn the page on 14 years of a Tory Government that has crashed our economy, that has created a feeling that nothing works everything is broken and the worst part of it is this is the sense that this is as good as it gets. Working people across Livingston deserve better than this.”
Kirsteen Sullivan thanked her staff including her agent Tom Conn. She added: I’d like to acknowledge and thank my fellow candidates for the positive manner in which they ran their campaigns. I’d like to give a special thank you to Martyn Day who served the constituency for nine years. Prior to that he served 16 years as a councillor for Linlithgow. our politics may differ but it’s only right that his quarter century of public service is recognised.”
The SNP snatched both long standing Labour seats in West Lothian in the 2015 election. In the December 2019 poll the Conservatives won second place behind the SNP leaving Labour languishing in third place. This in seats held only a decade before by party stalwarts Tam Dalyell and Robin Cook.
The full result for Bathgate and Linlithgow is:-
Martyn Day, SNP 11,451
John Hannah, Independence of Scotland Party 382
Simon Caleb Jay, Greens 1,390
Stuart James McArthur, Independent 229
Jamie McNamee Reform UK 3,524
Lynn Edith Munro Scottish Conservatives 3,144
Sally Pattle, Liberal Democrats 2,171
Kirsteen Sullivan, Labour and Co-operative Party 19,774
The full result for Livingston is:-
Hannah Bardell, SNP 14,796
Damian Doran-Timson, Conservatives 3,469
Debbie Ewen, Alba 545
Cameron Glasgow Greens 1,704
Caron Lindsay, Liberal Democrats 2,025
David Mclennan Reform UK 3,977
Gregor Poynton Labour 18,324.
By Stuart Sommerville Local Democracy Reporter
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is a public service news agency. It is funded by the BBC, provided by the local news sector (in Edinburgh that is Reach plc (the publisher behind Edinburgh Live and The Daily Record) and used by many qualifying partners. Local Democracy Reporters cover news about top-tier local authorities and other public service organisations.
