Eight candidates will vie for a seat in the chambers of West Lothian council next month.
Voters in the Whitburn and Blackburn ward will go to the polls on Thursday, 11 December to choose a new councillor.
Two of the candidates are standing as independents. The rest represent the regular political parties. Reform also returns to the contest. The party has contested every council by-election since the July 2024 General Election.
The polls open at 7am on 11 December and closes at 10pm. At the last by-election the turnout was 20.7%. Voters are urged to make sure they can have their say.
The deadline for voter registration is midnight on Monday 24 November.
Further guidance on voter registration and more on is available via the council website.
The victor will replace Labour’s David Russell, who quit in September, less than a year after he was elected to replace Kirsteen Sullivan.
Labour will be fighting to retain a voting colleague for veteran George Paul.
The SNP hope to add to its 15 strong opposition group by providing a new colleague for fellow SNP representatives in the ward, long serving husband and wife councillors in Jim and Mary Dickson.
Councillor Russell resigned from the Labour party and as councillor on 22 September.
It was a blow for the minority Labour-led administration however, which brought its headcount down to just 11 councillors.
Mr Russell held the ward seat for Labour in a by-election last November with a narrow victory of only 71 votes over the SNP. Mr Russell polled 1,093 to the SNP’s 1,022.
An independent bid by local community councillor Tam Lynch saw him poll 421.
Last November’s poll was a disappointment for the Conservatives who slipped into fourth place behind Reform. They polled only 239 to Reform’s 578 votes.
The ward has four councillors and extends from the village of Greenrigg in the west to Seafield in the east.
The candidates standing are:-
Douglas Thomas Butler- Scottish Liberal Democrats
Callum Cox – Scottish National Party (SNP)
Thomas Robert Lynch – Independent
Samuel James Robert McCulloch- Scottish Labour Party
David McLennan- Reform UK
Eddie Millar – Independent
Reece Sinnott – Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Robbie Gerald Walker- Scottish Greens
