Local Council By-Elections November 2020

And now for the last set of council by-elections until next May. This month saw 21,679 votes cast over five local authority contests in Scotland only. All percentages are rounded to the nearest single decimal place. One council seat changed hands. For comparison with October's results, see here.

Party	Number of Candidates	Total Vote	%	+/-  Oct	+/- Nov 19	Avge/ Contest	+/- Seats
Conservative	5	5,581	25.7%	-3.9	-5.2	1,116	0
Labour	5	2,253	10.4%	+5.5	-2.7	451	0
LibDem	5	2,742	12.6%	+5.4	-6.1	548	+1
Green	5	1,577	7.3%	+5.3	+0.3	315	0
SNP	5	8,651	39.9%	+9.9	+24.4	1,730	-1
PC**	0						0
Ind***	5	799	3.7%	-22.6	-7.4	160	0
Other****	3	76	0.4%	+0.4	-1.3	25	0

* There were five by-elections in Scotland
** There were no by-elections in Wales
*** There were two independent clashes this month
**** Others this month were Scottish Libertarian (16 votes and 42 votes), and UKIP (18 votes)

An all-Scottish affair, and what a sorry sight for the unionist parties - particularly Labour. The SNP ran away with the vote tally, and even topped the totals in Perth City South where they lost a seat to the Liberal Democrats. And it shouldnt be any other result. Despite ongoing difficulties concerning Alex Salmond, Nicola Sturgeon has arguably managed the politics of Covid even better than Boris Johnson. Despite being second only to England for Covid death rates until the second wave crashed in, the SNP continues to go from strength to strength.

Thanks to a mix of hubris and general ineptitude, the sum totals continue to show Scottish Labour has fallen behind the Tories as Scotland's unionist voice, and is now even getting spanked by the LibDems on this score. Okay, it's only one by-election, and that one result is responsible for the yellows doing better than the reds, but im microcosm it shows the problem Scottish Labour has. If it's not too late, if the damage inflicted on the party by generations of complacent, lazy rightwingers can be reversed Labour are going to have to try taking votes off the SNP. That's where its natural constituency now is - concentrating on trying to hegemonise the unionist vote is a fool's errand.

Therefore, the sorts of results one might expect at this moment north of the border. Is it going to be all change when a year's worth of by-elections launch next May with all the other delayed elections from this year?

5th November
Aberdeen UA, SNP hold

12th November
City of Edinburgh UA, Craigentinny Duddingston, SNP hold

19th November
Clackmannanshire UA, Clackmannanshire East, Con hold

26th November
Perth and Kinross UA, Perth City North, SNP hold
Perth and Kinross UA, Perth City South, LDem gain from SNP

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