21 votes gets Pete over line
A tense wait for victory
Pete Wishart punched the air in triumph as it was announced he had been re-elected as the MP for Perth and North Perthshire – the look of relief on his face clear for all to see.
The long-serving SNP politician retained his position at Westminster after returning 21,804 votes, just 21 clear of the second place candidate, Ian Duncan for the Conservatives.
There was a tense atmosphere throughout the night at the count in Bell’s Sports Centre in Perth, with all candidates and party supporters recognising how close the contest for what was as a key seat would be.
At approximately 1.45am, returning officer Bernadette Malone announced that there would be a recount. It is believed at this stage the gap between the Conservatives and the SNP was 36 votes.
And, at around 2.20am, Ms Malone announced there would be a second recount, with a slender 21 votes splitting the top two.
Speaking after the third count, Mr Wishart said: “What a night! It is quite a hard feeling to describe, very extraordinary.
“My nerves were put through two recounts, but my team worked very hard to secure this result.
“I have been the MP here for 16 years now, and the people have trusted me once again, and I hope I will not let them down.
“It has been weeks of this - some days you think you are winning, and some days you think you are losing. I knew my 10,000 majority [from the 2015 General Election] meant nothing this time. The tide came in and the water was lapping at my feet, but thankfully I managed to stay dry.
“I have had majorities from 21 to 10,000, and this is always going to be a tight constituency. I always treat this as a marginal seat, so I am delighted at this.”
Reflecting on the national picture, he continued: “It has been a tough night for the party and we have lost some good and talented colleagues.
“We will have to regroup and see who is still with us at Westminster. I am not sure where we are but we will go on to have a significant impact in Westminster – we could have a massive role to play.”
Mr Wishart congratulated the three other candidates on the stage when the result was announced, and paid particular tribute to the hard-fought campaign by Mr Duncan – an MEP from Alyth.
Mr Duncan returned 21,783 votes and said the result was far from the end of the Tories in Perth and North Perthshire.
He said: “There’s a line from Abraham Lincoln: ‘It’s like the little boy who stubbed his toe, he was too old to cry about it but it hurt too much to laugh.’
“I live to fight another day, but something is going on in Scotland – my goodness. I am just sorry I am not one of the blue constituencies on the map - but one day it will be blue.
“I will go back to Europe [as MEP] and see what it looks like in the next short period. But I am not done - I am too young to retire.”
Labour’s David Roemmele picked up 5349 votes and local councillor and Lib Dem Peter Barrett won 2589 from the electorate.
Mr Roemmele said: “I am very pleased, we have got 900 more votes than the last time. I am very happy with that, this is a great result and I had an excellent team who were a great help, I am very grateful to them.
“I will be going back to work now teaching English as a foreign language, and as a building surveyor.”
Mr Barrett added: “We would always like to do better, but we have saved our deposit this time. We ran a clear message in this campaign that independence is off the agenda and if the SNP don’t realise that they need to wake up to the facts.”
My nerves were put through two recounts