Hopeful of a comeback
Former Stirling MP Steven Paterson has said that he hopes to return to the role in the ‘not-so distant future’.
The SNP politician’s two years at Westminster came to an abrupt end on Friday morning.
The 42-year-old was clearly devastated at the narrow defeat - having been elected as the first Stirling MP from his party in 2015 with a 10,480 majority.
On Monday, he said that serving in the role had been a privilege. He added:“After having taken a few days of reflecting on the outcome of the General Election, I am grateful for the kind words of friends and political foes. I wish my successor well and hope that he will do everything he can, during his time representing this magnificent constituency, to support our local communities and people.
“It has been an honour and a privilege to serve my home constituency of Stirling as Member of Parliament - a role I hope to return to in the not-so distant future.”
Labour candidate Chris Kane was pleased after securing a solid result for Labour, who only weeks before in the local government elections had seen their tally of councillors slashed by half to just four. He said:“This is a positive step in the right direction for the Labour Party. We knew we had a long road ahead of us in 2015, but what we are seeing is that across the country we are coming back. Across Scotland and here in Stirling, we have a really good base now to continue to do the hard work we are going to have to do, but it is a positive step in the right direction for this area.”
And both the Lib Dem and Women’s Equality Party candidates – Wendy Chamberlain and Kirstein Rummery – said they had learned from the experience of standing in a General Election, and had raised a range of issues on the campaign. Wendy Chamberlain (Lib-Dem) Chris Kane (Labour) Stephen Kerr (Conservative) Steven Paterson (SNP) Kirstein Rummery (Women’s Equality Party)
10 per cent swing Turnout: 74.4 per cent