Labour big losers in Fife as Tories make gains

SNP still largest group, but may need coalition to form a new administration Leader of Tories is delighted SNP rule out pact with Conservatives Big names fall victim on day of shocks

The battle for control of Fife House remains undetermined today after no party managed to win a majority following the local council elections.

The SNP claimed the largest number of seats, 29, but may have to turn to Labour and its 24 seats to form a coalition following huge gains by the Conservatives.

That is despite the SNP’s leader, Neale Hanvey, failing to be elected – one of several shocks throughout the course of a dramatic count at the Rothes Halls.

Though Fife is now left in political limbo, the SNP and Labour party have already ruled out entering into a power-sharing arrangement with the Conservatives, who took 15 seats, up from just three in 2012.

However, aware that he now holds the balance of power, the Conservatives’ Fife leader, Dave Dempsey, said: “I’ll just go home and wait for the phone to ring.”

The Tories ended a generation in Scotland’s local election wilderness by capitalising on another disastrous outing for Labour.

The surge saw the Scottish Conservatives win 164 more seats than they did in 2012, to repeat the feat achieved in last year’s Holyrood election of leapfrogging Labour into second place.

However, the Nationalists cemented their position as the largest party in Scottish local democracy, having increased the number of councils in which they are the biggest force.

The Tories were instrumental in ending the SNP’s overall majority rule in Dundee and Angus, as the Nationalists were left with seven fewer councillors across Scotland, according to BBC data.

Ruth Davidson’s party also drew the curtain on the SNP’s minority control of Perth and Kinross after the Conservatives increased their numbers of councillors by seven to emerge as the biggest party there.

And there were unlikely gains for Conservative councillors in “no go” wards, including Gordon Brown’s backyard of Cowdenbeath, Paisley’s Ferguslie Park – the most deprived part of Scotland – and Shettleston, in Glasgow’s east end.

Andy Johnston, director of the Local Government Information Unit, said the Scottish Conservatives stole the headlines as they “crashed the Labour versus SNP party”.

“Labour was predicted to do badly, but it also seems that the total dominance of Scottish politics threatened by the SNP has receded,” he said.

“In fact, the SNP have lost seats to the Conservatives in Dundee and Perth and Kinross.”

Ms Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, said: “We’ve seen here today that the Scottish Conservatives are leading the fightback against the SNP, and that’s not just in rural areas or areas where we’ve traditionally been strong but that’s in urban areas too.

“So we’ve seen a huge resurgence and there are people out there that want to see that fightback against the SNP and they know now that it’s the Scottish Conservatives that are going to lead it,” she said.

The SNP were out in front in Scotland in terms of councillor numbers and vote share, although it was painted by some as an underwhelming result for the Nationalists.

Nicola Sturgeon said the increase in Tory support has “come directly from Labour”, adding it is “not the SNP losing ground to the Tories”.

“I think the real soul-searching today has to be done by the Labour party,” the SNP leader said.

She added: “The SNP has won this election, we have got more votes, more seats, we are the largest party in more councils than any other party in Scotland.

“There is no way that anybody can spin this result as anything other than a clear and very emphatic win for the SNP.”

Asked about losing overall control in Dundee, she said they were only one seat short of repeating that achievement in a voting system where such majorities are unusual.

The SNP won 431 seats, compared with the Conservatives on 276, Labour’s 262, the Lib Dems on 67, independents on 172 and the Greens with 19.

There is no waythat anybody can spin this result as anything other than a clear and very emphatic win for the SNP. FIRST MINISTER NICOLA STURGEON

Fife provost and Labour councillor Jim Leishman and party colleagues look grim-faced as the results come in at Rothes Halls yesterday. Mr Leishman was re-elected in Dunfermline Central.