Local vote ‘springboard’ for the general election

Parties hail momentum for June 8 after council ballot – and Tories, Lib Dems and Labour target key seats they want to take from SNP

Council election gains could give pro-UK parties the momentum to win back seats in next month’s general election, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader has claimed.

Willie Rennie pointed to a rise in votes across his party’s target constituencies as reason for optimism heading into the next electoral contest.

Each of the Lib Dems, Conservatives and Labour have identified key seats – including North East Fife for the Liberals and Perth and North Perthshire for the Tories – where they will try to persuade supporters of their traditional opponents to lend them votes in an attempt to oust sitting SNP MPs.

Mr Rennie, the MSP for North East Fife, said: “These results show that we are strongest in the areas where we are challenging the SNP at Westminster on June 8 – Edinburgh, East Dunbartonshire, the Highlands, North East Fife and Argyll.

“This shows we are challenging SNP on June 8 in those places for Westminster election.”

Much attention has already been focused on Perth and North Perthshire, held by the SNP’s Pete Wishart, and the fact the Tories took control of the local council is likely to add further spice to the contest.

Ian Duncan, the Conservative MEP and candidate said: “Today’s result makes one thing crystal clear: in Perthshire, the Scottish Conservatives have the strength to fight back against the SNP.”

The only seat across Tayside and Fife on Scottish Labour’s radar is Dunfermline and West Fife, where the party only narrowly kept the Tories in third place in the local elections.

Kezia Dugdale, the party’s leader, said: “At the general election on June 8, despite the Tory increase in vote share, the the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie, centre, celebrates with newly elected councillors during the local elections at Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh. these results show that only Labour can defeat the SNP in many first-past-thepost seats in Scotland.

“The only way to send a message to Nicola Sturgeon that we don’t want another divisive referendum is to vote Labour in places such as East Lothian, Edinburgh South, and across Glasgow.”

Nicola Sturgeon hailed the SNP’s local election results as a “great springboard” for the House of Commons contest.

“It is quite clear on the back of the English results that Theresa May is on course to win the (general) election.

“What the question is for Scotland is, do we want to make sure there are voices for Scotland with an opposition that can hold the Government to account?

“It’s clear that Labour cannot do that, they are barely fit for opposition. If you want that from Scotland, it can only come from the SNP.” A few hours after June’s snap general election was called, I managed to get hold of a list of Scottish Conservative target seats.

Some seemed reasonable, others optimistic, and most people would be forgiven for thinking the Tory leadership had gone completely bonkers by the time the bottom of the list was reached.

The council elections suggest it definitely game on.

Below is that list with the closest local authority result, including changes from 2012, to compare the parties who secured the largest number of councillors yesterday:

Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk/Borders Council: CON 15 (+5); SNP 9.

Dumfries and Galloway/Dumfries and Galloway Council: CON 16 (+3); LAB 11 (-1); SNP 11.

West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine/Aberdeenshire Council: CON 23 (+9); SNP 21 (-8).

Moray/Moray Council: SNP 9 (-1); IND 8 (-2); CON 8 (+5)

Banff and Buchan/Aberdeenshire Council: CON 23 (+9); SNP 21 (-8).

East Renfrewshire/East Renfrewshire Council: CON 7 (+2); SNP 5 (-1).

Perth and North Perthshire/Perth and Kinross Council: CON 17 (+7); SNP 15 (-2).

Aberdeen South/Aberdeen City Council: SNP 19 (+3); CON 11 (+8).

Edinburgh South West/Edinburgh City Council: SNP 19 (-2); CON 18 (+7).

Stirling/Stirling Council: SNP 9 (-1); CON 9 (+5).

Now of course there are a great many caveats here.

First of all the Westminster constituency and local council boundaries are far from exactly the same, while different voting systems may well lead to different voting habits.

Secondly, the varied turnout and massive majorities enjoyed by a good few of the incumbent SNP candidates, who will now be knocking their pan in getting round doors over the next four and a bit weeks, means anyone rushing to firm conclusions about individual results in a month’s time is a fool.

What this does suggest is that these seats are very much up for grabs, notwithstanding the fact it very unlikely all will fall.

Could the Tories do with some expectation management? Senior sources were looking at the results in the North East and briefing that Gordon, held by a certain Alex Salmond, “has come into play”.

That is alongside the aforementioned seats and a few others where the party has done well.

It could be the Scottish Conservatives are being set up for a hard fall on general election night, but most of us thought the same about the SNP two years ago. is

It is quite clear on the back of the English results that Theresa May is on course towinthe election. NICOLA STURGEON

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Picture: PA.