Scottish Tories hold on to council seat

The Scottish Tories have held on to a council seat in Clackmannanshire.

Clackmannanshire East will remain with the Tories after candidate Denis Coyne won 51% of the vote, an increase of almost 10 percentage points from the previous election.

Due to be held in Mar c h , the poll wa s rescheduled after the start of the coronavirus pandemic in Scotland and held on Thursday.

SNP candidate Stephen Leitch was second with 32% of the vote in an election with a turnout of just 35.1% – a total of 2,395 votes cast.

The Labour Party saw their vote share drop by about 12 percentage points to 8.1%, compared to the previous election for the seat.

The Greens and L ibera l Democrats finished on 5.8% and 2.9% respectively.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross heralded Mr Coyne’s win, saying he will be a “great councillor” for the area.