Lib Dem leader proclaims start of ‘revival’ after series of gains
THE leader of the Liberal Democrats has claimed his party’s ‘revival’ has now begun after it made a series of gains in the local elections.
Alex Cole-Hamilton said his party had helped stop the SNP after increasing its vote share and the overall number of councillors.
The Lib Dems moved into third place in Edinburgh, only one seat behind Labour, after 12 of its councillors were elected. It became the first party in the capital to secure three seats in one ward, following an unprecedented success in Almond. It also made major gains in Fife, with councillor numbers rising from seven to 13, and in the Highlands, where it increased from ten councillors to 15.
Across Scotland, 87 Lib Dem councillors were elected, up 20 on 2017, while its share of first preference votes increased by 1.7 percentage points, to 5.9 per cent. Mr Cole-Hamilton, who replaced Willie Rennie as leader following last year’s Holyrood elections, said: ‘These victories show that the Lib Dems are able to make big gains across Scotland.
‘Our revival [begins] in local government. That revival starts today.’