Labour’s Scottish revival ends Tories’ ‘Davidson bounce’
Socialists leap into second place north of Border and behind SNP, as partygate takes toll on Conservatives
LABOUR yesterday declared the end of the “Ruth Davidson” bounce for the Tories in Scotland after winning back second place in the council elections.
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, said the Conservative revival overseen by Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links was “dead” and it was “the first cheerful day” for his party for almost a decade.
Labour became the largest Unionist party for the first time since the 2016 Holyrood election, with its seat tally rising by 20 to 282.
Its share of the vote rose 1.3 points to 21.7 per cent and it came within a whisker of ousting the SNP in Glasgow.
In contrast, the Scottish Tories’ seat total declined by 63 to 214, with senior figures stating that their voters stayed home in protest against partygate and Boris Johnson’s behaviour.
Across Scotland, the Tory vote declined by 5.9 percentage points but it fell by double digits in many areas. In Edinburgh, the Conservatives lost half their 18 seats, slumping from the largest group on the council to fifth place.
Hailing the result, Mr Sarwar said: “For well over a decade now, we’ve had a politics in Scotland where there’s been one dominant party, and there’s been a Labour Party that’s been not on the pitch, not been willing to compete, and a Conservative Party whose limited ambition has been to come in second place.”
Douglas Ross, the Scottish Tory leader, said: “The Prime Minister simply can’t ignore the message that has been seen from voters, not just here in Scotland but across the UK.”
He told the BBC: “It was certainly the partygate issue that dominated the discussions I had with voters who were reluctant to come out and support us as they have in the past.”
However, the Moray MP continued to argue that Mr Johnson should remain in Downing Street while the Ukraine war is at a “crucial stage”.
Lady Davidson, his predecessor, tweeted that those “firing arrows” at Mr Ross “need to explain how, for example, we managed to lose councils like Southampton, Westminster, Wandsworth and Barnet, beyond his writ.
“It’s almost as if there’s a wider UK narrative at play”.
But other Tories said Mr Ross should take some of the responsibility for the huge losses after he withdrew his
demand for Mr Johnson’s resignation over partygate when the Ukraine war started.
One senior figure said that having Mr Johnson as leader was “like trying to swim a length in a pool with an anchor tied to each foot”.
Nicola Sturgeon said the SNP was the “clear, emphatic winner” of the election after increasing its number of council seats by 22 to 453, while the share of the vote rose by 1.5 points to 34.1 per cent.
She said the Scottish Tories had lost more than 100,000 votes and Mr Ross “must also shoulder a substantial share of blame for this disaster after defending his law-breaking boss in spite of justified public fury over partygate”. The Liberal Democrats picked up 20 more seats, taking their total to 87, after making major gains in the capital, Fife and the Highlands.
The SNP retook overall control of Dundee and became the largest party in East Renfrewshire, Perth and Kinross and Aberdeen.
Labour gained overall control of West Dunbartonshire council and came close to beating the SNP in Glasgow, the country’s largest local authority, winning 36 seats to the Nationalists’ 37.
The only bright points for the Tories were picking up seats in Aberdeenshire and Mr Ross’s Moray home council area, as well as winning the island of
Arran ward thanks to the SNP ferries scandal. Adam Tomkins, a former Tory MSP, said: “Whatever today’s results show, Douglas Ross owns this, not Boris.
“It was Douglas who U-turned, Douglas who flipped and Douglas who backed the Prime Minister. He and his team need to own the consequences, not pass the buck.”
The Scottish Greens’ tally surged from 19 to 35 but Alex Salmond’s Alba Party failed to win a single seat, losing all its councillors who had defected from the SNP.
Mr Salmond said: “Alba is undaunted and will continue to press hard on the urgency of independence.”