SNP sees off Labour’s Glasgow challenge

GLASGOW City Council looks set to remain under the control of the SNP after the party narrowly saw off a ferocious Labour comeback.

Susan Aitken’s party returned 37 councillors, just one more than Labour, which added five seats to its 2017 election tally.

It was a great result for the Scottish Greens, which went from seven councillors to 10, and a miserable day for the Tory party, which saw nearly all of its gains in 2017 wiped out, leaving it with just two elected representatives

Councillor Aitken said the campaign had been “enormously challenging”.

“I believe we have a record to be absolutely proud of. There are things that simply would not have happened over the past five years if the SNP hadn’t been in power,” she said.

“Five years wasn’t long enough to undo all of Labour’s mismanagement from the previous 40.”

Labour’s Malcolm Cunning said there was a “clear shift in Glasgow, and that shift is towards us.”

“I’ve been coming to counts since 1974, in one way or another, but in terms of here in Glasgow, these are the best results for Labour since well before 2015.”

Two of the SNP councillors elected in Glasgow came to Scotland as refugees, Roza Salih and Abdul Bostani.

Councillor Salih was one of the “Glasgow Girls” who ran a successful campaign against the detention and planned deportation of Agnesa Murselaj.

Elaine Gallagher, who was returned as a Scottish Green councillor for Southside Central ward, is the city’s first trans councillor.

Her victory saw SNP stalwart Mhairi Hunter lose her seat.