Edinburgh council: Two vacancies to fill in double by-election in Colinton/Fairmilehead
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The contest in Edinburgh's Colinton/Fairmilehead ward on Thursday, January 23, is to fill not just one but two vacancies. And it comes just two months after another by-election in the same ward.
Louise Spence, who won a surprise victory for the Liberal Democrats in the November 14 by-election resigned just a few days later after it emerged that, despite running on a campaign highlighting the fact she lived locally, her house was up for sale and she planned to move to Dubai where her husband had got a job.
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Hide AdAnd in the meantime Marco Biagi, the SNP councillor in the ward, had also announced he was resigning because he had been made a special adviser to the Scottish Government.
That left long-serving Tory Jason Rust as the only councillor in the ward, with the other two seats to be filled.
Labour and Tory sources say there is undoubted anger among voters about the debacle over the last by-election, but they add that it's not clear whether that is enough to stop the Lib Dems taking one of the two seats.
The party had no history of success in Colinton/Fairmilehead previously, but their majority in November was substantial.
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Hide AdMs Spence got 2,683 first preferences, compared to the Tories' 1,454 and Labour's 1,441. And after redistribution of votes, she finished with 3,751, comfortably ahead of Labour on 2,055.
This time the Lib Dems have chosen Peter Nicholson, now retired after a career in the law, who has lived in Fairmilehead with his wife for 25 years. He is the former chair of a local neighbourhood watch and is active in one of the local churches.
Tory candidate Neil Cuthbert stood in the ward in both the 2022 local elections and last November’s by-election. He lives in Fairmilehead and is director of a small PR agency.
Standing for Labour is Conor Savage, who comes from Wales but moved to Edinburgh as a student and now works in finance. He once stood for Plaid Cymru and was Lab's candidate in Orkney and Shetland at the general election in July.
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Hide AdThe SNP candidate is retired Open University lecturer Marianna Clyde, who stood last time. And the Greens are fielding Daniel Milligan, who also stood last time.
There are a total of 13 candidates standing, including Reform UK, the Scottish Family Party and six independents.
The by-election will use the Single Transferable Vote system, where voters rank the candidates 1, 2, 3 and so on in order of preference. The candidates who finish in the top two places after votes have been redistributed will be elected.
Polling stations will be open on Thursday, January 23, from 7am until 10pm and the counting of votes will take place the following day.
Full list of candidates
- Bonnie Prince Bob, Independent
- Mev Brown, Independent
- Mairianna Clyde, Scottish National Party (SNP)
- Neil Cuthbert, Scottish Conservative and Unionist
- David Henry, Independent
- Nick Hornig, Independent
- Grant Lidster, Reform UK
- Richard Crewe Lucas, Scottish Family Party
- Daniel Aleksanteri Milligan, Scottish Green
- Mark Ney-Party, Independent
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Hide Ad- Peter Alexander Nicholson, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Conor Savage, Scottish Labour Party
- Marc Wilkinson, Independent
Results last time
Louise Spence - Liberal Democrat 2,683
Neil Cuthbert - Consrvative 1,454
Sheila Gilmore - Labour 1,441
Mairianna Clyde - SNP 800
Daniel Milligan - Greens 393
Grant Lidster - Reform UK 268
Marc Wilkinson - Independent 173
David Henry - Independent 57
Richard Lucas - Scottish Family Party 51
Mev Brown - Independent 50
Bonnie Prince Bob - Independent 22
Tam Laird - Scottish Libertarian Party 9
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