THEY may have fallen just short of a majority in the Scottish Parliament, but the SNP swept the boards in all three Edinburgh constituencies that were counted and declared yesterday.
Ash Denham, Ben Macpherson and Gordon MacDonald comfortably held Edinburgh Eastern, Edinburgh Northern and Leith and Edinburgh Pentlands respectively.
The SNP victories across the Lothians meant they gained no list MSPs for the region, but that meant three Conservatives, three Labour and two Scottish Greens were elected.
In the last result to be declared, Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater and her colleague, sitting MSP Alison Johnstone, were both elected on the Lothian regional list.
Slater has been praised for her personal campaigning in this election, including a sparkling contribution to a televised leader’s debate.
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All the results were as forecast by the pundits. On the day, the biggest excitement came when it was revealed that Police Scotland were investigating a case of possible electoral fraud in Edinburgh Northern and Leith. Apparently a would-be voter was stopped as someone had already used his or her ballot paper – then again, as count officials admitted, it might just have been a clerical error.
No question, however, about the completely foregone conclusions, with the SNP taking all three seats counted yesterday to add to Angus Robertson’s return to the political front line with his victory in Edinburgh Central, the former seat of soon-to-be Baroness Ruth Davidson.
Four seats in the capital city is a tremendous return for the SNP’s efforts, especially as there is no doubt that a huge amount of Unionist tactical voting took place to return Liberal Democrat Alex Cole-Hamilton in Edinburgh Western and Labour’s Daniel Johnson in Edinburgh Southern.
The trouble with socially distanced counts – it must be said that returning officer Andrew Kerr and all his staff and the police did a tremendous job in adapting to the Covid-19 circumstances – is that the slightest piece of gossip becomes a rumour and at one point it was being reported that the Tories might be mounting more of a challenge in Edinburgh Pentlands.
That was soon quashed, however, when the SNP’s MacDonald trounced his Conservative and Unionist opponent Gordon Lindhurst.
MacDonald (below) won with 16,227 votes, up from 13,181 in 2016, while Lindhurst finished second with 12,330 votes. That was an increased Tory vote from 10,725 in 2016. but clearly the Tory message about tactical voting to stop the SNP did not resonate with the good folk of the Pentlands.
Scottish Labour candidate Lezley Cameron was a distant third with 6998 votes, and in fourth came the LibDem candidate Fraser Graham, who received 2213 votes. The Scottish Family Party’s Richard Lucas was a dismal last with just 462 votes. Turnout was a healthy 64.89%.
MacDonald was making his own bit of history as he explained: “I’m deeply honoured to be returned for the third time – something no other party has achieved since devolution began in this constituency.
“When I was elected in 2011, I was determined to provide the best service I could for my constituents, no matter how they voted – I could not deliver that service without the support of my staff. I thank you all for your hard work on behalf of my constituents.
“Scotland is on a journey and today the people of Edinburgh Pentlands have spoken. The turnout in the constituency is the highest since 1999, and the number of votes for the SNP is the highest ever.
“What is more remarkable is that this was achieved in atrocious weather, which would normally reduce turnout, but the people wanted their voice heard.
“This included young voters voting for the first time, new Scots, and asylum seekers given a voice. You have all spoken loud and clear – we will have that referendum.
“It is the democratic wish of the people that they should have a choice over Scotland’s future. When the time is right we will complete that unfinished business that we failed to complete in 2014.
“The world is watching and Scotland wants to join the family of nations – it’s just a matter of time.”
Asked if Alba had made a difference locally, MacDonald replied simply: “No. I am just sorry that the whole sorry saga began because it was starting to undermine our message.
“The problem I have at the back of my mind is Quebec, where they had a referendum and then they had a referendum a few years later and they achieved 49.5 of the vote.
“I don’t want that position in Scotland. We can’t walk any faster than the pace that the people want.”
Even more emphatic was the victory of Denham (above) in Edinburgh Eastern. She beat Labour’s Bill Cook by more than 10,000 votes on a turnout of 60.99%. She said: “This has been a very tough year, but I believe a better future is ahead of us.
“The people of Edinburgh Eastern have spoken, the people of Scotland have spoken, and Westminster must now listen because Scotland’s future must be Scotland’s choice.”
Denham, a junior minister in the Scottish Government, said the both-votes SNP approach had worked and said that falling short of a majority would not necessarily affect the case for a second independence referendum.
She said: “We are in a unitary state. It’s based on consent, at least that’s what we are told, so if the UK Tories are saying there is no legal or democratic way to get consent [for a referendum] then I don’t believe that’s a sustainable position.”
Macpherson said his victory was an “overwhelming endorsement” of his record locally, as well as the SNP’s performance in government and its manifesto pledges.
Macpherson won with 22,443 votes, an increased share of the vote and some 11,569 more than second-placed Katrina Faccenda, of Scottish Labour.
SLATER came third with 6116 and her higher public profile saw the Greens take 13.1% of the vote in the seat in which they did not stand in 2016.
Macpherson said the SNP wanted to deliver a “green and just recovery” from the pandemic and then push forward with plans for another independence referendum.
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A clearly emotional Macpherson said: “The First Minister’s been clear that once the emergency and the very acute part of the pandemic response has passed and we’re starting to recover as a society, yes, of course we must have that choice in our future because we’ve been taken out of the European Union, against our will.
“We have a UK Government that has very, very, very little support in Scotland. We want to build a progressive socially democratic society in Scotland, and there’s a Conservative government in the UK.”
In the nicest touch of an often fraught and occasionally nasty election, Macpherson paid tribute to his Greens opponent Slater, wishing her all the best for her future career – and two hours later she was indeed elected to the Holyrood Parliament.
Though they took no constituencies in Edinburgh, the Conservatives performed as expected on the regional list.
Miles Briggs MSP said: “I am delighted that we have returned three MSPs in the Lothians.”
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