Lib Dems hold off SNP surge to win Shetland by-election

Beatrice Wishart becomes first ever woman to represent the island constituency

The remote Shetland Islands have voted Liberal at virtually every election for two centuries (iStock)

The Liberal Democrats have held on to their Shetland seat in the Scottish Parliament, fending off a strong SNP challenge in a by-election.

The Lib Dem candidate Beatrice Wishart won with 5,659 votes, not far ahead of the nationalists’ 3,822, a 14.4 per cent swing away from the Lib Dems.

Jo Swinson, the UK leader of the Lib Dems, has hailed the election of the first woman to represent the island seat.

“Together we’ll fight to keep Scotland in the UK & to stop Brexit, because we’re better off staying in the EU as a strong family of nations,” she tweeted.

But the leader of the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon, praised her party for slashing the Lib Dem majority in what was Scotland’s safest constituency.

At the last Holyrood election in 2016, the previous Lib Dem MSP Tavish Scott won a 44 per cent majority, the largest by percentage in the country.

He triggered the by-election by standing down from the Scottish Parliament to take up a new job with Scottish Rugby.

Ms Wishart said she was honoured to “to make a little bit of history by becoming the first female parliamentarian in Shetland” after the “roller coaster” campaign.

“Shetland has once again rejected Scottish nationalism and shown that it has not been taken in by the bullying tactics.

“My work will start on Monday to get the Scottish Government to take action on its empty promises for fair ferry funding, to improve nursery provision, mental health care, broadband – the key strands of my positive campaign for Shetland.”

Her SNP opponent Tom Wills said he was proud to have run Ms Wishart close. “We take every election seriously and made a point of trying to speak to as many voters in Shetland as possible – and what this extraordinary result shows it that every seat in Scotland is now winnable for the SNP.”

Alistair Carmichael, the Lib Dem Westminster MP for Orkney and Shetland, mocked the SNP for failing to win the by-election despite pouring resources into the seat.

“This must be a bitter disappointment for the Scottish Nationalists. Just last week Nicola Sturgeon was here for her third visit in a month, telling us it was going to be neck and neck.

“If that was neck and neck, all I can say is that’s some neck.”

Shetland has only failed to elect a Liberal representatives three times in the last two centuries, and also recorded one of the largest votes against independence in the 2014 referendum.

However, it voted 56.5 per cent for Remain in the Brexit referendum, lower than the average across Scotland of 62 per cent.

The two other main UK parties were never in the running: the Conservatives only won 425 votes to finish in fourth place, while Labour’s candidate was in sixth with 152 votes.