SCOTTISH Labour have won a council by-election held to replace a former Scottish Labour councillor who has been jailed on paedophilia charges.
West Dunbartonshire Council, which is Labour-run, held a by-election in the Clydebank Central ward on Thursday June 13 in order to replace the disgraced former representative Craig Edwards.
Edwards resigned his seat on the council in March after he pleaded guilty to hoarding hundreds of indecent images of children. He had initially refused to resign despite the charges, sitting as an independent.
Sheriff William Gallacher said the images "plumb the depths of depravity and abuse".
In the small hours of Friday, the council announced the result of the by-election to replace him.
Scottish Labour’s Fiona Hennebry was declared the winner at stage four of the count of the single transferable vote election. She won 1425 votes.
The results are in! Fiona Hennebry, of Scottish Labour has been elected as the new Councillor for the Clydebank Central ward, elected at stage four with 1425 votes. pic.twitter.com/O50wuaiRRg
— West Dunbartonshire Council (@WDCouncil) June 14, 2024
Hennebry beat her own nephew, Nathan Hennebry, who was standing for the Communist Party of Britain, to win the seat.
She also came in ahead of Marina Scanlan from the SNP, Ewan McGinnigle for the Scottish Conservatives, Kai Robert Murray Pyper for the Scottish LibDems, Kelly Wilson for Sovereignty, and independent candidate Andrew Joseph Muir.
Hennebry will now join the other three councillors who currently represent the ward: Independent Diane Docherty, Labour’s Clare Steel, and the SNP’s Sophie Traynor.
The number of votes cast was 2845, from an electorate of 11,702. This means the turnout was 24.3%.
Highland Council also held a by-election on Thursday, for the Tain and Easter Ross ward, which was won by an independent candidate.
