THE SNP’s newest councillor has said it’s a “huge privilege” to serve his local community after a win at the expense of the ruling Tory party.
John Stuart was elected as the SNP’s representative for the Buckie ward on Moray council after three rounds of vote counting on Friday morning.
The council is currently a Tory minority administration run by nine Conservative councillors, but Stuart’s win also brings the SNP group to nine members.
Stuart picked up 48.6% of first preference votes (1172), storming ahead of Tory competitor Tim Eagle who only received 879 votes at the first stage.
By the third round, Stuart was only seven votes short of the 50% + one vote quota, and was announced as the winner.
Speaking after his win, the SNP councillor criticised the “shaky minority administration” in Moray and said the Tories failure to tackle the cost of living was starting to hit them at the ballot box.
He added: “This is a great victory and a huge privilege to now be serving the people of Buckie, where I have lived for nine years.
“Community issues matter, and I’ll be making sure that schools and vital public services are at the very top of the council’s priorities.
“The Tories - who now have a very shaky minority administration in Moray - failed here as it is their government at Westminster who are the architects of this cost-of-living crisis.
"It is the Tories policies and mismanagement of the economy that is making us all poorer - and so they will continue to pay at the ballot box across Scotland.
“As an SNP councillor I will work tirelessly to help the people through this winter, and I will continue to campaign for a more prosperous and fairer Scotland with independence.”
The Buckie by-election was called after LibDem councillor Christopher Price resigned from his role after 103 days.
He claimed that he found it difficult to manage his workload as a councillor combined with his Ministry of Defence job as a travel clerk.
Price and current councillors Sonya Warren, SNP, and Neil McLennan, former Tory and now an independent, were all sworn in without a vote as Buckie only has three seats.
However, the recent by-election saw five candidates competing for the seat, which the SNP won.
