The SNP have been dealt a blow in a by-election in the Borders losing a seat on the local council to the Conservatives.

Tory candidate John Bathgate took a massive 58.5% of the vote to win the Jedburgh and District seat on Scottish Borders Council.

The party saw its share of the vote rise by 8.2% on the 2022 council election result, while the SNP’s vote share dropped by 5.7%.

Mr Bathgate polled almost 1,000 first preference votes more than his SNP rival - Phil Dixon.

But less than a third of the 7,232 people eligible to vote turned out.

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The Conservatives now hold all three seats in the multi-member ward, with Councillor Scott Hamilton and Councillor Sandy Scott remaining in post.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said the victory was "further proof that in swathes of parliamentary seats across Scotland only the Scottish Conservatives can beat the SNP."

He said: “My congratulations go to John Bathgate as our party’s newest councillor after his terrific by-election win.

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“John ran a fantastic campaign and I know he will be an excellent councillor and a strong voice for Jedburgh and District on Scottish Borders Council.

 “This superb gain for the Scottish Conservatives shows that in swathes of seats across the country, only we can stand up to the SNP and shift the focus on to Scotland’s real priorities – like growing the economy and sorting out our ailing public services.

 “This council ward falls into the Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk parliamentary seat. This is a constituency, like many across Scotland, which will be a straight fight between the SNP and the Scottish Conservatives, who are standing up for rural Scotland.”

The by-election was triggered after SNP councillor Pam Brown stood down for health reasons on November 23.

She was elected in 2022 to represent the Jedburgh and District ward on the local authority.
The council is currently run by a Conservative-Independent coalition, while SNP makes up the biggest opposition group with nine councillors.

The results of the Jedburgh and District by-election is as follows (changes from 2022 in brackets): Scottish Conservative – 1,377, 58.5% (+8.2); SNP – 410, 17.4% (-5.7); Labour – 241, 10.2%; Lib Dems – 166, 7.1%; Greens – 135, 5.7% (-1.4).

The Conservative victory will be disappointing for the SNP who are campaigning to oust all six Scottish Conservative MPs at the general election later this year.

No date has yet been set for polling day, but in January Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said it was his "working assumption" that it would be in the second half of the year.

Councillor Elaine Thornton-Nicol, leader of the SNP group at Scottish Borders Council, said: "Taking into account everything that's going on around us, I find it incredibly hard to believe that people continue to vote for parties that are destroying lives on a daily basis through the cost of living crisis."

But she added: "It is about democracy."

The council by-election was held yesterday with votes counted this morning at Scottish Borders Council headquarters in Newtown St Boswells.