Scottish Labour claim big Kilwinning by-election win
Triumph for former headteacher Mary Hume
Last updated 10th May 2024
Labour’s Mary Hume has won the Kilwinning by-election.
The former headteacher claimed her seat on North Ayrshire Council following a comfortable victory in the ward.
Ms Hume was declared the winner amid an electronic count in Nethermains Community Centre following a vote held on Thursday, 9th May.
She received 2,171 first preference votes during the single transferable vote system, finishing ahead of the SNP's Sheila Gibson, who took 916 first preference votes, with the Scottish Conservative candidate Chris Lawler in third with 619.
After the triumph, Ms Hume admitted she will give her full attention to the people of Kilwinning.
She said: “This is just perfect for me, I am so excited. I am just blown away by the result.
“I feel really privileged that the people of Kilwinning have done what they said on the doorstep because you never know if people will actually turn out.
“But they have turned out and they have put their faith and their trust in me, and I just promise I won’t let them down.”
The by-election was triggered after the passing of Conservative Councillor John Glover.
Cllr Glover’s death left both the Conservatives and Labour with nine councillors each, leaving no outright opposition to the SNP’s 12 councillors.
But now, with Ms Hume’s election, Labour will take their place as the main opposition on North Ayrshire Council.
Senior Conservative member David Rocks said: “Congratulations to Labour, it is a Labour-heavy ward and their voters turned out.
“Percentage-wise, it looks like most of our voters turned out, so it looks like the Conservative vote is holding up.
“We are very sad to have lost the seat because John was a dear friend, and he did well to hold the seat last time.
“But the odds were against us and we just wanted to hold up and it looks like it did that. So thank you to those who voted Conservative.”
A talking point throughout the campaigns was residents feeling their town had missed out on capital investment projects similar to that of other nearby areas.
The SNP administration has largely been blamed for this decision, although fellow Kilwinning councillor for the party rejected this notion.
He said: “The capital investment budget that Labour are saying about, they never contested it.
“That would have been the time to make a difference about it. Moaning about it afterwards perhaps isn’t the best look.
“The capital investment is an ongoing thing and everybody knows that, but it was the thing that was on their (Labour) leaflets.”