Reform miss Banffshire and Buchan Coast target as SNP scrape win

Party candidate Conrad Ritchie came second in Banffshire and Buchan Coast with 33.9 per cent of the vote - just 364 votes behind SNP candidate Karen Adam, who held the seat for the nationalists with 10,374 votes.

In 2021, Ms Adam won the seat by a similarly narrow margin - just 772 votes.

Newly-elected Ms Adam said she was “absolutely delighted” to return to Holyrood, but that she is “reflective” on the slim victory.

Mr Ritchie, a well-known businessman in Peterhead, was widely regarded as Reform UK’s best hope of breaking through in the North East constituency seats.

He previously stood for Reform UK in an Aberdeenshire council by-election and used to support the Tories before switching his allegiance.

The race between Reform UK for Banffshire and Buchan coast had been especially tight, with other target seats in the region including Aberdeen Donside. Here, Reform candidate Claudia Leith came second with 7,029 votes (23.0 per cent), pushing Conservatives into third place.

SNP’s Jackie Dunbar held Aberdeen Donside with 11,760 votes (38.6 per cent).

READ MORE: John Swinney poised to shun Reform MSPs at Holyrood if SNP returned to power

Ahead of the count, Reform’s Aberdeenshire West candidate Jo Hart said she was proud of her party’s role as “disruptors” but acknowledged that existing loyalties could pose a problem.

Ms Hart said: “You know I sit here and think look where we’ve come — Reform as a party — in two years. They’ve stood in the general election in the Banff coast in 2024, new kids on the block and I think what we’ve achieved in two years has been really exciting.

“I think politics needed a shake up. We needed to give the legacy parties a little bit of a boot, if you like. I would like to see parties actually doing what the constituents and the electorate want. I think we’ve kind of got a bit complicit.

“We’ve come in as disruptors, that’s what I’ll say.”

Ms Hart came third in the Aberdeenshire West with 5,463 votes - or 14.8 per cent of the vote.

The constiuency was won by Conservative Alexander Burnett - who has held the seat since 2016 - with 15,987 votes (42.9 per cent). SNP’s Fatima Joji came in second place after polling 10,133 votes (27.3 per cent).

Reform UK chiefs coalesced in the North East in the run up to Thursday’s vote and pushed their “very strong case for a pragmatic energy policy” to an area rich with industry workers.

The party’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, and Scottish leader Malcolm Offord held a rally at the Northwood Hall Hotel in Garthdee.

There, Mr Tice said securing the future of the oil and gas industry would be one of their main priorities if Reform UK was returned to power in Scotland.