The Scottish National Party claimed a major win at the Perth & Kinross council elections and pulled ahead of the Conservatives at the final ward.
The Tories were formerly the biggest on the council, but they took several hits as the results emerged.
The party lost three seats from the 2017 election, dropping to just 14 out of 40 possible seats on the council.
It left the SNP as the largest party with 16 elected councillors – one gain on the last election.
Grant Laing is now putting his hat in the ring to become the leader of the SNP group in Perth and Kinross.
He has already spoken to some of the parties about working together.
And he offered to speak to any party that wants to discuss a coalition.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats, who won four seats, say they are open to working with other parties.
Local Lib Dem leader Peter Barrett said they will look to see what common ground and priorities they share with the other parties over the next week or so.
Lord Provost defeated
As well as elation from the SNP, there were some shock wins and losses in individual wards.
In the Strathmore ward former provost Dennis Melloy failed to be re-elected, despite winning 1,009 of the first preference votes.
In the same ward Colin Stewart was re-elected with 1,174. Colin was previously elected as a Tory councillor, but this time he chose to stand as an independent.
He was congratulated by members from various parties following his win.
Independent candidate Xander McDade, who was first elected in 2017 aged just 23, previously warned he would not run again due to ageism within the council.
However he was successfully re-elected to the Highland ward once more with 977 votes.
This year the youngest candidate to join Perth and Kinross Council is just 21-years-old.
Noah Khogali won in the Strathearn ward for the Conservatives with 1,337 votes and was accompanied by his father and grandfather to cheer him on.
Speaking afterwards he said he wants to highlight the voices of young people and make local democracy more accessible to younger activists.
Where are all the women?
Of the 40 seats up for grabs in the Perth and Kinross elections, just six were won by women.
Some in the crowd even remarked when two women won in Perth City South – Liz Barrett and Sheila McCole – that at least some more females were being added to the final list of councillors.
As the final wards were announced, the SNP and the Tories remained neck and neck separated by only one or two candidates at most.
Labour, who previously only held one seat on the council, managed to gain a surprise second seat in Perth City North – the second last ward to be announced.
Cheers erupted across the SNP crowd as their path to a coalition majority became a firm possibility.
The final results for Perth and Kinross were:
- SNP – 16
- Conservatives – 14
- Liberal Democrats – 4
- Labour – 2
- Independent – 4
Responding to the outcome, deputy first minister John Swinney – a Perthshire MSP – said: “I am absolutely delighted with the result here in Perth and Kinross.
“The SNP has emerged as the largest party in Perth and Kinross, reversing the outcome of five years ago with 16 seats.
“It is a huge result for the SNP and a huge increase in votes and the Conservatives have been put into second place, so absolutely thrilled with the result.”
ANALYSIS: Politics reporter Rachel Amery on the race for Perth and Kinross
It was tight, and in the end it hinged on Labour, a party which traditionally hasn’t done very well in Perth and Kinross.
Since 2017, Alasdair Bailey has been the only Labour councillor in the area, but Brian Leishman caused some upset by winning in Perth City North, taking a seat from the Conservatives.
And that Labour win left the door open for the SNP to take the lead.
Our predictions before the election took place did have the SNP coming out as the most popular party, but only by a seat or two.
It reflected the national mood. People were just not voting for the Conservatives in such big numbers because of Boris Johnson’s partygate fines.
