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A by-election in the Moray constituency of the Scottish Parliament was held on 27 April 2006 following the death of the Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) Margaret Ewing on 21 March 2006, from breast cancer. [1] The seat was successfully defended by the SNP's Richard Lochhead, increasing the majority over the Scottish Conservative Party by 1073 votes.
Margaret Ewing had held the Holyrood seat since its creation in 1999, having previously represented the Moray constituency as a Westminster Member of Parliament (MP) since the 1987 United Kingdom general election. She had already announced that she would not be contesting the seat in the 2007 Scottish Parliament election. [2]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SNP | Richard Lochhead | 12,653 | 46.15 | +3.95 | |
Conservative | Mary Scanlon | 6,268 | 22.86 | +0.35 | |
Liberal Democrats | Linda Gorn | 5,310 | 19.37 | +7.20 | |
Labour | Sandy Keith | 2,696 | 9.83 | -9.28 | |
NHS First Party | Melville Brown | 493 | 1.80 | New | |
Majority | 6,385 | 23.3 | +3.6 | ||
Turnout | 27,420 | 45.7 | -0.6 | ||
SNP hold | Swing | +1.8 | |||
Richard Lochhead defended the seat for the Scottish National Party. [4] An additional-member MSP for the North East Scotland electoral region since 1999, he had already been selected to contest the seat for the SNP at the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, beating the incumbent's sister-in-law, former MP Annabelle Ewing. [5] He resigned his list seat to stand in the by-election.
Mary Scanlon, a Conservative MSP for the Highlands and Islands region (which includes Moray), resigned from her list seat to fight as the Conservative candidate. [4] Any sitting MSP intending to fight the by-election must first resign their current seat under section 9 of the Scotland Act.
The Labour candidate was Elgin councillor Sandy Keith. He saw his party's vote share fall in the by-election, resulting in increases for all the other parties.
The Liberal Democrat candidate was Linda Gorn, came fourth when she fought the seat in 2003 but improved her performance substantially in the by-election, moving to third place not far behind the Conservative candidate and increasing her share of the vote more than any other candidate.
The Scottish Socialist Party announced that they would not be entering a candidate. [6] They decided that they, in common with the Scottish Green Party, will concentrate on campaigning for regional list votes (Additional member system) at the next 2007 Scottish Parliament election.
Melville Brown, a former Conservative Party candidate for Edinburgh East, stood for the NHS First Party, the first time the party has contested an election. Brown is the party chairman. [7]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SNP | Margaret Ewing | 11,384 | 42.2 | +3.4 | |
Conservative | Tim Wood | 6,072 | 22.5 | −3.1 | |
Labour | Peter Peacock | 5,157 | 19.1 | −7.4 | |
Liberal Democrats | Linda Gorn | 3,283 | 12.2 | +3.1 | |
Scottish Socialist | Norma Anderson | 1,085 | 4.0 | New | |
Majority | 5,312 | 19.7 | +7.4 | ||
Turnout | 26,981 | 46.3 | |||
SNP hold | Swing | +3.3 | |||
The Conservative Party became embroiled in a row with two local independent councillors. Handwritten notes were sent out in their wards allegedly from the councillors, but the councillors subsequently denied having given permission for the letters to be used. [9]
The following week, a local newspaper, the Northern Scot, reported the Liberal Democrats to the Electoral Commission for attributing quotes in leaflets to the newspaper itself rather than to the specific Liberal Democrats whom the paper had been quoting. [10]
Both of the above were given widespread coverage in the Northern Scot newspaper.
In the final week of the by-election, Robbie Rowantree, the Conservative Party candidate for the neighbouring UK Parliament constituency of Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey in the 2005 general election, announced he was joining the Liberal Democrats. [11]
Fergus Stewart Ewing is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as the Scottish Government's Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy from 2016 to 2021, having previously held two junior ministerial posts. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since 1999: for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber from 1999 to 2011, and for Inverness and Nairn since 2011.
Margaret Anne Ewing was a Scottish politician and journalist. She served as a Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of Parliament for East Dunbartonshire from 1974 to 1979 and Moray from 1987 to 2001, and was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Moray from 1999 until 2006.
Annabelle Janet Ewing is a Scottish politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, alongside Liam McArthur, since May 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Cowdenbeath constituency since 2016, having previously been an MSP for the Mid Scotland and Fife region from 2011 to 2016.
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Richard Neilson Lochhead is a Scottish politician serving as the Minister for Small Business, Trade and Innovation since 2023. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he served as the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and Environment from 2007 to 2016. Lochhead has been a member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since 1999, first representing North East Scotland electoral region from 1999 to 2006, before representing the Moray constituency since 2006.
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