Third time lucky! Recount confirms Lib Dems have won the seat covering Charles Kennedy's old constituency
It was lost a decade ago to the SNP following a bitter campaign which included revolting slurs by Nat figures against the previous incumbent, the hugely-popular Charles Kennedy.
But yesterday, the Lib Dems claimed back the seat which covers Mr Kennedy’s former constituency in the Highlands - in a stunning win seen as a moral, as well as an electoral, victory.
Businessman Angus MacDonald was finally declared Lib Dem MP for Inverness, Skye and Wester Ross at 6pm yesterday, after a third count of the votes.
It followed problems with the initial count in the early hours of Thursday, returning officer Derek Brown stating there had been a ‘discrepancy’ between the provisional number of votes counted, and the verified total at the end of that first count.
A recount failed to resolve the issue and a third count was ordered yesterday. Even before the result of that had been declared, SNP candidate Drew Hendry had conceded defeat to Mr MacDonald.
Angus MacDonald is has been confirmed as the Lib Dem MP for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire after beating the SNP
The Lib Dems have claimed back the seat which covers former Lid Dem leader Charles Kennedy’s former constituency in the Highlands
The Lib Dem candidate eventually won with a 2,160 majority after securing 18,159 votes.
The seat is a newly-created one from the former constituencies of Ross, Skye and Lochaber, which Mr Kennedy had held from 2005 to 2015, and neighbouring Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey.
Mr MacDonald was joined by Mr Kennedy’s son Donald on the campaign trail, with Donald backing him stating: ‘Angus cares passionately about this community.
‘He is exactly the sort of hardworking Highlander my dad would be delighted to see win this seat back for the Liberal Democrats.’
Speaking after yesterday’s win was finally confirmed, Scottish Lib Dems leader Alex Cole-Hamilton told us: ‘Today, my heart is in the Highlands.
‘In 2015, my party was all but wiped out but that was not the worst thing that happened to us that year because, a few weeks later, we lost Charles.
‘We loved him and we miss him, and it is fitting that the final act of this General Election sees his old seat returned to the Lib Dems and the care of Angus MacDonald – it is simply wonderful.’
The Lib Dems lost Mr Kennedy’s seat to Nationalists’ Ian Blackford in 2015 following a campaign mired in controversy.
It saw the Lib Dems accuse Mr Blackford of ‘dog whistling’ about the struggles with alcoholism experienced by their rival Mr Kennedy, a hugely popular figure in the area, and across Scotland and the UK as a whole.
He sadly passed away at the age of 55 just weeks after losing his seat.
Following that election, the convenor of the SNP’s Skye and Lochalsh branch resigned after having made abusive comments online about Mr Kennedy which included vile remarks about Mr Kennedy’s battle with alcohol.
The tweets were sent before Mr Kennedy’s death on June 1, 2015, which was caused by a major haemorrhage linked to alcoholism.
The official was reported to have sent more than 130 messages to Mr Kennedy before and immediately after the vote.
Yesterday’s Lib Dem win marks a remarkable turnaround for the party, and is a victory symbolic of their significant gains across the UK in this year’s election.
In 2019, the Lib Dems secured just 10% of the vote in the former Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey constituency.
It was comfortably won by Mr Hendry, with 26,247 votes, with Lib Dem candidate Robert Rixson trailing in third place with 5,846 votes.
Mr Kennedy's son Donald supported Mr MacDonald during his campaign, saying he was the type of man his dad would liked to have seen win it
At the same election, the SNP’s Ian Blackford retained his seat in the nearby Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency, securing double the number of votes of his nearest rival, Lib Dem Craig Harrow.
The win yesterday in the newly-created constituency takes the Lib Dems’ UK tally of seats to 71, up 60 on the 11 they returned at the 2019 General Election.
The result equates to an increase in more than 500 per cent in their number of MPs and is the party’s best-ever election result.
Nat Mr Hendry had been seen by many as likely to retain the seat but fell foul of a sea-change in opinion against his party.
Opponents also cited a string of SNP policy failures which have sparked accusations of a central belt bias and ignorance of issues affecting outlying areas of Scotland.
It includes a lack of investment or timely delivery on key elements such as roads and transport infrastructure, as well as the disastrous Short-Term Let legislation, designed to clamp down on property rental problems in cities, but which has instead forced B&Bs and self-caterers out of business in Scotland’s most remote and economically-vulnerable areas.
Michael Foxley, former leader of Highland Council, said of new MP Mr MacDonald: ‘He has campaigned for the past two years on important local issues in Skye and Lochaber: a new Belford hospital, lack of care home beds, trunk road improvements and the Corran ferry.’
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