SNP concedes Aberdeen South with Scottish Conservatives set to win

Tories’ Douglas Lumsden says city has spoken ‘loud and clear’ in support of the North Sea oil and gas industry

The Scottish National party has lost the formerly safe seat of Aberdeen South in a shock loss to the Scottish Conservatives .

Douglas Lumsden beat the SNP’s Richard Thomson by 6,050 votes, with a 14.69% swing away towards the Scottish Tories, whose vote share was 49.51%. Lumsden’s vote tally was 14,308, with Thomson on 8,258. Jo Hart for Reform came a distant third with 2,478 votes. The turnout was just 38%.

In his victory speech, Lumsden said the people of the city had spoken “loud and clear” that the “destruction of the North Sea oil and gas industry must stop now”.

He added: “We said at the start of this campaign that it is a referendum on the oil and gas industry and the people of Aberdeen have given a resounding answer that we back the oil and gas industry.”

The Tories threw significant resources into the contest, with its UK party leader, Kemi Badenoch, visiting the constituency three times as they sought to make it a battle over increased North Sea oil and gas production .

Speaking after the vote, Badenoch claimed the result was about the “thousands of jobs in oil and gas across our country” as well as being about the future of the “entire city”. She said: “Yesterday, the people of Aberdeen sent a message on behalf of the whole country. Energy security is national security.

“They know it is common sense to use our own oil and gas rather than importing it from overseas. They know it is madness to make ourselves poorer, weaker and more dependent at a time when even the government’s own intelligence says we are under threat.

“The first duty of any government is to keep its people safe. The Conservative party will always put Britain’s security first.”

With tactical voting having likely played a part in the Tory victory, she said “many” who backed her party would have done so “because they care deeply about Aberdeen and its future”.

Posting on X, Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, said he was “very disappointed” to have lost the seat, adding that “tactical voting has had a real impact on the result”.

The SNP did hold on to Arbroath and Broughty Ferry in a separate byelection, with Lara Bird taking the seat vacated by Stephen Gethins who quit Westminster for Holyrood.

The SNP’s Stephen Flynn, who gave up the Aberdeen South seat in order to take a seat in Holyrood, wrote on social media: “A tough night in Aberdeen that some will need to reflect on, quite heavily.”

He added: “We lost Aberdeen South to the Tories in 2017, and we won it back two years later. I’ve no doubt that we can do so again. If we get things right.”

The byelection was called after Flynn stood down to take up a seat at the Scottish parliament in May. The law does not allow people to hold seats in the Scottish parliament and the House of Commons simultaneously. He had held Aberdeen South in the 2024 general election with a 3,758-vote majority.

The SNP’s defeat suggests some voters rebelled against the party over Peter Murrell’s theft of £400,000 in party funds while he was chief executive and married to Nicola Sturgeon, the former first minister.