2017 Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire by-election

The 2017 Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire by-election was a by-election held on 8 June 2017 for the Scottish Parliament constituency of Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire. It was triggered by the resignation of John Lamont.

Background

Conservative politician John Lamont was elected as MSP for the constituency at the 2016 election, having first been elected in 2007. Lamont announced on 25 April 2017 that he would be standing in the 2017 UK general election and submitted his resignation as MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire with effect from 4 May, which triggered a by-election.^[1] Ken Macintosh, the Presiding Officer scheduled the by-election for 8 June, the same date as the UK general election.^[2]

Four candidates were nominated: Conservative Rachael Hamilton, Gail Hendry for the Scottish National Party, Sally Prentice for Labour and Catriona Bhatia for the Liberal Democrats.^[3] Hamilton, who had been a regional MSP for South Scotland, resigned her seat in advance of the by-election.^[4]

Result

The Scottish Conservatives held the seat with an increased majority.

2017 Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire by-election^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rachael Hamilton	20,658	53.55	−1.65
	SNP	Gail Hendry	11,320	29.34	−2.46
	Labour	Sally Prentice	3,406	8.83	+3.53
	Liberal Democrats	Catriona Bhatia	3,196	8.28	+0.58
Majority			9,338	24.21	+1.8
Turnout			38,580	69.8[6]
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.4

2016 election result

Scottish Parliament election, 2016: Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire [7]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Y John Lamont		18,257	55.2	+10.3	15,452	46.65	+15.16
	SNP	Paul Wheelhouse		10,521	31.8	+5.4	10,068	30.40	-4.45
	Liberal Democrats	Jim Hume		2,551	7.7	-9.6	2,851	8.61	-6.14
	Labour	Barrie Cunning		1,766	5.3	-5.0	2,251	6.80	-4.23
	Scottish Green						1,481	4.47	+1.11
	UKIP						771	2.33	+0.66
	Independent						112
	RISE						68
	Solidarity						67
Informal votes				88			68
Total valid votes				33,095			33,121
	Conservative hold		Majority	7,736	23.4	+4.9