2019 Shetland by-election

The 2019 Shetland by-election was held on 29 August 2019 to elect a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the constituency of Shetland.^[1] It was held following the resignation of Liberal Democrat MSP Tavish Scott upon taking a new role at Scottish Rugby.^[2][3] The Liberal Democrats held the seat, with Beatrice Wishart being elected for the party.^[4]

Candidates

The Liberal Democrats' Beatrice Wishart was deputy convener of the Shetland Islands Council.^[5][6] The Scottish National Party fielded Shetland-born Tom Wills, an engineer with an offshore renewables company.^[5] Two Shetland Islands Council members, Ian Scott and Ryan Thomson, ran as independent candidates.^[7] A former Shetland Islands Council member, Michael Stout, also ran as an independent candidate.^[8]

Campaign

The campaign was hard-fought; the SNP spent £100,000 on the by-election - more money than the party spent during the entire EU referendum - and there was a swing of over 14% to their candidate.^[9]

Result

2019 Shetland by-election^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Beatrice Wishart	5,659	47.86	−19.52
	SNP	Tom Wills	3,822	32.32	+9.27
	Independent	Ryan Thomson	1,286	10.88	New
	Conservative	Brydon Goodlad	425	3.59	−0.07
	Scottish Green	Debra Nicolson	189	1.60	New
	Labour	Johan Adamson	152	1.29	−4.61
	Independent	Michael Stout	134	1.13	New
	Independent	Ian Scott	66	0.56	New
	UKIP	Stuart Martin	60	0.51	New
	Independent	Peter Tait	31	0.26	New
Majority			1,837	15.54	−28.76
Turnout			11,824	66.39	+4.31
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	−14.40

Previous result

Tavish Scott

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Shetland^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Tavish Scott	7,440	67.4	+19.9
	SNP	Danus Skene	2,545	23.1	+11.0
	Labour	Robina Barton	651	5.9	−0.7
	Conservative	Cameron Smith	405	3.7	+0.2
Majority			4,895	44.3	+27.1
Turnout			11,041
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing