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UKIP loses deposit in by-election

The SNP has held Aberdeen Donside in the Scottish parliamentary by-election. But the UKIP candidate lost his deposit after polling 4% of the vote.

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Salmond 'delighted UKIP failed to retain deposit'

SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond congratulated Mr McDonald on a "fantastic SNP win", adding he would be a "first-class representative for the people of Donside".

Midway into our second term of government and we have comfortably retained a seat which Labour once held. Their failure to make significant progress is a major setback. This is a very bad result for Labour - after six years of opposition, they show no sign of being anything more than an opposition party.

I am also delighted that UKIP failed to retain their deposit. They have never saved a single deposit in Scotland, which once again demonstrates a clear divergence between Scottish and Westminster politics.

Winning seat 'protects legacy' of late MSP Brian Adam

Mark McDonald was elected as an MSP in the by-election. Credit: PA Wire

The by-election was held following the death in April of Nationalist MSP Brian Adam, who had been suffering from cancer.

Mark McDonald said that by winning the seat he had "protected the legacy of the late Brian Adam, who was a great mentor to me and a great friend of mine".

He added: "We worked hard, we put up a good campaign on the issues that mattered to the people of Aberdeen Donside. We wanted to make sure we protected the legacy of Brian Adam.

"Our objective was to win the seat, now we've won the seat the hard work starts."

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SNP majority falls by more than 5,000 votes

The Scottish National Party has won the Aberdeen Donside by-election, but with a greatly reduced majority.

Mark McDonald won the seat after polling 9,814 votes, just over 2,000 more than the Labour candidate who was his nearest rival in the contest.

However the SNP's majority fell by more than 5,000 votes from the result in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election.

  • Mark McDonald (SNP) 9,814
  • Willie Young (Labour) 7,789
  • Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat) 1,940
  • Ross Thomson (Conservative) 1,791
  • Otto Inglis (UKIP) 1,128
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