The Scottish National Party in Moray are celebrating a second by-election victory in a matter of months after they stormed to a convincing win in Buckie.
Sonya Warren took the Moray Council seat polling 1485 of the votes against the 696 who preferred Independent candidate Norman Calder. The Scottish Conservative candidate Tim Eagle trailed a distance third with just 315 votes.
Mrs Warren’s victory sees another change in the balance of power at Moray Council, where the Independent administration now has 10 seats and the support of one Tory, convener of the Council Allan Wright.
The SNP are now the largest single party on 11 seats while there are two ‘official’ Tory seats and two held by the Scottish Labour party. The Buckie by-election was called after the death of Independent councillor Joe Mackay in January.
Reaction to today’s result will appear on insideMoray tomorrow.