The 2019 Shetland by-election was held on 29 August 2019 to elect a

Member of the Scottish Parliament Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; gd, Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, BPA; sco, Memmer o the Scots Pairliament, MSP) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The ad ...

(MSP) for the constituency of

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

. It was held following the resignation of Liberal Democrat MSP Tavish Scott upon taking a new role at Scottish Rugby. The Liberal Democrats held the seat, with

Beatrice Wishart Beatrice Wishart (born 1955 or 1956) is a Scottish Liberal Democrats politician who has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Shetland since 2019. Wishart currently serves as education spokesperson for her party, and has a seat ...

being elected for the party.

Candidates

The Liberal Democrats' Beatrice Wishart was deputy convener of the Shetland Islands Council. The

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

fielded Shetland-born Tom Wills, an engineer with an offshore renewables company. Two Shetland Islands Council members, Ian Scott and Ryan Thomson, ran as independent candidates. A former Shetland Islands Council member, Michael Stout, also ran as an independent candidate. 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.

Result

Previous result

References

Shetland 2019 Shetland by-election 2010s elections in Scotland Shetland by-election Politics of Shetland Shetland by-election {{Shetland-stub