Helensburgh councillor 'delighted' at EU election result

Aileen Morton, who represents the Helensburgh Central ward and is also the leader of Argyll and Bute Council, said she was "delighted" that the party's "strong message" on EU membership saw the Lib Dems' vote increase across the UK.

Locally the picture was not quite so positive – the party finished third behind the SNP and the Brexit Party in Argyll and Bute, with 5,019 votes, but saw its share of the constituency vote fall by 2.4 per cent compared to the last European poll in 2014.

But the party's performance across Scotland as a whole – where it again finished third behind the SNP and the Brexit Party – saw a significant improvement on five years ago, with its share of the vote going up by almost 7 per cent, resulting in Sheila Ritchie being elected as one of the country's six MEPs.

UK-wide, the Lib Dems came second behind the Brexit Party, with voters returning a total of 16 Liberal Democrat MEPs.

Cllr Morton told the Advertiser: “The results across the UK have shown a real surge of support for the Liberal Democrats.

“We were really clear as a party that this was an opportunity for people to send a message and I’m delighted that it was such a strong message.

“I’m confident that Sheila Ritchie will be an excellent MEP and hope that she remains in the European Parliament for the full five years of her term, working with liberals from across Europe to make a difference to people’s lives.”

Across Argyll and Bute, the SNP finished well clear of its rivals with 37 per cent of the vote, with the Brexit Party on almost 18 per cent.

The Conservatives were fourth, with the Scottish Greens fifth and Labour a distant sixth with less than 1,200 votes.