Campaign spending for the Conservative runner-up in May’s Scottish Parliament election in the Stirling constituency amounted to £6000-plus more than the SNP winner.
Dean Lockhart, who received 12,987 votes spent a total of £17,388.68 on his campaign while victor Evelyn Tweed, with 19,882 votes – a 6875 majority over her opponent – spent a total of £11,000.82.
Candidates’ election spending returns are split into a ‘long-’ and ‘short-’ campaign period – covering a period from January 6, 2021, until becoming a candidate at the end of March, and spending thereafter until polling day.
Mr Lockhart spent £8555.47 during his short campaign and £8833.21 during the long campaign, while Ms Tweed spent £9744.91 during the short campaign and £1255.91 during the long one.
Mr Lockhart said: “This was a strong result for the Scottish Conservatives as we increased our share of the vote by four percentage points compared to 2016 and established ourselves as the only challengers to the SNP in the Stirling constituency.’
“I would like to put on record my thanks to my agent, volunteers and the Stirling and Clackmannanshire Conservative and Unionist Association for their support during this most challenging of campaigns.”
He added: “Due to restrictions in place during the campaign periods this election was always going to be a unique experience with limited face-to-face voter contact and meant that other methods of campaigning had to be used.”
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Ms Tweed commented: “I was completely blown away by the generosity of supporters during my election campaign, as they donated much appreciated time, energy and funds to the cause.
“The pandemic of course meant this election was planned and organised differently to previous years, with a greater focus on online messaging and communications. “
The Stirling MSP went on: “The general response to our social media presence was extremely positive, and I was happy to put my shoulder to the collective wheel to share the SNP’s positive vision for Stirling and Scotland.”
Advertising amounted to £5628.52 of Evelyn Tweed’s short campaign election spending of £9744.91. This advertising spend included £1234.27 on Facebook adverts.
Her long spending was £1255.91, comprising £218.31 in advertising – of that £182.31 was Facebook.
Unsolicited material to electors amounted to £3716.46 during the short campaign and £952.60 during the long campaign.
Mr Lockhart’s long spending comprised £1742.82 in advertising which included £159.81 (non-constituency social media) and £426.33 (local social media).
He spent £806.05 in advertising during the short campaign, which included non-constituency social media and local social media.
Unsolicited material to electors was £5889.42 during the long campaign period and £5453.13 in the short campaign period.
Labour candidate Chris Kane, who took 6556 votes, spent a total of £3656 during the short campaign period – £596 on advertising, £3015 on leafleting to the electorate and £45 on a Zoom subscription.
Nothing was declared under the long campaign period.
Liberal Democrat candidate Fayzan Rehman, who received 1466 votes, spent £1457.79 during the short campaign period and £86.23 during the long campaign period.
This £86.23 was spent on advertising, which amounted to £13.79 during the short campaign. Unsolicited material to electors for the short campaign was £1444.00.
- There is no requirement to report donations received in the long campaign, but candidates must report details of donations for the short campaign.
Ms Tweed received donations amounting to £9744.91 – £6669.91 from the Stirling Constituency SNP branch and £3075 in donations from 18 individuals.
Mr Lockhart’s donations comprised £3934.76 from the Scottish Conservatives in Edinburgh and £4620.71 from Stirling and Clackmannanshire Conservative and Unionist Association, Stirling.
Mr Kane received £1770 from Stirling Constituency Labour Party and £1885 from the Scottish Labour Party in Glasgow.
Mr Rehman’s donations of £3923.79 came from Stirling and Clackmannanshire Liberal Democrats (Edinburgh) and Scottish Liberal Democrats (Edinburgh).
