Angus Robertson, the Scottish National party’s leader at Westminster, has been elected deputy leader of the party, calling on all members to begin campaigning for a second independence referendum immediately.
Describing himself as “bowled over” by the result, Robertson told more than 3,000 delegates gathered in Glasgow for the first day of the SNP’s autumn conference: “We are very close to independence and we must start campaigning right now.”
Robertson emerged as an early favourite in the contest and was considered the establishment candidate. On the gradualist wing of the party, his profile has risen significantly over the past year thanks to confident performances at prime ministers’ questions, often in the face of lacklustre efforts by Labour.
Robertson’s closest challenger, fellow MP Tommy Sheppard, is a former Labour council leader who is one of the many thousands who joined the party after the 2014 referendum. Sheppard’s campaign focused on the needs of the radically expanded SNP membership.
The contest was triggered in May after the Dundee East MP Stewart Hosie stood down as deputy following the revelation of an extra-marital affair.
The result, which was decided in a ballot of the SNP’s 116,000 members, gave 52.5% of first preference votes to Robertson, with Sheppard taking 25.53%, the MEP Alyn Smith 18.6% and the Inverclyde councillor Chris McEleny 3.38%.
Speaking of the need to empower members to “reach out to the 55% who voted no [in 2014]”, Robertson said: “The SNP is the most effective political party in the country. Our strength comes from our members, branches, local grassroots campaigning and partnership with councillors and parliamentarians.”
He described his election as a “tremendous honour” and praised the other candidates for contributing to a “model election campaign”.
