Scottish Tory MSP Douglas Lumsden has won the Aberdeen South by-election taking the seat from the SNP.
Around half an hour before the result was called, the SNP conceded defeat with a senior source saying it is the “Tories’ night”, but pledging to “win it back in 2029”.
The contest was triggered when former SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn quit as MP after winning a seat at Holyrood last month.
Lumsden has been elected to the House of Commons, defeating former SNP MP Richard Thomson and Reform UK candidate Jo Hart.
He is a former co-leader of Aberdeen City Council and a list MSP who announced his intention to seek the nomination just hours after being sworn in for his second term at Holyrood.
The win is the first time the Conservatives have gained a Scottish by-election since the Glasgow Pollok by-election in March 1967, when the Tories gained the seat from Labour.
Former MP for Aberdeen South Flynn said in reaction to the party conceding: "A tough night in Aberdeen that some will need to reflect on, quite heavily. Commiserations to my good friend Richard Thomson - a great man and colleague. Congratulations to Douglas Lumsden.
"I know he loves this city as much as I do, and I look forward to working with him."
He added: "We lost Aberdeen South to the Tories in 2017, and we won it back two years later. I’ve no doubt that we can do so again. If we get things right."
The other candidates in the by-election were: Jorg Shelton Eckstein of the Scottish Greens, Scottish Liberal Democrat Mel Sullivan, Labour’s Nurul Hoque Ali, and David Ballantine of the Alliance for Democracy and Freedom.
The campaign for Aberdeen South became a battle over the future of oil and gas, with the Conservatives, Reform and the SNP vying to persuade those in the city – dubbed the energy capital of Europe – they support the industry the most.
Candidates reported the fate of the industry was one of the key issues coming up on the doorsteps during canvassing sessions.
In his victory speech, the newly-elected MP said the people of the city had spoken “loud and clear” that the “destruction of the North Sea oil and has industry must stop now”.
Lumsden added: “We said at the start of this campaign that it is a referendum on the oil and gas industry and the people of Aberdeen have give a resounding answer that we back the oil and gas industry.”
The SNP did hold onto Arbroath and Broughty Ferry with Lara Bird taking the seat vacated by Stephen Gethins who, like Flynn, quit Westminster for Holyrood.
The law does not allow people to hold seats in the Parliament and in the House of Commons simultaneously.
Aberdeen South has existed as a constituency since 1885 but its boundaries have been redrawn on several occasions and the seat has changed hands across the decades.
In recent times, Labour represented the constituency from 1997 up to 2015, when it was first won by the SNP. The Conservatives took the seat in 2017, only for the SNP to retake it in 2019 and hold it in 2024.
The result in 2024 saw Flynn elected for the SNP on a very low share of the vote, 33%, with Labour in second place on 25% and the Conservatives close behind on 24%, while Reform got 7%, the Lib Dems 6% and the Greens 3%.
All six of these parties stood at the by-election, along with a candidate for the Alliance for Democracy and Freedom.
At the most recent census in Scotland in 2022, 85.5% of the population of Aberdeen South was estimated to be white, lower than Scotland as a whole (92.9%) but higher than the UK (83.0%).
Around 77% of the population was born in the UK, compared with 90% for Scotland and 84% for the UK.
