THE SNP have taken a council seat from the Scottish Conservatives after a by-election victory.
Angus Matheson was elected to represent the Peterhead South and Cruden ward on Aberdeenshire Council after a vote on June 2.
Matheson won 741 first preference votes for the SNP, while Reform UK’s Andy Curwen came in second with 465.
The Tories were pushed into third place, with their candidate Ross Gibb getting 432 first preference votes. Independent candidates John Ross and Ross Thomson won 150 and 132 votes respectively, while the LibDems’ Tony Ware won 56 votes and the Scottish Family Party’s Dave Bestwick got 54.
There were a total of 2043 votes cast from an electorate of 9206, meaning the turnout was 22.2%.
🎉 SNP GAIN FROM CONSERVATIVES! Congratulations to Angus Matheson who has been elected as the new Councillor for Peterhead South & Cruden. pic.twitter.com/AfS21xyADY
— The SNP (@theSNP) July 3, 2026
The SNP celebrated the “gain from the Conservatives”, writing: “Congratulations to Angus Matheson who has been elected as the new Councillor for Peterhead South and Cruden.”
The SNP victory means the party now have 19 councillors on the 70-seat Aberdeenshire Council. The Tories (who have 20 councillors) currently run the local authority with support from the LibDems (who have 14 seats) and a group of independents.
Returning Officer Jim Savege said: “I would firstly like to offer my own personal congratulations to our new councillor and I very much look forward to working with him.
“I would like to thank not only all those who stood for election in our Peterhead South and Cruden by-election, but all those constituents who took the time to head out and vote in what is a very important democratic process for Aberdeenshire.
“I also wish to thank our election team and supporting staff for their excellent delivery of both the voting process yesterday and today’s count.”
The by-election was called after George Hall, who was elected for the Conservatives in the ward in the 2022 local elections, died aged 65.
After his death in April, councillor Dianne Beagrie, the chair of the Buchan Area Committee, paid tribute to her colleague having “fought a long hard battle with serious illness with great strength and dignity”.
“On behalf of the council and our communities, my thoughts and condolences go to George’s family at this time,” she added.
