Normally by the evening after an election, we would have a clear idea of the make-up of the next Parliament. Instead, the Covid pandemic has meant that we are still waiting to hear the results of the regional lists and a handful of stubborn constituencies.<\/p>\n
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In Orkney, Liam McArthur won a huge victory with 62.3 per cent of the vote. As the candidate with the highest vote share at the last election, I know Liam was desperate to repeat the feat and it looks like he may be able to claim the title once more.<\/p>\n
Over in Shetland, Beatrice Wishart first won her seat in a by-election in 2019 in the face of a determined challenge from the SNP, but at this election she triumphed again, growing her vote share to almost 50 per cent. This is a sign of the shift Beatrice has put in as a local MSP over the past 18 months and shows the valuable of a hard-working local representative.<\/p>\n
In Edinburgh Western, as it stands, my good friend Alex Cole-Hamilton has secured the highest vote for any constituency MSP since the formation of the parliament in 1999 with almost 26,000 votes.<\/p>\n
Thats a tremendous achievement for Alex and his team and a fitting reward for the many long hours of door knocking and canvassing theyve done since such campaign activities resumed after the Duke of Edinburghs death.<\/p>\n
Finally in North East Fife, I was absolutely honoured that 55 per cent of voters chose to put their cross next to my name. As I write this, Scottish Liberal Democrats currently hold more constituencies than the other pro-UK parties combined.<\/p>\n
Our message that the next Parliament needs to put recovery first clearly got through and had big appeal on the doorsteps in our strongest areas.<\/p>\n
It is frustrating that we werent able to move the dial in other constituencies. Some were up, others down.<\/p>\n
The issues we highlighted will be important in the next parliament. We built our campaign around helping the country to bounce back from the pandemic.<\/p>\n
The pandemic has taken a tremendous toll on our national mental health. Children have missed out on education. We need to take action after SNP plans for early years education fell short. I spoke out about the need to protect peoples jobs and deliver an industrial strategy for recovery. And of course, the biggest challenge of our age, action on the climate emergency.<\/p>\n
Over the next five years, Scottish Liberal Democrats will pursue these issues. And we will persuade more people to switch their MSP to a Lib Dem next time because people can see the quality of the service they get which results in big re-election wins in those seats.<\/p>\n
On day two of the count, we find out what the regional list vote holds. For now Scottish Liberal Democrats will enjoy our status as Scotlands biggest opposition party.<\/p>\n
Willie Rennie is Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and MSP for North East Fife<\/p>\n
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Scottish election 2021: Big re-election wins for Liberal Democrat MSPs shows just how popular they are Willie Rennie MSP - The Scotsman<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Normally by the evening after an election, we would have a clear idea of the make-up of the next Parliament. Instead, the Covid pandemic has meant that we are still waiting to hear the results of the regional lists and a handful of stubborn constituencies. Sign up to our Opinion newsletter Sign up to our Opinion newsletter In Orkney, Liam McArthur won a huge victory with 62.3 per cent of the vote. Continue reading