The Conservatives have taken the knife-edge Gordon and Buchan in Aberdeenshire, as Harriet Cross bucked the national General Election trend to take the constituency.
In what was a nightmare night for the party nationally, which will see Labour take power for the first time in 14 years, they held on to a seat the SNP hoped to win.
The SNP’s Richard Thomson was ousted from the seat – now with changed boundaries – that he won from the Conservatives back in 2019, with a majority of just 819.
On winning, with a slender majority of 878 – Harriet said: “Thank you so much for putting your faith in me. I know that politics has not been in the best place and a lot of people are disillusioned. And it’s up to me, and everyone now elected in this new parliament, to put this right.”
She also thanked Richard Thomson for his service to Gordon and told The P&J that she is “just really excited to get going”.
Conservatives buck national General Election trend in Gordon and Buchan
Bridge of Don and Dyce, suburbs in the north of Aberdeen were removed from the constituency to Aberdeen North, while it has gained the central Buchan and Turriff areas from the Gordon constituency.
Inverurie and Ellon remain the main population centres in this rural seat, now solely in Aberdeenshire, which had a turnout of 63.23%.
Who is Harriet Cross?
Harriet Cross is the new MP for the area and her new role at Westminster will be her first in elected politics, although she was her party’s candidate for Aberdeen Donside at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.
Described as a “rising star”, Ms Cross, who is 33-years-old, was seen as one of the Conservatives’ best hopes of gaining a seat at the general election and so it proved to be.
Last week, she was joined by former Scottish Tory party leader and party favourite Ruth Davidson on the doors in Oldmeldrum.
Born in Yorkshire, the new Gordon and Buchan MP moved to Ireland, where her mother is from, when she was about five years old.
It was in her mid-teens that her family moved to the north-east, residing in Aberdeenshire, before she studied zoology at Imperial College London.
After this, Ms Cross completed her masters in rural land economy at Reading University, before she worked in Cambridge for a few years, before returning to the north-east in 2018, to take on a rural surveyor role.
The other candidates that stood in this seat were Nurul Hoque Ali (Labour), Kris Callander (Reform) and Conrad Wood (Liberal Democrats).
Harriet Cross wins the Gordon and Buchan seat for the Conservatives with 14,418 votes.
Gordon and Buchan voting breakdown
Harriet Cross (Con) 14,418
Richard Thomson (SNP) 13,540
Conrad Wood (Lib) 7,307
Nurque Hoque Ali (Lab) 4,686
Kris Callander (Reform) 3,897
Read more as election results come in across the north and north-east:
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