David McLennan won the Whitburn and Blackburn ward by-election with 1,177 votes, beating the SNP by 149 votes.David McLennan won the Whitburn and Blackburn ward by-election with 1,177 votes, beating the SNP by 149 votes.(Image: Copyright Unknown)

West Lothian is the first council in Scotland to have a councillor elected on the Reform UK ticket.

David McLennan won the Whitburn and Blackburn ward by-election with 1,177 votes, beating the SNP by 149 votes.

Callum Cox was the only other candidate to poll more than 1,000 votes in the by-election, bringing the Nationalists 1,028 votes.

The total number of valid votes cast was 3,675. Mr McLennan was elected at stage 8 of the count.

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Labour trailed a distant third, with Samuel McCulloch polling 627 votes. The Conservatives’ Reece Sinnott 129 took votes putting the party in fourth place behind an Independent run from Tom Lynch, who polled 484.

The turnout was 22.2% (3,719 votes from a total electorate of 16,764). This is a higher percentage turnout than last year’s by-election in the same ward. That was 20.7%.

It was Mr McLennan’s second attempt at the ward, first contesting against eventual Labour winner Labour David Russell last November.

Mr McLennan first stood as a Reform candidate in the 2024 General Election. He has contested every West Lothian Council by-election since.

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Writing on the Reform UK Scotland website ahead of the poll Mr McLennan, 65, said: “One of the main reasons for deciding to enter politics is the sheer unfairness and intolerance the SNP/Green fiasco was visiting upon landlords.

“And so, I joined Reform UK to fight back. Reform UK also talks so much common sense in so many areas that affect everyday folk.”

He is the first councillor in Scotland to be directly elected standing as a candidate for Nigel Farage’s party.

All current Reform UK councillors in Scotland were originally elected as representatives for other parties (primarily the Conservatives and one as SNP) and subsequently defected or joined Reform.

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