Conservatives pick up Dumfries and Galloway Council seat from Labour

The Conservatives have picked up a council seat from Labour in Dumfries and Galloway.

The by-election in the Mid Galloway and Wigtown West ward was prompted by Sandy Whitelaw standing down after a few months for personal reasons.

Conservative candidate Richard Marsh took more than half the votes cast on a turnout of just over 30%.

It takes the party to 17 seats on the council run by a SNP-Labour-Independent rainbow coalition.

The full result was:

• Richard Marsh (Conservative) - 1,787

• Ian Gibson (SNP) - 879

• John McCutcheon (Labour) - 326

• Iain McDonald (Lib Dem) - 190

• Daniel Hooper-Jones (Scottish Greens) - 172

The Conservatives remain the party with most councillors on the 43-member local authority but are not part of the ruling administration.