Scottish Conservatives win first Westminster by-election in more than 50 years

The Scottish Conservatives have won a Westminster by-election for the first time in more than 50 years, taking Aberdeen South from the SNP.

The seat, vacated by the SNP's Stephen Flynn, was won by Tory MSP Douglas Lumsden.

Shortly afterwards SNP claimed a victory in the Arbroath and Broughty Ferry by-election where Lara Bird held the seat for the party.

Lumsden, who is unable to sit in both parliaments due to a Holyrood ban so-called dual mandates, is to resign from Holyrood just six weeks after winning re-election as a North East MSP.

The by-elections were triggered when sitting MPs - Flynn and his SNP colleague Stephen Gethins - resigned from the House of Commons after being elected to Holyrood.

Lumsden, a former oil and gas worker, said his constituents had sent a message that "the destruction of the oil and gas industry must stop now".

The North East MSP defeated SNP candidate Richard Thomson, a former MP for Gordon, by a margin of more than 6,000 votes, with the Tories taking more than half of all ballots cast.

In Arbroath and Broughty Ferry, Bird won the seat on Scotland's east coast for the SNP with a majority of more than 5,000 votes over the Conservatives.

Bird, from near Kirriemuir, is a qualified lawyer who has worked as an SNP researcher and adviser at Westminster.

She said the people had "rejected the politics of division and hate" and made it clear that Scotland's future "lies with independence".

Flynn, who is now Scotland's economy secretary, responded to the loss of his old seat on social media, posting: "A tough night in Aberdeen that some will need to reflect on, quite heavily."

He added: "We lost Aberdeen South to the Tories in 2017, and we won it back two years later.

"I've no doubt that we can do so again. If we get things right."

The Conservatives last won a Westminster by-election north of the border in 1973, when they held Edinburgh North.

The Scottish Tories had not gained a seat in a Westminster by-election since 1967, when they took Glasgow Pollok from Labour.

The SNP won a comfortable victory at last month's Scottish election.

Within weeks the party was rocked by a scandal surrounding former chief executive Peter Murrell, who admitted in court to embezzling more than £400,000 of SNP funds over a 12-year period.

He is due to be sentenced next week.