Voters are going to the polls today for the first elections in 2021. Apart from a brief burst of by-elections in Scotland during the autumn, no elections have taken place since the first lockdown was announced back in March 2020. Postponed polls in England will be combined with the scheduled elections to make a bumper polling day on the first Thursday in May. A number of by-elections are taking place in Scotland and Wales before then though and the first are both in North Lanarkshire.
Thorniewood residents are selecting a new councillor to replace the SNP’s Steven Bonnar. He was elected as an MP back in the December 2019 general election. Fortissat residents are voting for a new councillor too. Independent Tommy Cochrane stood down from his position as a councillor to concentrate on his work as a planning consultant.
Starting in Fortissat, the candidates are:
- Ben Callaghan, Conservative – previously stood in Coatbridge North in 2017 and Coatbridge South in 2018 by-election
- Kyle Davidson, Green – previously stood in Fortissat in September 2017 by-election
- Peter Kelly, Labour
- Sarah Quinn, SNP – currently chair of the North Lanarkshire Youth Council and Secretary and Communications Officer of the Fortissat Youth Forum
- Neil Wilson, UKIP – previously stood for the Scottish Parliament elections in Central Scotland
In Thorniewood, the candidates are:
- Oyebola Ajala, Conservative – works as an Anti-Money Laundering Investigations Manager for HSBC
- Joseph Budd, Independent – works as a Senior Civil Engineer
- Eve Cunnington, SNP – previously stood in Thorniewood in September 2019 by-election
- Daryl Gardner, UKIP – previously stood in Fortissat in September 2017 by-election
- Helen Loughran, Labour
- Rosemary McGowan, Green – previously stood in Thorniewood in September 2019 by-election
Elections Count 