Edinburgh East: SNP’s Tommy Sheppard wins seat

COMEDY boss Tommy Sheppard ousted Labour from its former Edinburgh East stronghold, winning the seat by nearly 7000 votes.
Tommy Sheppard. Picture: Lisa FergusonTommy Sheppard. Picture: Lisa Ferguson
Tommy Sheppard. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

He said he would take the SNP’s “bold, imaginative and radical” programme to Westminster and ensure Scotland’s voice was heard.

Mr Sheppard said: “Something remarkable has happened in Scotland tonight. They will look back on May 7, 2015 as the date on which politics in Scotland changed completely and forever.Things will never ever be the same again.

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“It is now clear that for the first time in our history we wiil send a majority of political representatives to the Union parliament whose first and only mandate will come from the communities who elected them and whose position will not be compromised by being part of the Westminster establishment.

“It is also clear that when you decide to put a bold, imaginative, radical prospectus in front of people and argue for it they will back you.

“We will take this as a mandate to go to Westminster and argue tooth and nail that the time has come to stop the auterity economic in this country, to stop trying to balance the books on the backs of the most poor and vulnerable.”

Sheila Gilmore, who had been MP for the seat since 2010, said it had been a difficult day for Scottish Labour.

But she said: “We will be back. Scottish Labour have an important role to play in the future of Scotland.”