General Election 2019 - SNP's deputy leader Kirsty Blackman 'overwhelmed' by Aberdeen North win

SNP deputy leader Kirsty Blackman said she was overwhelmed by her win in Aberdeen North which crushed her traditional Labour rivals and increased her own vote share by 12.7 per cent.
Kirsty Blackman's win for SNP in Aberdeen North gets a rapturous response from the party faithful.Kirsty Blackman's win for SNP in Aberdeen North gets a rapturous response from the party faithful.
Kirsty Blackman's win for SNP in Aberdeen North gets a rapturous response from the party faithful.

Ms Blackman pushed Labour into third place with the Conservatives climbing to second in the largely working-class constituency.

The SNP deputy leader said the Labour vote had disappeared like 'sna aff a dyke' in the communities she represented.

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She took 20, 205 votes with the Conservatives on 7,535 votes.

Kirsty Blackman, SNP MP for Aberdeen North, said that Tory austerity had driven up support for SNP with the traditional Labour vote disappearing in the constituency.Kirsty Blackman, SNP MP for Aberdeen North, said that Tory austerity had driven up support for SNP with the traditional Labour vote disappearing in the constituency.
Kirsty Blackman, SNP MP for Aberdeen North, said that Tory austerity had driven up support for SNP with the traditional Labour vote disappearing in the constituency.
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The result is a significant upturn in support for Ms Blackman and the SNP in Aberdeen North given her handsome 2015 majority of more than 13,300 was seriously sliced in 2017 to just 4,139.

"We needed to do that because of Tory austerity. When I was campaigning and knocking on doors, and remember this is 2019, I asked one woman what the main issues she faced were. She said 'I would just like to be able to afford to buy all the things that I need to buy'."

She said her win was a rejection of Tory austerity and of Boris Johnson's Brexit.

She added: "I am quite overwhelmed with the result at the moment."

Aberdeen North is partly defined by working-class communities along the banks of the Don with the constituency voting Labour at every election called for 100 years.

Asked why she thought the Labour vote collapsed in 2019, Ms Blackman said: "It certainly felt like it was disappearing.

"I described it as being like sna aff a dyke. I don't think people have understood what their position on Brexit is - I haven't understood what it is - and Labour have not been a voice for Scotland, Labour have not been fighting for Scotland."