Local elections 2017: Rubbish Party candidate wins seat

Sally Cogley won her seat in Irvine Valley after standing on a platform of ending waste and cleaning up litter from the streets.

A candidate for ‘The Rubbish Party’ was elected in East Ayrshire following yesterday’s local elections across the country, setting social media alight.

Sally Cogley won in Ward 6 (Irvine Valley) of East Ayrshire council after receiving the second highest number of first preference votes in the area among those elected.

While a full breakdown isn’t yet available, it seems like the Rubbish Party candidate gained enough second and third preferences to deny the Conservatives a seat on the council.

Ms Cogley received 784 first preferences, behind the SNP and the Conservative candidates for her ward.

After the full transfer saw the other candidates elected, the Rubbish Party, the SNP, and the Labour Party all gained a seat each in Irvine Valley.

The party lists its aims on Facebook as “Getting rid of all types of rubbish from our community; wasted resources, litter, dog fouling, fly tipping, and pollution.”

Winning voters over with her catchy slogan “Vote Sally for a better Valley”, Twitter users were keen to highlight just how important such issues are at local elections.

Michael Fordyce wrote: “Single issue candidacy is clearly still alive and well!”

Nick Rotherham agreed, adding: “An example of the fall in traditional party affiliation and rise in single issue activism.”

Others were quick to point out the irony that the Rubbish Party had had a more successful election than UKIP, after the eurosceptic party lost all the seats they were defending in England.