Friday May 8th 2026
Midlothian North election count
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
SNP and Conservative candidates have highlighted that Reform are ‘causing a great concern’ in the Midlothian North constituency, with the election count is still undergoing.
SNP candidate Colin Beattie is running for his 4th term as Midlothian North’s MSP, fighting to maintain his seat after the constiuency boundary changed this year.
As SNP benefit from a reliable core vote with pro-independence votes not split due to no contingency candidate from the Scottish Green’s, Colin Beattie’s team are keeping an eager eye as Labour reliant on strong mobilisation amongst voters seeking a change in government.
Despite explaining to the Midlothian View that he is ‘enthusiastic’, Beattie expressed that he is unsure and concerned about Reform UK’s threat in the area.
The concern that Reform UK would split Conservative votes was highlighted by Conservative candidate Phil Doggart who explained to me that ‘SNP have won but Reform are taking a huge chunk of constituency votes’.
Doggart told the Midlothian View that he isn’t confident about his chances.
With Reform threatening all parties, candidate Pal Chidabaram expressed his optimism, explaining that he is ‘predicting a fairly good turnout’.
He explained: “In 2024, we had a 7% vote share. So as far as we are concerned, if we have more than that we are doing well and we are expected to grow as the party grows.”
Following Phil Doggart’s comments, it reiterates the prediction prior to the election that the Reform UK party have split or taken Conservative votes with many supports shifting their alliance towards Malcolm Offord’s side.
Talking at the Midlothian North hustings on the 22 April, the candidate explained that he had ‘only been a politician for three weeks’, despite this is showing to be a strong threat against Caitlin Stott.
With the threat from the Reform newcomer, Labour seems concerned as we move onto regional list votes authentication.
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