Brendan O'Hara is elected MP for Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber

5 July 2024

Brendan O'Hara has been elected as the Member of Parliament for Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber in the UK parliamentary election.

Votes from the Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber parliamentary constituency have been counted and the result has been declared as follows:

• Amanda Hampsey, Scottish Conservative and Unionist - 9,350
• Melanie Hurst, Reform UK - 3,045
• Thomas MacPherson, Independent - 941
• Hamish Maxwell, Scottish Labour Party - 8,585
• Brendan O'Hara, Scottish National Party (SNP) - 15,582
• Alan Reid, Scottish Liberal Democrats - 7,359

The result was formally declared by the Returning Officer for Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber, Pippa Milne, at the count in Lochgilphead Joint Campus early on Friday 5 July.

The total electorate for Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber was 71,756 with 45,078 votes cast. The turnout at the polls was 62.8 per cent.

A total of 216 votes were rejected. Twentysix were rejected for voting for more than one candidate and 187 were unmarked or void for uncertainty.

The Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber UK parliamentary election count commenced after polls closed at 10pm on Thursday 4 July and was carried out through the night, with the result declared at 6.40am on Friday 5 July.

Alongside postal votes and proxies, votes made their way across Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber in ballot boxes transported by car, boat, and helicopter to be counted at Lochgilphead Joint Campus.

Returning Officer Pippa Milne said: "This year, we had the extension to the north of our constituency boundary. Our dedicated team of knowledgeable election staff, supported by the fantastic team at Highland Council, ensured everything went extremely smoothly, despite the challenges involved in administering a count on this scale. I would like to thank everyone involved for ensuring that Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber's first UK general election count went so well."

"The diverse geography of our vast constituency means that we have to carefully consider the logistics of any electoral count. Our ballot boxes are always transported by air, sea and land. Fortunately, with this being a summer election, we had to have fewer contingency measures in place than at the 2019 winter election, but it is never risk free."