RACHAEL Hamilton from the Scottish Conservatives has been elected as the MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire following the 2021 Scottish Parliament election contest.

Voters went to the polls yesterday (Thursday, May 6), with the count held in Kelso’s Borders Event Centre today.

Mrs Hamilton, who won the by-election in 2017, will return to Holyrood for another term after securing a majority of 6,863 votes.

The total number of votes cast was 36,122 (turnout 64 per cent). There were 81 rejected ballot papers.

In a speech following the declaration, Mrs Hamilton said the Conservatives in the Borders have been "going from strength to strength". 

"I think that speaks volumes to what the electorate want," she said. "The constituents I've been speaking to over the past few days have been absolutely resolute in the fact that they want people to be rebuilding from the pandemic - not about division and breaking up our United Kingdom."

The results in full

Ian Davidson, Scottish Labour Party and Scottish Co-operative Party – 2,050
Rachael Hamilton, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party – 18,564
Barbra Harvie, Scottish Green Party – 1,084
Jenny Claire Marr, Scottish Liberal Democrats – 2,352
Jesse Rae, Independent - 290
Paul Wheelhouse, Scottish National Party (SNP) – 11,701