Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie is focusing on the positives from his party’s showing in last week’s general election – despite THAT “painful” narrow loss in his own backyard.
The SNP’s Stephen Gethins held on to the North East Fife seat by just two votes after three recounts were required, this after Lib Dem candidate Elizabeth Riches thought she had “won” the poll following the initial vote count.
The incredible situation has prompted talk of a possible formal challenge after a request for a fourth recount was rejected by Fife’s returning officer Steve Grimmond.
But while Mr Rennie confirmed the party is seeking legal advice on that particular issue, the North East Fife MSP could be forgiven for being content with what was achieved on Thursday night.
“It was hotly contested in North East Fife and we put a lot of our effort in there,” he explained.
“We were working hard for weeks on end, day after day, so to lose out by such a small margin was hard. It was painful.
“We said throughout it was a race between us and the SNP, and I think they tried to talk up the Conservatives in order to try and split the anti-SNP vote. And I think it worked.
“So I think it’s a lesson for us for future elections that we need to do even more.
“But to be honest, at the moment we want to focus on our success as well and to get the gains we got in Scotland was tremendous.”
The Liberal Democrats were up three seats on their 2015 general election performance north of the border, and could easily have been four had a handful of votes gone their way in North East Fife.
Mr Rennie said he had not experienced anything as dramatic or tense as that in his political life, and probably never will again.
“Obviously we were targeting North East Fife and we did put a lot of our effort in there,” he reflected.
“People were saying during the night the SNP had won, but we were cautious about it because we absolutely knew we were in the race.
“It was a good contest and the outcome just shows you how tight it was in the end. I think Elizabeth handled herself with great dignity throughout the whole thing.
“It was a tight run thing and I’ve had a few messages from people saying they were sorry they hadn’t voted for us because we’ve now got a Nationalist MP in an area that is overwhelmingly for the UK.
“I think there might be a few people who perhaps regret the way they voted.”