NEWLY re-elected MSP Jackie Baillie has vowed that the Vale of Leven Hospital remains her number one priority.

The Labour politician took her sixth straight win for the Dumbarton constituency for the Scottish Parliament on Friday night with an increased majority from five years ago.

Dumbarton was the top target for the SNP this year after Ms Baillie’s narrow 109-vote victory in 2016.

But despite more than one visit by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to the area, Ms Baillie increased her majority over the SNP’s Toni Giugliano to 1,483 and with a bigger turnout from voters.

Ms Baillie said the Vale would be her top priority beyond the wider recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

She told the Advertiser: “The Vale is an asset that’s absolutely under-utilised.

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“My number one priority is the Vale of Leven - always has been, always will be.

“We need a concerted effort to bring services back. We can get more emergency services back at the Vale.”

The MSP said she would work with local GPs and campaigners to find what services can be brought to area, particularly using the facility to help tackle cancer diagnosis waiting lists made worse by the pandemic.

She said she wants to see more diagnostics and more treatment at the Vale.

Ms Baillie, who is now one of only two Holyrood parliamentarians to have served as constituency MSPs since the Scottish Parliament was established in 1999 - the other is the SNP’s John Swinney - won 17,825 votes.

That’s the largest number of votes she’s received in six elections and, at 46.3 per cent, was also her biggest share of the vote.

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Mr Giugliano got 16,342 votes for the SNP, while Maurice Corry was third for the Conservatives with 3,205.

Andy Foxall polled 676 votes for the Liberal Democrats, while James Morrison was the leading independent with 183.

Jonathan Rainey of the Scottish Libertarian Party polled 134 votes, with the second independent, Andrew Muir, trailing in last place with 94.

Returning officer Joyce White announced the Dumbarton result at Clydebank Leisure Centre at 8.35pm on Friday - slightly more than two and a half hours after counting of the Dumbarton constituency votes got under way, though counting staff had begun their day much earlier, at 9am, when the tallying of the votes from neighbouring Clydebank and Milngavie began.

Ms Baillie said her win was a surprise and she didn’t know which way the result would go until candidates were pulled to a side room just before the public announcement.

She said: “It was always going to be close and certainly the SNP threw everything at the seat. I’m truly delighted people backed me in the numbers they did.

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“I cannot begin to thank the constituency enough. I’m so proud to represent the area.”

Meanwhile, Mr Giugliano said tactical voting - particularly among Conservative voters in Helensburgh - played a significant role in his failure to win the marginal seat.

He made no speech on the platform, and did not give a statement to the waiting press after the result was declared.

In a statement issued on social media on Saturday, he said: “Congratulations to Jackie Baillie on holding her seat.

“I’m immensely proud of my campaign and my team. Our vote came out in large numbers - particularly in Dumbarton and the Vale of Leven.

“However the Tory vote in Helensburgh went to Labour in extraordinary numbers to keep us out.

“The sound of Tory activists cheering louder than Labour at yesterday’s count speaks for itself.

“To the 16,342 people who voted SNP - please know that your voice has been heard. No tactical voting will stop independence in a referendum.

“Scotland is on a journey to statehood and I look forward to playing my part in shaping it.”

Meanwhile, when the results of the West Scotland regional list vote were tallied up on Saturday, and the region’s MSPs allocated, it was a case of ‘as you were’ for the region - in terms of numbers if not faces.

Three Conservatives were elected – Pam Gosal, who came third in the neighbouring Clydebank and Milngavie constituency contest, Russell Findlay, and Jamie Greene.

Three Labour MSPs were also elected for the area – Neil Bibby, Paul O’Kane and Katy Clark – while Ross Greer retained the regional seat he won for the Scottish Greens five years ago.

There was to be no place, however, for Helensburgh resident Maurice Corry – who came third in Dumbarton for the Tories for the second Holyrood election in a row, but unlike in 2016, missed out on a regional list seat after he was relegated from third place to eighth on the party’s list of candidates for the region.