Andrew Hall elected councillor for Shetland North

Andrew Hall has been elected to the Shetland North seat.

Andrew Hall, a 58-year-old financier and crofter from Leeds, said he was “humbled” this morning after winning the race for a Shetland North council seat.

Mr Hall won over Natasha Cornick by a landslide 887 votes to 94.

The result was announced this morning (Friday) following a count at Islesburgh Community Centre lasting little more than half an hour.

“I was receiving a positive response, but you can’t take anything for granted,” Mr Hall said after the count.

“I want to give something back to the community that’s been so good to me.”

Mrs Cornick, currently serving as NHS Shetland’s vice-chairwoman, said she was grateful for a “really good, clean, mature campaign” and that she hoped Mr Hall would make good on his pledge to improve bus services in the ward.

“That certainly was the thing that came up mostly with the electorate that I was speaking to,” she said after the count.

“It’ll be really interesting to see what Andrew does with his two and a half years, and I really do hope that he does follow through on some of his campaign manifesto.”

Mr Hall, an independent, fills the seat left by Tom Morton, after his resignation in October.

North Mainland voters cast their ballots through the day yesterday (Thursday), in the seat’s first contested council election since 2017. The turnout was 39.6 per cent.

Mr Hall joins council leader Emma MacDonald and convener Andrea Manson in representing the North Mainland ward.

• Read full interviews from the count with both candidates in next week’s edition of The Shetland Times, out Friday, 31st January.