Labour retained the two seats on North Lanarkshire Council vacated when two of its members were elected as MPs earlier this year.
The administration party won yesterday’s by-elections in the Fortissat and Mossend & Holytown wards, which saw fewer than one in five voters turn out in either constituency to cast their ballots.
Clare Quigley will now return to the council chamber representing Fortissat, having previously represented the area after winning a 2017 by-election; while party colleague Helena Gray is the new councillor for Mossend & Holytown.
Councillor Quigley polled 807 first-preference votes to retain the seat previously held by Kenneth Stevenson, now the MP for Airdrie & Shotts.
Progressive Change North Lanarkshire candidate Mary McIntosh came second, ahead of SNP representative Brendan McAleese, with the pair respectively receiving 529 and 447 votes.
Billy Acheson of the British Unionists came fourth, ahead of Conservative candidate Sheila Cameron who polled 124 votes, while Liberal Democrat Leigh Butler earned 57.
Councillor Gray won 616 first-preference votes in Mossend & Holytown, 30 more than Shahnawaz Khan of the SNP in the initial round of counting to find a successor to former councillor Frank McNally, now the MP for Coatbridge & Bellshill.
Reform candidate Duncan MacMillan came third with 263, ahead of Conservative candidate Aimee Alexander with 127; while John Cole of the Liberal Democrats and Neil Wilson of UKIP respectively received 83 and 11.
Turnout in the ward was just 15.8 per cent, while in Fortissat it had been 17.9 per cent.
Returning officer Des Murray said: “I would like to congratulate Clare Quigley and Helena Gray on their election, and I look forward to seeing them at the next council meeting.”
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