Tuesday May 12th 2026
Councillor Anderson at the count
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
A Borders Independent councillor who failed in his attempt to win the Ettrick, Roxburgh & Berwickshire constituency says he has no regrets standing.
Conservative Rachael Hamilton retained the seat in Thursday’s Scottish Parliament poll with 13,483 votes, a healthy majority ahead of her nearest competitor, the SNP’s John Redpath.
Councillor James Anderson, who represents East Berwickshire on Scottish Borders Council, came in sixth after polling 740 votes.
Mr Anderson admits to “slight disappointment” that he was unable to break the Tory stranglehold on the seat.
But he’s proud that he gave voters an alternative to the usual political parties.
He said: “I was quite happy. I got double what any other independent has gotten before.
“I had no idea how many votes I’d get when I started or how the introduction of Reform into the mix would impact the result.
“I didn’t know if the local Borders folk would have had enough of the Tories with all the complaints about the Tory-led council, but apparently the majority seemed quite happy with the status quo, so there you go.
“I am slightly disappointed but it’s not anything I didn’t expect and I did give people a different choice and showed them that there was a different way of doing things.
“I gave them that choice and they made their choice and that is absolutely fine.”
Mr Anderson has not ruled out throwing his hat into the ring again but said he will “wait and see” after what was an exhausting campaign.
He added: “The whole process was overall a positive thing and I’m glad that I did it, no regrets at all.
“I’m going to really push from now on to encourage people in the Borders to stand as independents and to push back against the political system to ensure decisions are made on behalf of the people and not a political party.”
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