A FORMER piano teacher has been elected as Barrhead and Johnstone’s new MSP.

Tom Arthur won Renfrewshire South from the Labour party in a dramatic Scottish Parliament election night on Thursday.

The Barrhead man went head to head with Neilston Labour councillor Paul O’Kane for a seat in Holyrood.

However the SNP man would defeat his closest rival by almost 5,000 votes.

Arthur secured 48.1 per cent of the vote, attracting support from 14,272 voters with O’Kane coming in second with 9,864, a fall of 14.8 per cent.

The fate of the constituency hung in the balance after Labour veteran Hugh Henry announced that he would be retiring at the start of the year.

But despite the clear margin in his victory, and the success of the SNP across Scotland, Arthur says he wouldn’t believe he had won the seat until he was on the podium.

Sitting in Barrhead Foundry just two days after his victory, the new MSP knows the election was just the start of the battle, and that he has quite a job on his hands.

He said: “I am deeply humbled and honoured to be elected as the first SNP MSP for Renfrewshire South.

“We ran a very positive and energetic ground campaign and it has delivered a historic result.

“There was doubt that it could even be done - in 2011 my predecessor held the seat against an SNP tide.

“The achievement is a credit to the team, a credit to the party message and a credit to our leader.”

Arthur, a career musician before turning to politics, has been a party member for more than 10 years and has previously worked on the campaign trail for both elections and the independence referendum.

Having grown up in a politically active family, Arthur felt that his progression from activist to candidate was only a matter of time.

He said: “Growing up, politics was always a subject of conversation in my house, we were all politically aware and knowledgeable.

“This carried over in to my adult life, and while I am a musician by career, the progression from party activist to candidate has felt like a natural one.”

Arthur has inherited one of the most diverse constituencies in Scotland.

The boundaries of Renfrewshire South take in two local authority areas - East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire - and no less than three Westminster constituencies.

Wealth varies wildly across the area with some of Barrhead being listed in the top two per cent of the most deprived communities in Scotland - Johnstone fares similarly.

However, it also takes in parts of wealthy Newton Mearns, and villages such as Howwood and Lochwinnoch.

This disparity in income is something that Arthur rates highly on his agenda.

“Equality has been one of the key messages of the party from the start,” he said. “In Barrhead the difference that has been made over the last few years is there to see.

“A lot of this has taken place under an SNP administration in Holyrood and with an SNP influence in the local council.

“However I don’t think it should stop with what has already been achieved, and I am going to continue to push for more regeneration, more opportunities for jobs, more growth in the local economy.

“The potential in Barrhead and this constituency as a whole is there for all to see.”

Soon Arthur will set up his constituency office and begin operating his surgeries - and he does not want to fall under a category of politician that seems better suited to a bygone era of MPs.

He continues: “I used to hear the phrase that the last you would see of your MP was the smoke from their train to London.

“I don’t want to be one of those politicians and I will strive to be as open and as approachable as possible.”

Arthur and his fellow MSPs will be sworn in on Thursday having undergone orienteering at Holyrood from Monday.

He won the seat after the results of the count were announced at Braehead Arena in the early hours of Friday morning.

Arthur secured 48.1 per cent of the vote, attracting support from 14,272 voters with O’Kane coming in second with 9,864, a fall of 14.8 per cent.

Ann Le Blond made progress for the Scottish Conservatives by increasing the party’s share of the vote by 5.2 per cent thanks to the backing if 4,752 constituents, while Tristan Gray of the Lib Dems was fourth with just 793.

In neighbouring Renfrewshire North and West, Derek Mackay secured another term as constituency MSP as the SNP continued its domination of Scotland’s political landscape.

In contrast Scottish Labour’s downward spiral showed little sign of changing direction as Mary Fee came in third behind the Scottish Conservative Party candidate David Wilson.

Mackay won the seat with 14,718, a huge majority of 7,373 over Wilson who earned 7,345 votes against Fee’s 7,244, a drop of 12.7 per cent.

Scottish Liberal democrat Rod Ackland was fourth with 888 votes, Jim Halfpenny, of the TUSC attracted 414 votes and Independent Peter Morton 198.

It was a similar picture for George Adam who held the Paisley constituency for the SNP with an increased majority of 5,199 over Scottish Labour’s Neil Bibby.

Adam secured 14,682 votes, taking a 49.8 per cent share with Bibby attracting 9,483 votes, down by 9.5 per cent.

Paul Masterton of the Scottish Conservatives came third with 3,533 votes while Lib Dem Eileen McCartin was fourth with 1,766.