Third leader in six months takes Scottish Borders Council helm

A third leader in the space of six months has taken the helm at Scottish Borders Council.

Euan Jardine will head the new Conservative-Independent coalition running the local authority.

Shona Haslam was leader until she stood down in November last year to be replaced by Mark Rowley.

There were two nominations for the post with Mr Jardine defeating the SNP's Elaine Thornton-Nicol in a vote by 19 to 11 with four abstentions.

The coalition agreement was reached earlier this month.

It saw the Conservatives join forces with three independents to form a ruling group.

Mr Jardine will lead the new administration after winning the vote ahead of Ms Thornton-Nicol.

The role of convener also required a vote with independent Watson McAteer seeing off the challenge of the SNP's Donald Moffat by 21 votes to 10 with three abstentions.

The positions were decided at a full council meeting which also considered a report on the recent elections in the Borders.

It outlined how a ward on the local authority is thought to have been the first result declared in Scotland.

The election also returned the highest percentage of female councillors in the history of the council at 41%.