LABOUR'S Colin Yorkston has been elected as East Lothian's newest councillor after being named the winner of the Preston Seton Gosford by-election.

Voters in the ward, which includes Prestonpans, Cockenzie and Port Seton, and Longniddry, went to the polls yesterday to chose a new councillor following the death of council leader Willie Innes (Labour) last October.

This morning, Mr Yorkston was announced as the winner, holding the seat for Labour.

Mr Yorkston's 1,793 first-preference votes were 576 ahead of his closest rival, the SNP's Janis Wilson, who took 1,217 votes.

Close behind in third was the Conservatives' Andy Ovens with 1,154 first-preference votes.

The Greens placed fourth, their candidate Tim Porteus pulling in 231 first-preference votes, while the Liberal Democrats' Ben Morse narrowly finished fifth on 136 votes, just ahead of independent Calum Miller with 122.

In terms of share of first-preference votes, Labour was down 4.2 per cent in the ward from the 2017 council election, while the SNP share narrowly fell 1.4 per cent. The Conservatives increased their vote share by 0.7 per cent. 

Turnout was 31.4 per cent.

Mr Yorkston now joins sitting councillors Lachlan Bruce (Conservative), Neil Gilbert (SNP) and Fiona O'Donnell (Labour) as the fourth councillor for the Preston Seton Gosford ward.