This is a big moment for Reform UK – a first election win for a party without a Scottish leader, without detailed policies and without a big organisation.
They seem to have surprised themselves.
One insider told me they had hoped for a good second place but it has turned out to be their breakthrough.
That’s why this council by-election is significant and merits national coverage that is not normally afforded to these local contests.
All Reform UK’s existing politicians in Scotland have been acquired through defections, mainly from the Conservatives.
This win comes as the party tries to build momentum towards the Scottish Parliament elections in May.
The trend in opinion polls suggests they are well placed to pick up Holyrood seats and could become one of the main opposition parties.
They seem to be attracting voters who are fed up with more established parties but they acknowledge that this “scunner” factor can only take them so far.
While they are known for taking a hard line on immigration, party sources say they intend to campaign more heavily on work and the economy.
Their political rivals are struggling to work out how best to counter their rise.
Attempts to ignore them, copy them and brand them extreme have not been obviously effective.
It is widely expected that the former Tory minister Lord Malcolm Offord will be appointed by Nigel Farage to front the party’s Scottish campaign early in the New Year.
