STV by-election debate made me uncomfortable. Here's why

The Herald Scotland

2 days ago

Hopes were not high for the live debate, aired on STV's Scotland Tonight. How could it be? Colin Mackay kicked off the programme referring to it as a 'political showdown' – one where only two candidates had bothered to show up.
Mackay – STV political editor – told the audience that six candidates, from the SNP, Reform UK, Scottish Labour, the Tories, the Lib Dems and the Greens – had been given the opportunity to 'defend themselves and question their opponents'.
Only the SNP's Katy Loudon and Reform's Ross Lambie were willing to 'cross swords' as Mackay put it.
Loudon launched her segment taking aim at winter fuel payments, announced by Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves last year.
There is immediately a slight glimmer of consensus between the two despite their blatantly obvious disagreements on politics.
Read more by-election coverage:
Voters are 'scunnered', they both agreed, but Lambie brings an abrupt end to consensus as he blames the SNP of being part of the political establishment that has caused a 'lost generation'.
Cross examination allows Loudon to ask the Reform candidate whether he agrees with Nigel Farage on scrapping free tuition and prescriptions.
Fair play to Lambie on this. We get a straight answer.
'No, I don't think so,' he said.
''In Scotland, we have a devolved administration, our manifesto in Scotland will not be scrapping anything along those lines.'
When it comes to Mr Lambie's cross examination on Ms Loudon, he goes straight to a local issue: Wishaw's neonatal unit, raising concerns about plans to centralise the specialist care to a facility in Glasgow.
Ms Loudon's response won't sit well with locals. She said her background is in teaching, adding: 'I'm not a nurse, I'm not a doctor, I'm not a clinician.'
That, I would say, is a point to Lambie. But where he falters, instead of pushing Loudon on the local issues, he gives her a free shot to criticise Labour by asking her about cuts to winter fuel payments. It's not the strongest attack from Lambie.
An absolutely brutal watch. https://t.co/ToXb7aoh0K — Rebecca McCurdy (@_RebeccaMcCurdy) June 2, 2025
Lambie then, bizarrely, accuses Loudon of being 'snobby' against football fans after John Swinney ruled out reintroducing alcohol in Scottish football stadiums.
Lambie said: 'Don't you realise for local teams, like Hamilton Accies, you're putting a strain on their local finances.'
Loudon seemed a bit perplexed by the accusation, but lumps her response in with the question on the NHS. She said: 'This is about taking expert opinion.'
Loudon also faced tough questioning from Mackay, who pressed her on whether she would apologise to Lanarkshire residents, the region where waiting times in hospitals are amongst the worst.
She did not directly answer, but said: 'I'm not going to sit here and pretend things are perfect,' but added the SNP was 'listening'.
Lambie also did not come out of the debate well as her was quizzed on the Reform adverts using a speech from Anas Sarwar, accusing Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar of stating he wanted to 'prioritise the Pakistani community' – which he did not say.
He refused to be drawn on whether it was racist and rejected that Mr Sarwar was misquoted.
Look, the whole debate was pretty uncomfortable to watch. But it only got worse when Davy Russell, the Labour candidate, entered the frame.
Read more:
Russell said he would not attend the live debate because he would be out chapping the doors of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, but he told Mackay in a sit-down interview that he stopped door-knocking at 8.30pm, giving him ample time to appear at STV studios for the 10.40pm broadcast.
So why wasn't he there?
'In a debate you can't listen,' he said, oddly, given if elected to Holyrood he would be expected to do just that three days a week.
More uncomfortable viewing followed. Russell, while stating Scottish Labour opposed policies like the two-child benefit cap and the winter fuel payment, he would not answer the whether the UK Government was wrong. Mackay asks almost 10 times if he backed the Chancellor. Brutal.
There hasn't been much press for the Scottish Tory candidate Richard Nelson, with the party widely expected to come fourth in the by-election.
Attending the debate would have been a significant opportunity to boost his platform but instead, his small segment seen him argue the NHS was in crisis. But there is a trend here: there were no solutions offered. He was also keen to dismiss any concerns around his membership with the Orange Order.
Lib Dem candidate Aisha Mir came across as a strong debater but did not seem confident on whether she could actually win, while the Greens completely declined to have any part in the debate.
Was there a winner of the debate? I do not think so. Loudon was clearly the most competent on camera, but this is not her first by-election and she should have done better given that.
The losers are obvious: the constituents in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse who were not given a competent debate they deserved.