Hamilton goes to the polls after bitter by-election fight

Times

2 days ago

John Swinney has urged voters to reject the 'gutter politics' of Nigel Farage as one of the most controversial by-election campaigns in Scottish political history draws to a close.
In an election in which race became a dominant issue, after Reform UK repeatedly highlighted the ethnicity of the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, the SNP is the overwhelming bookmakers' favourite to hang on to the Hamilton, Larkhall & Stonehouse seat.
However, senior sources within all the major parties accept the result is highly unpredictable, with Farage's party emerging as a force in Scottish politics for the first time in a Holyrood election and a low turnout anticipated.
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As party leaders made their last-minute pitch to voters, Swinney claimed that the election was a race between the SNP and Reform.
'Farage doesn't care about Scotland — he wants to cut our budget, undermine our parliament and introduce charges for the NHS,' Swinney said. 'Labour have given up on the campaign and have barely even bothered to defend their record of scrapping the winter fuel payment and cutting support for disabled people.
'So this by-election is a two-horse race between the SNP and Farage. People in Hamilton, Larkhall & Stonehouse can unite behind the SNP and defeat the gutter politics of Nigel Farage.'
However, Sarwar accused the nationalists of talking up Reform to 'distract from their own failures' and said it was only Labour that could beat the SNP.
Polls open on Thursday at 7am and the result is expected in the early hours of Friday morning. The bookmakers believe that Reform is most likely to finish second and Labour third, in what would be a disaster for Sarwar's party.
Labour insiders insist they are confident that their more sophisticated ground operation will be enough to see off Reform.
Farage went to Larkhall on Monday, visiting a florist, a local butcher and a pub during a brief walkabout. The butcher he visited, Strachan Craft Butchers, then 'barred' Farage from the shop, where he had purchased a steak, after a backlash from some customers.
In a Facebook post, the store claimed it had been ambushed by Farage, emphasising that it had not agreed to him visiting in advance.
'We cannot stop individuals visiting our shops, but this doesn't define us personally or professionally,' the business said. It signed off the message by adding: 'What a palava over one wee man' and added the hashtag '#Farageisbarred'.
The by-election came about as the result of the death of the former SNP minister Christina McKelvie, from cancer, in March. At the 2021 elections McKelvie won with a majority of 4,582. Labour comfortably won all the seats in the area at last year's general election.
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Sarwar, meanwhile, urged voters to elect a 'local champion' in his candidate, Davy Russell, who has faced criticism for poor media performances and dodging a televised debate.
'Time and time again, the SNP has failed Hamilton, Larkhall & Stonehouse,' Sarwar said. 'From our overstretched NHS to our declining education system to our crisis-hit housing system, almost all of what is broken in Scotland is run by the SNP.
'They don't deserve to win, but only Scottish Labour can beat them. The SNP wants to talk up Reform to distract from their own failures, but Scots will see through the spin.'