Scottish Labour holds off surging Reform to win pivotal Holyrood byelection
Scottish Labour
is celebrating an 'incredible' win in a pivotal Holyrood byelection, beating the incumbent
SNP
and fighting off
Reform UK's
'racist' campaigning.
The result confounded predictions and will boost the Labour Party ahead of next year's Scottish parliamentary elections.
Voters in the central Scotland seat of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse rallied round the popular local candidate, Davy Russell, after a toxic campaign during which Nigel Farage launched an unprecedented series of personal attacks on the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, labelled racist by the SNP leader, John Swinney.
In his acceptance speech, Mr Russell told jubilant supporters: 'This community has sent a message to Farage and his mob: the poison of Reform isn't us, it isn't Scotland and we don't want your division here.'
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Posting on social media on Friday morning, UK prime minister Keir Starmer said people in Scotland 'have once again voted for change'.
'Next year there is a chance to turbo-charge delivery by putting Labour in power on both sides of the border.'
The surprise win comes against the backdrop of national polls that placed Scottish Labour in third behind the SNP and Reform, with the party bearing the brunt of voter unhappiness with unpopular UK Labour polices.
The SNP had been the clear favourites to hold the seat after a fiercely contested campaign called after the sudden death of the popular SNP MSP Christina McKelvie from breast cancer, but were beaten into second place, with Reform UK following close behind in third.
As Reform seemingly gained ground from both the SNP and Scottish Labour in recent weeks, speculation grew that it might push Mr Sarwar's party into third place.
But in the end, with a reasonably high turnout for a byelection of 44.2 per cent, Scottish Labour reaped the rewards of its highly targeted campaigning and well-organised get-out-the-vote operation to pull off an unexpected victory, winning with 8,559 votes.
The SNP's Katy Loudon came second with 7,957 votes, narrowly beating Reform UK's Ross Lambie on 7,888. The Scottish Conservatives were left trailing on 1,621 votes.
A buoyant Mr Sarwar said it was 'an incredible night', having proven the pundits, pollsters and bookies wrong.
He told reporters that voters had sent three strong messages: 'First, people want a UK Labour government to go further and faster in improving their lives and I think that's a clear message to them.
'Secondly, they've had enough of this SNP government: after 18 years they've let communities around the country down.
'Third, they've rejected the politics of Nigel Farage and Reform and today the people and Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse have laid the first stone in the pathway to a Scottish Labour government next year.'
Asked about the increasingly personal attacks he endured during the campaign, Mr Sarwar said: 'Nigel Farage looks at someone like me and it goes against his values and it makes him angry. What the vast majority of people in Scotland see is someone who is one of their own, is a Scot and is working hard to change the country.'
Reform UK's Richard Tice, who attended the count, insisted that his party was 'thrilled to bits' with the result, and that third place still represented 'a massive boost' for the party, which has gained momentum in Scotland since the general election.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Friday morning, he said: 'It's truly remarkable. We've come from nowhere to being in a three-way marginal, and we're within 750 votes of winning that byelection and just a few hundred votes of defeating the SNP, so it's an incredible result.' – Guardian
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Irish Times
a day ago
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Scottish Labour holds off surging Reform to win pivotal Holyrood byelection
Scottish Labour is celebrating an 'incredible' win in a pivotal Holyrood byelection, beating the incumbent SNP and fighting off Reform UK's 'racist' campaigning. The result confounded predictions and will boost the Labour Party ahead of next year's Scottish parliamentary elections. Voters in the central Scotland seat of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse rallied round the popular local candidate, Davy Russell, after a toxic campaign during which Nigel Farage launched an unprecedented series of personal attacks on the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, labelled racist by the SNP leader, John Swinney. In his acceptance speech, Mr Russell told jubilant supporters: 'This community has sent a message to Farage and his mob: the poison of Reform isn't us, it isn't Scotland and we don't want your division here.' READ MORE Posting on social media on Friday morning, UK prime minister Keir Starmer said people in Scotland 'have once again voted for change'. 'Next year there is a chance to turbo-charge delivery by putting Labour in power on both sides of the border.' The surprise win comes against the backdrop of national polls that placed Scottish Labour in third behind the SNP and Reform, with the party bearing the brunt of voter unhappiness with unpopular UK Labour polices. The SNP had been the clear favourites to hold the seat after a fiercely contested campaign called after the sudden death of the popular SNP MSP Christina McKelvie from breast cancer, but were beaten into second place, with Reform UK following close behind in third. As Reform seemingly gained ground from both the SNP and Scottish Labour in recent weeks, speculation grew that it might push Mr Sarwar's party into third place. But in the end, with a reasonably high turnout for a byelection of 44.2 per cent, Scottish Labour reaped the rewards of its highly targeted campaigning and well-organised get-out-the-vote operation to pull off an unexpected victory, winning with 8,559 votes. The SNP's Katy Loudon came second with 7,957 votes, narrowly beating Reform UK's Ross Lambie on 7,888. The Scottish Conservatives were left trailing on 1,621 votes. A buoyant Mr Sarwar said it was 'an incredible night', having proven the pundits, pollsters and bookies wrong. He told reporters that voters had sent three strong messages: 'First, people want a UK Labour government to go further and faster in improving their lives and I think that's a clear message to them. 'Secondly, they've had enough of this SNP government: after 18 years they've let communities around the country down. 'Third, they've rejected the politics of Nigel Farage and Reform and today the people and Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse have laid the first stone in the pathway to a Scottish Labour government next year.' Asked about the increasingly personal attacks he endured during the campaign, Mr Sarwar said: 'Nigel Farage looks at someone like me and it goes against his values and it makes him angry. What the vast majority of people in Scotland see is someone who is one of their own, is a Scot and is working hard to change the country.' Reform UK's Richard Tice, who attended the count, insisted that his party was 'thrilled to bits' with the result, and that third place still represented 'a massive boost' for the party, which has gained momentum in Scotland since the general election. Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Friday morning, he said: 'It's truly remarkable. We've come from nowhere to being in a three-way marginal, and we're within 750 votes of winning that byelection and just a few hundred votes of defeating the SNP, so it's an incredible result.' – Guardian
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2 days ago
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Reform UK chairman quits after calling question from party's newest MP ‘dumb'
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When Scottish broadcaster STV recently hit the streets of Hamilton to gauge the mood of voters in advance of Thursday's crucial byelection, its political editor Colin Mackay returned with a pithy one-word verdict. Locals, he said, were 'scunnered' with politics. This general mood of disdain towards the establishment parties has opened the door to a once-unthinkable proposition: Reform UK , Nigel Farage 's upstart English nationalist outfit, is now a serious contender in a constituency vote in Scotland. Reform is still thought unlikely to win this week's byelection for the Holyrood devolved parliament seat of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse; the Scottish National Party (SNP) is the favourite. But the mere fact that Reform is even capable of mounting a serious challenge illustrates the degree to which the sands are shifting in UK politics. Polling guru John Curtice, a professor at Strathclyde University, believes the SNP should prevail in the byelection, but with potentially only a third of the vote. Meanwhile, Labour 's worst nightmare would be if Reform were to push it into third place. READ MORE That would cement a narrative taking hold in British politics that says Reform, having conquered the Tories , is now coming for Labour's votes. It could also be a harbinger that the SNP, which looked dead and buried a year ago after the Westminster election, could yet cling to power in Holyrood after next year's devolved parliament elections. With a dearth of constituency polling, Labour sources still hope the party could pull off a surprise win in this week's Hamilton byelection. But for a Labour win to be seen as an outside prospect so soon after its supposed Scottish comeback last year shows just how its fortunes have dipped since winning power in Westminster. This week's byelection is in an area of Lanarkshire to the southeast of Glasgow. It was called following the death in March of the SNP's Christina McKelvie, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. A large part of the devolved parliament constituency overlaps with the Westminster constituency of Labour MP Imogen Walker. She is married to Irish man Morgan McSweeney, UK prime minister Keir Starmer 's top adviser. That would make it even more embarrassing for the party were Reform to push it into third spot. The area includes most of the large town of Hamilton, with its relatively depressed centre, as well as the town of Larkhall, a bastion of Glasgow Rangers support that was once tagged the 'most sectarian town in Scotland'. Past articles have focused on the vandalism of anything in the town that was the colour green, synonymous with Irishness; the shopfront of the local Subway was repainted black by the company. Reform has canvassed heavily in Larkhall. [ SNP stages unlikely revival as Scottish Labour support collapses Opens in new window ] The campaign has been nasty at times. Reform, whose candidate is former Tory Ross Lambie, ran an online ad targeting the leader of Scottish Labour, Anas Sarwar. It suggested he would 'prioritise the Pakistani community'. Given Sarwar's ethnic heritage, the jibe was criticised as 'racist' by the other parties. The SNP's candidate is Katy Loudon, who unsuccessfully ran for the party in a Westminster byelection in 2023 and at last July's national poll. Considering Reform is pulling most of its support from Labour and the Tories, it could be third time lucky for Loudon this week as Farage's party further splits the pro-Union vote. Labour surged to more than 35 per cent of the Scottish vote in the Westminster vote last year, but most recent opinion polls for Holyrood show it has given up that ground already. It is now neck-and-neck with Reform at just below 20 per cent, but can blame much of its Scottish woes on the unpopularity of Starmer's UK government.
