
Find all articles on the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election
Initially, this looked like a two-way contest between SNP and Labour, but Reform UK have thrown everything at winnng over disaffected voters.
The outcome could reshape Scotland's political map and offer clues about how the parties will fare at next year's Holyrood election.
On this page, you'll find all of The Herald's in-depth reporting, interviews, analysis and opinion on the Hamilton by-election, including candidate profiles, campaign developments, and what's being said on the doorstep.
We'll update this hub throughout the campaign — and through the night as the results come in.
Explainer: Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election
Why voters in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse are heading to the polls — and why this by-election could send shockwaves through Scottish politics.
Hamilton by-election preview: candidates set out their stalls
Profiles and strategies from the Hamilton by-election front-runners, plus insight on the seat's political history and campaign dynamics.
Reform support in Hamilton should worry other parties
On the streets of Hamilton: voters voice frustration — and many say they are turning to Reform UK.
SNP will be the winner as Reform outflanks Labour from the left
Neil Mackay on Labour's identity crisis — and how Farage is stealing its clothes while the SNP reaps the rewards.
Reform can 'win Hamilton by-election and take power' in HolyroodRichard Tice tells The Herald why Reform UK believes it can win in Hamilton — and reshape Scottish politics from Holyrood to Westminster.
Reform support in Hamilton should worry other parties
On the streets of Hamilton: voters voice frustration — and many say they are turning to Reform UK.
SNP will be the winner as Reform outflanks Labour from the left
Neil Mackay on Labour's identity crisis — and how Farage is stealing its clothes while the SNP reaps the rewards.
Tory candidate defends Orange Order and Apprentice Boys links
"We are law-abiding organisations. We pledge allegiance to His Majesty the King. And, you know, we are not divisive at all, and people have their right to their own religion.'
Farage defends Reform UK by-election ad branded racist
Nigel Farage has accused Anas Sarwar of 'introducing sectarianism into Scottish politics.'
Labour by-election candidate denies he has hindered campaign
Scottish Labour's by-election candidate has rubbished claims he has a 'low profile.'
Anas Sarwar challenges Nigel Farage to debate in Hamilton
The Scottish Labour leader said the Brexiteer was a 'pathetic, poisonous, little man'.

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Telegraph
27 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Starmer has entered the ‘degeneration' phase. His MPs are in despair
Shortly after the general election, The Daily T – the podcast I present with colleague Camilla Tominey – held a live event for Telegraph readers at our headquarters in central London. It was a very jolly affair, with prosecco on hand as Camilla, Gordon Rayner, our Associate Editor, and I discussed the state of politics and answered questions. The biggest worry in the audience was that Starmer was simply Tony Blair in disguise, and was being 'run' by Labour's most successful Prime Minister in history via his think tank, the Tony Blair Institute. This was nonsense, I suggested. Blair was far too Right-wing for Starmer. Chatting afterwards, a number of attendees came up to me to make a point about what being 'Prime Minister of the country' meant to them. 'We have to give him a chance,' one Conservative voter said. 'He won, it's good to end the chaos, and he is the leader now. As long as he is sensible, we will see how it goes.' This is a very British view of politics and one I wholeheartedly support. The office of Prime Minister is one to be respected, politicians need time to affect change and following the psychodramas of Boris Johnson and the rest a period of calm would be very much welcomed. I wonder how that Conservative voter is feeling now. After a reasonable opening day speech about governing for everyone, Starmer has induced nausea. Freebie gifts revealed that it was still 'one rule for them'. With no discussion or preparation, the Winter Fuel Allowance was scrapped for all but the lowest paid pensioners. A £22 billion 'black hole' appeared to come as a shock to the Chancellor despite every sensible analyst saying before the election that the public finances were shot. The Budget raised taxes after Labour promises that it would not. 'I need to fix the foundations,' Rachel Reeves told voters as the polls started slipping. Starmer agreed. 'Growth' was everything and 'tough Labour' would not be indulging in any U-turns. Even that gargantuan and ever-increasing benefits bill would be tackled. Being controversial can have a point in politics – as long as you stick to the course. Starmer has done the opposite, the lead character in a political tragedy about a man who wanted to be king but did not know why. The PM has confused noise from opponents, backbenchers and pressure groups with the very different purpose of running the country. The result has been strategic chaos – a disaster for anyone residing in Number 10. Where once he was positive about the effects of immigration, now he is talking about 'an island of strangers'. Where the cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance were an absolute necessity – now they will be at least partially reversed (although when and by how much will be a political running sore for months to come). The two child benefit cap is likely to be lifted. The UK will be in and not in the European Union. I speak to many senior Labour figures every week. They pinpoint the disastrous local elections as the moment Starmer buckled afresh, casting around in desperation for anything that might shift momentum. A caucus of Red Wall Labour MPs, led by Jo White, demanded changes, particularly to disability benefit cuts. 'We will not budge,' Downing Street insisted, exactly as they had done over the Winter Fuel Allowance. Few believe that position will hold. Negative briefings are starting to swirl around Morgan McSweeney, Starmer's chief of staff. Enemies point out, and there are many, that the 'hard choices' approach has given way too easily to 'I'll U-turn if you want me to'. Policies that MPs expended a lot of energy defending are now being abandoned, the quickest way to lose faith on the back benches. Nearly 200 Labour councillors lost their jobs in the May elections, a rich seam of angry activists who blame the man at the top. Starmer and Sweeney go back, to the dark days of the Hartlepool by-election loss in 2021 when Labour was trounced by the Conservatives. Starmer considered quitting and outsourced much of his political thinking to McSweeney, who picked him up and dusted him off. The Corbyn-lite approach that had won the PM the Labour leadership was jettisoned and 'sensible Starmer' took its place, the dry technocrat who would focus on what works. Labour MPs of the modernising tendency fear Corbyn-lite is creeping back. Adrift in a sea of collapsing personal ratings, Starmer is trying his own form of 'back to basics' – the basics of 'all will have jam' Left wing economics. 'We have no idea who is driving the bus,' said one well placed Labour figure on the chopping and changing at the centre. 'It is not about jam today or jam tomorrow. With no growth there is no jam.' Reeves is in an increasingly precarious position. She marched into the gunfire with a degree of political bravery, insisting that her decisions had to be taken to re-energise the economy. My Treasury sources insist there are glimmers of hope that the strategy is working. The first three months of the year saw growth above estimates. Business confidence has started to pick up. In the spending review on June 11, the Chancellor will announce billions of pounds in capital investment in transport hubs, energy, schools, hospitals and research and development. These are the right policies. The PM is striding in the opposite direction, creating a tension between Number 10 and Number 11 that never augurs well for good government. When Labour published its manifesto in 2024, the only person beyond Starmer himself to appear regularly in the glossy photographs was Reeves. Now it would be Angela Rayner, who is noisily demanding more tax rises. Like grief, governments travel through five phases. Euphoria, honeymoon, stability, degeneration, failure. Starmer has managed to leap-frog the first three and has entered 'degeneration' well before the first anniversary of a victory which gave him a 171 seat majority. Even his allies look on baffled, failing to understand that government is difficult, that you cannot gyrate between policy positions and expect appalling poll numbers to improve. Leading requires courage, vision and an ability to communicate. Consistency is the prosaic truth that the Prime Minister has failed to grasp.


BreakingNews.ie
an hour ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Irish unity vote only route for Northern Ireland to rejoin EU – O'Toole
The only route for Northern Ireland to rejoin the European Union is through an Irish unity referendum, SDLP Stormont leader Matthew O'Toole has said. Mr O'Toole was speaking ahead of an opposition motion in the Stormont Assembly, nine years on from the 2016 Brexit referendum. Advertisement The SDLP MLA will say there has been a 'structural shift' in British politics with the rise of Nigel Farage's Reform UK party. He will also tell Stormont any prospect of the UK rejoining the EU is 'miniscule', and a referendum under the terms set out in the Good Friday Agreement is the 'only route back to EU membership' for Northern Ireland. Speaking ahead of the debate, Mr O'Toole said: 'The SDLP welcomes the improved co-operation between the UK and the EU following the recent summit in London, along with progress in a number of areas that begin to ease some post-Brexit frictions. 'We always knew Brexit would be disastrous for the whole UK economy, for Northern Ireland and relationships across these islands. Sadly, so it has proven. Advertisement 'Northern Ireland was dragged out of Europe against its will, and our politics has suffered the consequences.' He said British politics was continuing an 'irresistible drift towards 'Faragism'.' Mr O'Toole added: 'We have virtually no power to stop that happening. 'But we do have a viable pathway to a different future – a European future – and that is through a new Ireland. Advertisement 'It is time all parties who claim to be pro-European and reject the 'Faragification' of UK politics to acknowledge our only route back into Europe is via an inclusive, hopeful new Ireland.'

The National
an hour ago
- The National
SNP criticise Labour's plans to increase UK's defence spending
Prime Minister Keir Starmer had previously outlined that a 3% spend on defence by 2034 is an 'ambitious' target, a view reportedly still held by some senior Whitehall officials. However, John Healey has said it is now a certainty. The Defence Secretary's comments mean the Labour Government would be committed to spending more than £10 billion extra on defence every year, despite criticism over proposed cuts to public services. In February, Starmer announced that the UK would increase spending on defence up to 2.5% of GDP by April 2027, raiding the international development budget, in a move which was branded by the Scottish Government as 'deeply disappointing'. READ MORE: Scottish minister hits back at Defence Secretary 'student union politics' jibe The SNP MP Dave Doogan said Labour are 'unable to read the room' following Healey's comments that the UK Government will spend 3% of GDP on defence by the next parliament. Doogan (below), the SNP's defence spokesperson at Westminster, said: '3% by 2034 shows how broke the UK is - this is a decade after Labour have taken power. (Image: House of Commons) 'Lead times for new equipment and systems will add further delay to Labour's tardy defence timescales. 'This 'jam tomorrow' defence posture won't fix crumbling defence housing or the lamentable recruitment and retention crisis." He added: 'Ballooning nuclear enterprise costs, so high now the government has delayed issuing the new rolling ten year cost of Trident, will consume much of any new defence cash. 'We are firmly in an era of increasingly contested global ambition and global instability where some traditional allies seem increasingly at odds with European values and ambitions and Labour are unwilling or unable to read the room.' The UK Government's 10-year defence plan on Britain's defence spending, which is due to be announced on Monday, was reportedly due to be published during VE Day week earlier this month but had been delayed because of rows with the Treasury. One source told The Times there had been 'discontent that the Ministry of Defence is using it to push for more defence spending'. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has estimated that reaching 3% of GDP by the next parliament would cost the UK an additional £17.3bn in 2029-30. Doogan's comments come after Healey (below) said Labour's plans to increase military spending are sending a 'message to Moscow'. The UK Government pledged £1.5bn to set up at least six factories and said it would support the procurement of up to 7000 UK-built long-range weapons in response to the strategic defence review (SDR), which is to be published on Monday. The new funding will see UK munitions spending hit £6bn during this parliament, with Starmer calling the review a 'radical blueprint'. The Prime Minister also pledged a 'wave of investments' in shipbuilding, drone technology and cyber defences. Healey said the £6bn of investment would 'equip our forces for the future' and 'create jobs in every part of the UK'. 'This is a message to Moscow as well," he told the BBC's Sunday Morning With Laura Kuenssberg programme. "This is Britain standing behind, making our armed forces stronger but making our industrial base stronger, and this is part of our readiness to fight, if required. Healey added that Russia is 'attacking the UK daily' as part of some 90,000 cyber attacks from state-linked sources that were directed at the UK's defence over the last two years.