Davy Russell dodges question 11 times in STV interview
Davy Russell, who snubbed a debate organised by STV's Scotland Tonight programme on Monday evening, instead took part in an individual interview with the broadcaster.
The debate, which will air on STV on Monday evening, will only be attended by the SNP's Katy Loudon and Reform UK's Ross Lambie.
READ MORE: Seven Scottish Tory councillors quit party as group 'collapses'
Russell previously said he would not be attending the debate because he would rather be "knocking on doors" - despite the fact that the event is scheduled for 10.40pm.
In an individual interview with STV journalist Colin Mackay ahead of the debate, Russell struggled to answer when asked about the failings of the current Labour Government.
🗳️Tonight we hear from five candidates in the Hamilton, Larkhall & Stonehouse Holyrood by-election.
In recent Scottish opinion polls, there are six parties enjoying significant support. We invited their candidates to debate.
Only two agreed to debate, and three took up the… pic.twitter.com/kAzWoueKzS — ScotlandTonight (@ScotlandTonight) June 2, 2025
Mackay asked Russell a total of 11 times whether the UK Government was right to scrap the Winter Fuel Payment.
The Scottish Labour candidate did not answer and instead insisted that he wasn't involved in the decision and that he was running for a Holyrood election rather than Westminster.
In a clip shared on social media, Mackay asked: "You're probably speaking to quite a lot of older people. Are you getting any anger from them that Labour have scrapped the Winter Fuel Allowance?"
READ MORE: What to expect from The National as we cover Hamilton by-election this week
Russell responded: "Yes, there is some concern, and Scottish Labour have said from day one that we will reinstate the Winter Fuel Allowance."
Mackay then said: "But at Westminster you've scrapped it, so again, you'd have to mitigate what your Government did at Westminster."
Russell replied: "But there were hard decisions to be made when the Labour Government came into power in Westminster."
Mackay then asked Russell four times whether the Labour Government was right to scrap the Winter Fuel Payment.
"They're hard decisions to take," Russell started to reply.
Mackay then asked again: "Do you think they were right?"
Russell responded: "Well, they were very hard decisions."
Mackay asked: "Do you think they were right to do it? It was a hard decision, do you think they made the right decision?"
Russell said: "Well, they took it based on the decisions, the circumstances they'd inherited."
READ MORE: Nigel Farage hides from public and press in shambolic by-election campaign visit
Mackay replied: "So you backed them? You backed the Chancellor, you back the Prime Minister on it?"
Russell repeated: "They're very hard decisions."
Mackay asked again: "And you back them?"
Russell then paused for several seconds before saying: "I totally think that the decisions they had to make were based on the previous government's mismanagement of the country–"
"And you backed them on it."
Russell then paused again, before he started: "On the doorsteps here, people are–"
"But you backed the Government. You backed the Prime Minister and the Chancellor. You can just tell me yes or no."
"Well, I wasn't involved in the decision, and this is a Scottish Parliament election, right?
"If I was a member of parliament then, I would have based it on the facts I had in front of me at the time."
The interview comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer was in Scotland for a defence announcement in Govan, although he did not take part in the by-election campaign in nearby Hamilton.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was also in Scotland, visiting Aberdeen and Hamilton – where he avoided the public and the press after protesters tracked down where he was supposed to appear.
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