George Galloway to stand for Holyrood 2026 election
Yvonne Ridley, a former member of Alex Salmond's Alba Party and journalist, will also contest the Glasgow Pollok seat following former first minister Humza Yousaf's plans to step down next year.
Galloway told The Herald that he will top the Workers Party list for next year's Holyrood election and that his party are going to 'put everything' into winning Glasgow's Southside.
READ MORE: Four Al Jazeera journalists killed in Israeli air strike outside hospital in Gaza
'We're going all out for it and we've got a lot of support,' he said.
Asked if he was confident of winning, Galloway said: 'I wouldn't say confident.'
Adding: 'We're hopeful that we can win in it. We're going to put everything into trying to do so.'
Galloway said momentum for the Workers Party was growing in Glasgow and that he has had people ask if they can stand in seats in Inverness and Edinburgh.
'But these seats in Glasgow are our current and number one target,' he said.
Adding: 'We're strong there.'
(Image: PA)
According to The Herald, his Holyrood campaign will strongly focus on the crisis in Gaza, and the end to Israel's genocidal campaign.
The veteran politician has also said he would back a second referendum on Scottish independence.
In June, Galloway came out in support of a Scottish independence referendum despite having been opposed to Scotland having the right to self-determination for his entire political life.
In 2021, he pledged to 'tackle the scourge of separatism' when All for Unity launched their Scottish Parliament election manifesto.
But in June, Galloway made the surprise announcement that he had changed his view as he said in a social media post: 'We support the right of the Scots to self-determination. Eleven years after they last did so, we believe the time for another referendum is close.
'Given the collapsing authority of the British state the pitiful prime minister Starmer the moral decline of British society the result cannot easily be predicted. Britain has become a cesspit.'
Galloway founded the Workers Party of Britain in 2019 and has served as an MP across five different constituencies, including Glasgow Hillhead between 1987 and 1997 and Glasgow Kelvin from 1997 to 2005.
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