4 days ago
Labour and Tories vote down Hamilton community funding
At South Lanarkshire Council's Hamilton area committee on Wednesday, SNP councillors proposed giving more than £5000 to 11 community groups in Hamilton, Larkhall and Bothwell, highlighting there had been tens of thousands of pounds in underspend in the community grants budget in previous years.
However, Labour councillors Allan Falconer and Mo Razzaq proposed a much smaller amount, with their plan receiving backing from Tory councillors – including Tory by-election candidate Richard Nelson.
One group that was eligible for more than £1900 only received £300.
It comes a day before voters in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse hit the polls to elect a new MSP following the death of Christina McKelvie.
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Hamilton councillor John Ross said Labour and the Tories teaming up to deny community groups funding was "egregious".
He said: "South Lanarkshire SNP are disappointed to see Labour and the Tories team-up once again to deny local community groups in the Hamilton area the funding that they need and deserve.
"This is particularly egregious given there is money sitting unused in the Community Grants budget specifically for this purpose.
"We call on the Labour party and their coalition partners to end their austerity agenda and invest in the people and places of South Lanarkshire."
South Lanarkshire Council had been run by a minority SNP administration before the local elections in 2022, and the party was returned as the largest that year.
However, the SNP's 27 seats were not enough to take a majority on the 64-seat council and instead Labour won the support of the Tory group and LibDems which allowed them to form an administration.
The SNP will be aiming to hold onto the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse Scottish Parliament seat they have held since 2011 when the seat was created.
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Clacking at the heels of SNP candidate and South Lanarkshire councillor Katy Loudon will be Reform UK's Ross Lambie and Scottish Labour's Davy Russell, with the contest widely expected to be a three-horse race between the parties.
McKelvie won the seat three times on the trot with a majority of more than 4500 over Labour in 2021.
Professor John Curtice has predicted whichever party wins they will likely do so on less than a third of the vote.
He told The National he would be surprised if Reform won the by-election, predicting they will come "a good third".
Curtice no party "is going to do terribly well" in a fragmented political environment, but he considers the SNP to be slight favourites in the race.
