29-05-2025
Race row threatens to turn Scottish by-election into one of the bitterest ever
Election veterans fear that next week's Scottish by-election could turn into one of the most bitter and controversial contests ever seen as Labour, Reform UK and the SNP all blame each other for the campaign descending into a series of angry and racist insults.
The bile will be flowing thick and fast this weekend while, in an astonishing development, John Swinney, Scotland's First Minister and SNP leader, has urged Labour voters to vote SNP to stop Nigel Farage's party winning its first Scottish seat.
Meanwhile, politicians with decades of experience believe that the furious infighting in the Hamilton Stonehouse and Larkhall contest, due to take place on June 5, is reminiscent of one of the foulest ever such contests that took place a smidgen over 30 years ago, in a constituency only eight miles away – Monklands East.
That vacancy was caused by the sudden and unfortunate death of John Smith, then leader of the Labour Party, who had held the seat since it was created in 1983, having previously held the predecessor seat of North Lanarkshire from 1970.
That battle back then between Labour and the SNP was dogged by angry sectarian overtones in a constituency which was split between Catholic and Protestant voters, with the latter accusing Catholic councillors of favouring their co-religionists in council spending.
Relations between the candidates got so bad that Labour and the SNP traded sectarian insults in a campaign that culminated in Labour's victory with a 1,640 majority – compared to John Smith's winning lead of 15,712.
The campaign in next Thursday's by-election has been a slow-burn compared to 1994. After picking up votes in local government elections and winning defections from the Scottish Conservatives, Nigel Farage has been determined to prove that Reform is not a wholly English party.
Winning in Hamilton would go a long way towards proving that, even if next week's contest is for a Holyrood, not a Commons, seat.
But last week things hotted up with Labour accusing Reform of playing the race card by showing a speech by Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, in which it was claimed he said he would 'prioritise the Pakistani community'.
But Sarwar insisted he did not say those words.
He accused Reform of 'dog-whistle politics' but it refused to back down and has now published another Sarwar speech in which he is claimed to be complaining that senior figures in Scottish public life were overwhelmingly white.
This latest video includes statements by Farage saying: 'We don't care about skin colour.' The advert had the caption 'Anas Sarwar is the one obsessed with race'.
For his part, Sarwar has accused Farage of a 'blatant attempt to try and poison our politics', and has challenged the Reform leader to a debate in the run up to next Thursday's vote.
Perhaps the strangest aspect of this contest has been Mr Swinney's intervention, urging Labour supporters to vote SNP to stop a Reform win, adding that Labour has no chance of taking the seat.
His message to Labour is: 'Vote SNP to stop Reform.'
But from this observer's point of view, wouldn't it be great if all the voters who support the maintenance of the United Kingdom and are fed up with the SNP's perpetual whine about independence banded together?
That way all those Unionists – assuming that's what Reform voters believe too, might stop the SNP next Thursday?
A nice thought but I fear it won't happen. Instead the SNP, Labour and Reform are locked in a life-and-death struggle that can only get nastier in the few remaining days leading to June 5.
There's not a shred of doubt in my mind that Reform first introduced the 'race' element into this campaign. Nigel Farage is due in Scotland early next week and no doubt he'll continue to say: 'Who, me?'
The rest of the Scottish political world knows perfectly well that there's only one answer to that.
