Latest news with #ScottishElections
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Don't think Nigel Farage will kill off the Tories? Just look at Reform UK's surge in Scotland
If you were doubting that Nigel Farage had a serious chance of heading a hard-right British government in 2029, the people of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse just poured a bucket of particularly icy water over your head. Though Labour won the Scottish parliamentary byelection, defying predictions it would be beaten into third place, Reform UK chalked up more than a quarter of the vote – trailing the victors by an unsubstantial 1,500 voters. This tells a devastating story. Nigel Farage's outfit seriously outperformed the level of support indicated by Scottish polling: the last four surveys had Reform on between 12% and 19%, yet it secured 26% of the vote after standing here for the first time. This suggests it is mobilising previous non-voters whom pollsters are not picking up. The latest UK-wide YouGov poll, which asked people how they would vote if there were a general election tomorrow, put Reform in first place, eight points ahead of Labour. Imagine if that polling in fact underestimates their reach. There is, however, an important caveat. The multimillionaire businessman Zia Yusuf did an impressive job as Reform's chair in professionalising its operations: his resignation speaks to a perennial threat of internal chaos. Like Ukip, Reform may be hobbled by its excessive dependence on its frontman. The SNP, meanwhile, has ruled Holyrood for nearly two decades in an age in which most incumbents are clobbered. The party has lost its best asset, Nicola Sturgeon. Even so, it did not expect to lose 17 points in this byelection. Its activists are divided on whether this loss is down to the party soft-pedalling on the independence cause, or failing to address voters' bread-and-butter concerns. It seems almost certain that it suffered the opposite phenomenon to Reform: its demotivated supporters stayed at home. The byelection offered up yet more striking evidence that the Tories are being replaced as the standard bearers of the right, as they bagged a paltry 6% of the vote. This is the end stage of a process kickstarted by David Cameron in 2010: try to placate the right of his own party by throwing them endless red meat, making them fatter and hungrier. It's the same phenomenon that is unfolding across the west: the old centre-right is dying, and being replaced by a radical right that is increasingly contemptuous of democratic norms. Given Reform's racist claim that the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, would 'prioritise the Pakistani community', its defeat is hardly reassuring, as it still finds popular support among hardcore Scottish unionists. As the pre-eminent psephologist John Curtice notes, Labour was in fact down on its already weak 2021 performance in this seat, triumphing only because of the fragmentation of the electorate. The result shows Labour is not on course to retake the seat of Scottish power, he concludes. The big message, he says, is that if Farageism is making inroads even in Scotland, its strength has been underestimated. What next? Starmer's foot soldiers have a strategy. Having achieved unparalleled unpopularity by attacking state provision for disabled people and elderly people, they are opting for a 'squeeze' message. They believe Farage replacing the Tories is beneficial, because he has a lower ceiling of support than the traditional party of the right. Our electoral system will force voters to make a binary choice between a Labour government they strongly dislike, and a Farage premiership most fear. The choice is between two bad options – and they're hoping that voters will pick the least worse. Cast your mind back to the decision of Hillary Clinton's team to intentionally promote Donald Trump as the Republican standard-bearer for much the same reason. That didn't go well. Labour must surely understand how Farage's capacity to enthuse non-voters raises the ceiling to an unpredictable height. Starmer's team clearly looks to Canada, where an incumbent liberal government was on course for electoral meltdown, until progressives abandoned the leftwing New Democrats to prevent the hard-right Conservatives triumphing. Yet there are key differences. One is the small factor of the US president openly planning to annex their country. Another is that although Justin Trudeau's administration may have been deeply disappointing from a progressive perspective, it did not ceaselessly alienate its natural supporters, as Labour has done, including by adopting rhetoric on immigration associated with the far right. Labour won about two-thirds of the seats in the general election with only one-third of the overall vote share. Surely it recognises that Reform could do the same. This ability is only entrenched by our first past the post electoral system, which even the former Conservative minister Tobias Ellwood has described as 'dated and unrepresentative'. Faced with a choice between lesser evils, the strategy for progressives ought to be clear: cement a pact between the Green party and other leftwing candidates, focus on 50 or so seats, and throw every resource at them. In a resulting hung parliament, they could force an end to this antiquated electoral system. But the central belt of Scotland just underlined an important lesson. The west is in crisis: the rise of the radical right is both a symptom and an accelerant, and nowhere is immune. Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Reform didn't win – but it's on the cusp of a breakthrough in Scotland
A month ago, Reform UK's triumph in the English local elections all but killed off the two-party system in Westminster. On Thursday night, it did the same in Holyrood. 'There's a new party in Scotland,' declared Ross Lambie, Reform's candidate in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election. He may not have won, but he did send the strongest signal. Though Labour prised the constituency from the SNP – only the third time a seat has changed hands in the admittedly brief history of Scottish parliamentary by-elections – it was far from a resounding victory. Davy Russell's margin of just 602 votes puts him in the second-most precarious position of all current MSPs, with just 11 months to go until a guaranteed re-election battle. From a standing start six weeks ago, Reform's Mr Lambie took 26.1 per cent of the vote, while all other major parties – including Labour – suffered a fall in their share. Reform now looks on course to pick up double-digit seats in next year's Scottish Parliament elections, and could pose a real threat in the 2029 general election. The Tories, meanwhile, fell to a lowly fourth place, with just 6 per cent. Having received well over four times as many votes, Reform now reigns supreme on the Right in Scotland as Labour and the SNP, each blighted by being in power, tussle for the Left. The SNP's shock 16.8 point crash in vote share (despite a number of polls favouring the party for the win) was a disaster for John Swinney, the First Minister. His first electoral contest as leader resulted in the worst-ever by-election swing against the SNP and the second-worst for any party since devolution in 1999. Reform ended up just 869 votes behind, putting the top three parties within less than 1,500 votes of each other. 'Scotland is now a three-way marginal,' declared Richard Tice, Reform's deputy leader, leaving many seats vulnerable to a Reform insurgency. Less than half of constituencies in 2021 were won with a majority of the vote. But only 73 of the Scottish Parliament's 129 seats are awarded in this way. The combination of first past the post in individual constituencies with regionally elected party list members, according to the proportion of votes received, could actually be even more of a boon to Reform. Few politicians have been hampered by Westminster's electoral system as much as Nigel Farage. Even his successful 2024 general election campaign proved the most distorted in history, his party receiving 14.3 per cent of the vote yet just 0.8 per cent of the seats. Holyrood tends to produce far less skewed results. Looking at the percentage of 'unearned' seats in elections since devolution shows – calculated by adding up the difference between each party's vote share and their seat share and dividing by two (what psephologists call a Loosemore-Hanby index) – they tend to in fact be roughly twice as faithful to the will of the people. This bodes well for Reform in the Scottish Parliament elections next May. Given the party's current overall polling average of around 16 per cent, it could be on course for between 12 and 20 seats. More sophisticated analysis from Ballot Box Scotland suggests that, as of May 30, Reform could pick up 15 seats. None of these, however, represents an outright constituency win, but rather the allocation based on a 15.4 per cent share of the regional vote. Reform's predicted haul matches that of the Tories and is only a few behind Labour, on 21. Reflecting on the by-election result, Prof Sir John Curtice, a polling expert, said the Conservatives were 'being eaten for lunch, breakfast and dinner' by Reform. While the SNP would win the most seats on 59, that falls from the 64 in 2021 and slips further from the 65 required for a majority, giving challengers' voices even more prominence. While Scots often vote differently between general elections and their parliamentary elections, their distaste for the Labour Government's policies speaks volumes. Labour capitalised on the SNP's financing scandal to take 35.3 per cent of the vote last July – a greater share than its 34.4 in England. While the SNP salvaged 30 per cent in second, Reform came fifth with just 7 per cent, less than half its 15.3 per cent take south of the border. This underlies the fact that Scotland is not naturally fertile ground for Mr Farage – 62 per cent of Scots voted Remain in 2016's Brexit referendum, more than any other UK region. The party neither won nor came second in any of Scotland's 57 Westminster constituencies. Its highest vote share was Aberdeenshire North and Moray East (14.6 per cent), but that was still only enough to put it third after the SNP (35.2 per cent) and the Conservatives (32.8 per cent). But attitudes are shifting. Immigration was the issue Scottish adults felt Labour was handling the least well, with 74 per cent of respondents answering 'badly' to just 13 per cent 'well' when polled on June 1. In YouGov's latest temperature take of politicians' net favourability – the share of Scots viewing them positively minus those with a negative impression – Mr Farage came in at -44. That may sound dire, but it makes him more popular than Sir Keir Starmer (-52) and Kemi Badenoch (-50). That's a 10-point improvement since last July for the Reform leader, compared to a 38-point decline for the Prime Minister. More recent MRP polling – multilevel regression and post-stratification polls that combine a large survey sample with local demographic and historic support – hints that this could yield political results. According to The Telegraph's election predictor, Labour's seat tally in Scotland would plummet from 37 to three, leaving it with just Glasgow North East, Midlothian and Edinburgh South. While Reform still falls short of breaking through in any single seat, its overall vote share increases to 12.8 per cent. It now comes second in six seats and third in 22, with the average margin to the victor shrinking from 36.2 points behind to 24.9. The Telegraph's poll tracker shows that Reform has soared over the past two months. The party overtook Labour for second place at the start of April, surging from 16.7 per cent to 23.9 per cent as of the start of June. The Tories, meanwhile, having won 12.7 per cent of the Scottish vote last summer, are languishing on 8.2 per cent of voting intention in fifth place. With the party effectively 'disappearing down a plughole', Reform has seized the reins of the UK Right by taking the lead in the nation most historically antipathetic to its values.
BreakingNews.ie
4 days ago
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
Scots ‘voted for change', says Starmer after Labour's surprise by-election win
British prime minister Keir Starmer has said people in Scotland have 'voted for change' following his party's shock win in a by-election. Mr Starmer congratulated Labour's Davy Russell as the new member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Hamilton and looked ahead to next year's Scottish Parliament election, saying it is a chance to 'turbo-charge delivery'. Advertisement Mr Russell took the seat in an area southeast of Glasgow vacated by the death of Scottish government minister and SNP MSP Christina McKelvie. Posting on social media on Friday morning, Mr Starmer said: 'People in Scotland have once again voted for change. 'Next year there is a chance to turbo-charge delivery by putting Labour in power on both sides of the border. I look forward to working with you.' Labour's candidate, who is the deputy lord lieutenant of Lanarkshire, beat the SNP's Katy Loudon – who fell to her third defeat since 2023. Advertisement The win comes against the backdrop of national polls which place Scottish Labour in third place behind the SNP and Reform UK – and will undoubtedly give a boost to Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar's bid to become first minister in next year's election. Mr Sarwar told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme he is confident Labour can win that contest. When asked if his party can defeat the SNP, which has been in power in Scotland since 2007, Mr Sarwar declared: 'Absolutely. 'I believed it before this by-election and I continue to believe it now. Advertisement 'Next year the choice is simple – a third decade of the SNP with John Swinney as first minister or a new direction for Scotland with me as first minister. 'That is the choice facing the people of Scotland, that is the campaign over the next year, and that is a campaign I am confident we can win. 'I think what the people of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse did yesterday was lead the way to that change of government next year and a Scottish Labour government next year.' He also said he will 'continue to challenge the poison of Reform', making clear he is 'talking about the people who lead Reform' and not those who 'may be tempted' to vote for them. Advertisement Mach of the Hamilton campaign had been dominated by a Reform UK advert – branded 'racist' by Labour and others – which had alleged Mr Sarwar would 'prioritise' the Pakistani community. A surge in support for Nigel Farage's party saw it come in third place in Hamilton, just 800 votes behind the SNP – although there had been speculation Reform could come second or possibly even win the seat. Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice insisted the party is 'delighted' with the result. Richard Tice said he was delighted with Reform UK's result (Jane Barlow/PA) Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said: 'It's truly remarkable. Advertisement 'We've come from nowhere to being in a three-way marginal, and we're within 750 votes of winning that by-election and just a few hundred votes of defeating the SNP, so it's an incredible result.' At the election count earlier, Mr Tice told the PA news agency he was 'thrilled to bits' with the result. When the votes were counted, Mr Russell polled 8,559, Ms Loudon took 7,957 votes, and Reform's Ross Lambie secured 7,088. Speaking to PA after the declaration, Mr Sarwar said: 'I think people need to change the script, because we've proven the pollsters wrong. 'We've proven the commentators wrong, we've proven the bookies wrong. 'We've proven John Swinney wrong and so many others wrong too.' In the final days of the campaign, the Scottish First Minister had said it was a 'two-horse race' between the SNP and Reform, and Mr Sarwar asked what it says about a government that has been in power for 18 years when 'all it has to offer in a campaign is vote SNP to stop Farage'. Mr Russell had faced criticism for his perceived lack of media appearances, but Mr Sarwar said such arguments were borne of 'an element of classism and elitism'. Davy Russell took the win on Thursday (Jane Barlow/PA) Speaking from the stage after his win, Mr Russell said: 'Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse has voted tonight to take a new direction with Scottish Labour. 'Like the people here in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, and right across Scotland, we all feel we have been let down by the SNP.' The newly-minted MSP also hit out at Reform, saying the win 'sent a message to Farage and his mob tonight – the poison of Reform isn't us, it isn't Scotland and we don't want your division here'. World Man charged over vandalism at Trump golf course in... Read More Mr Swinney said Ms Loudon had 'fought a superb SNP campaign' and that he was 'clearly disappointed' his party was unable to win. 'Labour won by an absolute landslide in this area less than a year ago – we came much closer tonight, but the people of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse have made clear that we still have work to do,' he added. 'Over the next few days, we will take time to consider the result fully.'
Telegraph
6 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Will Reform win Scotland's Hamilton by-election? Our experts make their predictions
It will be close, but this smells like an SNP victory The major problem for Unionist parties in Scottish by-elections is that the SNP invariably hoovers up something like 30 per cent of the popular vote. Infuriatingly for their opponents this tends to be the case no matter how poor its record in government has been. And remember the SNP has been the Scottish Government since 2007 since when it has become better known for its foul-ups – especially on issues like the NHS and education – than for successes. With normally such a head start for the Nats, Labour, Tories, Lib Dems – and this time Reform UK – are left to share out the remainder amongst themselves, meaning that all too often the SNP gets the prize. And last time it helped them to comfortably win this seat, Hamilton, Stonehouse and Larkhall, with nearly 50 per cent of the vote. This time the contest has been unique in that policies, per se, have played little part in it. Nigel Farage and Reform have basically confined themselves to insisting that they're not Labour, Tory, Lib Dem or SNP but that they will provide 'Change'. And that's it. For their part all the others have concentrated on attacking Nigel Farage for being, well, Nigel Farage, even if he's not his party's candidate here. They've sought to conjure up an image of Reform's leader as an extreme Right-wing, racist bogey man – a character assassination that he constantly denies but which he shrugs off while accepting that it gets him talked about. But as Labour showed in last year's general election 'Change' works and now seems to be helping Reform. However, there are two wars being fought in this by-election – a ground war, on the doorsteps with continuous canvassing as well as an air war in the mass media. In spite of numerous defections from other parties, as the new boys on the block, Reform doesn't have anything like the foot soldiers required to fight an effective ground war. But Mr Farage's stardom – or notoriety if you prefer – means Reform is getting masses of broadcast, online and newspaper coverage in the air war. But while the SNP, Labour and Tories know who their traditional supporters are it is pretty much a shot in the dark for Reform. They think they're doing well but can't be sure. The SNP is a formidable election-fighting machine and is defending a huge majority won last time by a popular minister whose death caused this by-election, even if its present candidate lost in her last two contests. Meanwhile Labour reckon their strength on the doorsteps has been helped by having a popular local candidate, even if he's been shielded from too much media attention. The result may well be very close but it looks and smells like an SNP victory. Labour is desperate to be second and is praying that it gets its vote out. But failing to be runners-up, almost certainly behind Reform, will count as a major humiliation for Sir Keir Starmer and Scottish leader Anas Sarwar. Scots won't publicly admit supporting Farage – but they may vote Reform anyway A Labour Party friend forwarded me an email from his party today, which appealed for help in the last 24 hours of campaigning in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse Scottish parliamentary by-election. The only problem with the message is that it features a photo of a large billboard being used by Labour in the final days of the campaign. The first word on that billboard? Reform. 'REFORM CAN'T WIN', it reads. 'THE SNP DON'T DESERVE TO'. For an invitation to voters to cast a positive vote for Labour, you need to wait for the third sentence in the lower half of the advert. In advance of the actual result, we can be sure of only two things: that Labour has thrown every resource it possibly can at this campaign. And also that it isn't going to win. In fact it is more likely to come third, behind the SNP and Reform. This should not be the case: Labour's publicity is right. Having governed Scotland for 18 years, and having governed badly, the SNP certainly doesn't deserve a victory. Nevertheless, having skilfully led his party out of the choppy waters made more hazardous by his two predecessors, first minister John Swinney could reap the benefits of being a distinct improvement on both Humza Yousaf and Nicola Sturgeon. The bar is set dreadfully low in Scottish politics. But will his party win in a seat that has been SNP since 2011? Bookies and commentators reckon this is the most likely outcome, narrowly ahead of Reform, which has become an unlikely challenger. In the 1990s, polling organisations blamed 'shy Tory voters' for the inaccuracy of polls that skewed in Labour's favour. Given the public hostility to all things Tory, at least some voters chose to deny the party in public while quietly voting for them in the privacy of the polling booth. It would not be unreasonable to suggest that the same phenomenon might work in Reform's favour. In Left-wing, right-on, progressive Scotland, no one would dare admit publicly to supporting Nigel Farage's party. But they might vote for them anyway, once they've been issued with their ballot paper and the thin curtain has safely closed behind them. That's what Farage is counting on, in the hope that Reform's disadvantage over the other two parties in terms of organisational experience will be outweighed by disgruntled Scots wishing a plague on both Labour's and the SNP's houses. In private, of course. And it could conceivably happen. If Reform pulls it off, this will be the most momentous Scottish by-election since 1967 In British politics Hamilton will always be remembered for the 1967 by-election when Winnie Ewing won the Westminster seat. Scotland's Labour-Tory duopoly was torn asunder giving the SNP elected representatives at Westminster and Holyrood ever since. Although Labour won the Commons constituency in July 2024 the Scottish Parliament seat was held by the SNP's Christina McKelvie until her untimely death in March this year. A year ago Labour could have been expected to win a by-election, but their candidate, Davy Russell, has been heavily chaperoned by his minders, nervous about him defending Keir Starmer's highly unpopular policies. Declining to take part in Monday's televised debate, only the SNP and Reform candidates appeared live. The SNP's Katy Loudon has already been branded a serial loser of two previous elections, while Reform UK's Ross Lambie was a Tory councillor until March. Voters are said to be 'scunnered' with the mainstream parties, causing expectations of Lambie coming second. That would send a shockwave through the Holyrood establishment. Yet such has been the welcoming response for Reform on the door steps a victory cannot be ruled out. Nigel Farage said he was hopeful of coming second but winning was 'improbable' – a perfect example of expectation management. The Tories will be pleased to save their deposit. In 1967 Scots singer Lulu was top of the charts with To Sir with love. If the punters of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse send Farage's man to Holyrood it could be the beginning of a Scottish love affair causing Farage to dance a Highland jig.
Telegraph
01-06-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
The SNP stronghold that could fall to Reform – and help Farage win over Scotland
Nigel Farage jetted back to Britain from Las Vegas on Friday ready to roll the dice on what could be his party's biggest electoral breakthrough in Scotland. The Reform UK leader is expected to hit the campaign trail on Monday for a Scottish Parliament by-election on Thursday. Once upon a time it would have been inconceivable for Scottish voters to back him. Less than a decade ago, he was forced to seek refuge in a pub and required a police escort after he was chased out of Edinburgh by angry locals. But now support for Reform is surging north of the border, as locals become increasingly disillusioned with the SNP and Labour alike. At stake, the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse seat and an opportunity for the party to secure its first MSP in a contest seen as a bellwether for next May's Holyrood elections. Quite what that victory might look like remains to be seen, but Ross Lambie, Reform's candidate, has the air of a confident man. 'We are loving this campaign,' says the 41-year-old architect. 'Because we have nothing to lose. The SNP and Labour have lots to lose, they have got everything to lose, they're fighting for their careers; we feel like we're fighting for the country.' By his own admission, the Reform party in Scotland is more of a movement than an established political force. But the married father-of-one says that momentum is building. He said hundreds of volunteers from across the country have travelled to Hamilton in recent weeks to assist his campaign. 'People feel badly let down by the SNP and Labour and they feel like this is the last chance. There is frustration with the current political parties. What little public money we have is being spent on things like net zero while there are two-year NHS waiting lists. We're calling these decisions out,' he says. Reform winning or even finishing a close second to the SNP would give credence to polls showing it is on course to overtake the Tories and Labour to become the official opposition in the Scottish Parliament. The by-election was supposed to be a straight fight between the SNP and Labour when it was called in mid-April, following the death of Scottish Government minister Christina McKelvie. However, both parties' activists have been surprised by the strength of support for Reform on the doorsteps and are worried that it could pull off an unlikely win. Brenda Maclean has lived in Hamilton for about 50 years. She has always voted Labour but the town's steady decline has left her disillusioned and angry. 'This used to be a bustling town,' she says. 'Hamilton's half-empty now, it's like a ghost town. Look at it. Charity shops. Nail bars. Turkish barbers. It's disgraceful and they want you to vote?' The 70-year-old pensioner said she intends to vote in the by-election but her message to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is not to bank on her support. 'We were brought up with Labour as the working party but they're not interested in working people. Starmer's more interested in [what's happening] abroad than his own country. I think I'll vote for Reform, I'm in two minds. People want something different because they are fed up.' Ewan Spence is also undecided, but the 59-year-old accountant and Tory supporter said he might vote tactically for Labour. He described Reform as 'divisive' on issues such as immigration. 'I don't want that in my country,' he said. 'It should have been a two-horse race between Labour and SNP, but it's not going to be. Reform are pushing hard in the area, they are building votes and I think they could push Labour into second place, which would be seismic.' On Hamilton's high street, many locals are only vaguely aware of the looming election battle. Lucas Land, 34, a self-employed window cleaner, said: 'I'm not interested, look at the state of this place. Every second shop is a charity shop. It's a mess.' Kellyanne Macdonald, 40, said she had no plans to vote despite being canvassed by Reform and the SNP in recent weeks. 'Nothing changes,' she said. 'I remember when Hamilton was bustling.' For the SNP, defeat in a seat where it is defending a 4,582 majority would be nothing short of humiliating for First Minister John Swinney, who recently convened a summit to 'lock out' Reform from Scotland. He has already warned that the by-election is a 'straight contest' between the SNP and Reform UK as he urged voters to back his party last week. He said Labour support had collapsed and urged voters to act and 'unite behind our shared principles' to defeat Nigel Farage's party. Mr Swinney described Mr Farage as a 'clear and present danger to our country' and said he must be stopped. However, for Labour, the political consequences are far more devastating, especially if predictions of a distant third-place finish behind the SNP and Reform are realised. Labour's Imogen Walker – the wife of the Prime Minister's chief of staff Morgan McSweeney – won the equivalent Westminster seat in last July's general election with a majority of nearly 10,000 following a huge swing from the SNP. She gained 49.9 per cent of the popular vote compared to 7.8 per cent for the Reform candidate but the decline in Labour's popularity has been precipitous during the troubled early months of Sir Keir's government. With the Tories also in the doldrums, Mr Farage sees an opportunity to supplant both parties in Scotland. Before visiting the by-election, the Reform leader is expected to travel to Aberdeen, where he plans to highlight his party's fierce opposition to net zero. This is expected to play well with thousands of oil and gas workers in the North East of Scotland, many of whom are deeply unhappy at Sir Keir's ban on further exploration in the North Sea. Back in Hamilton, Katy Loudon, the SNP's candidate, admits that many voters feel 'politically homeless'. She blames decades of Tory austerity and a sense of betrayal over Labour's changes to winter fuel payments and the decision not to grant compensation to WASPI women hit by pension reforms. She is also candid about the choice facing voters. 'This is not a testing ground for Reform, it's a by-election for electing someone to champion this community, as Christina did. With Labour being out of the race, it's really only the SNP who can stand up to Reform.'
