25-05-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Analysis: Reform support in Hamilton should worry other parties
It's a busy place and almost everyone I speak to is unhappy about their town centre and national issues such as the NHS.
They believe the blame lies at the doors of those in power.
A man walking his dog who initially thinks I'm a politician tells me: 'Hamilton used to be good. I don't know what happened to it.
'I don't know what youse have done. It's now a s****hole."
'Why would I vote?', he tells me, getting despondent, 'It's the same a***holes with the same rules that's why I don't vote."
His mind now on other matters, he asks me: 'Where's my dug?'
And he's not alone. I speak to a number of people there who don't want to vote because they have become tired of what the SNP, Labour and the Tories have to offer.
A woman enjoying the sun and a pint at the pub, says she's not voting 'because I just don't feel like whoever you vote for anything will get done. The country is falling to bits and I don't think it really matters who you vote for because they all make promises they don't keep."
But for others, this scunnered effect has translated into something else; a magnetism towards Reform.
An older lady stops to talk to me. She is very polite and as I ask her a question she tells me she is sorry as she has almost lost her hearing.
However, she is keen to help me and lip reads my question on how she will vote.
'I'm voting Reform', she tells me enthusiastically, now smiling widely.
Asked why, she said: '[Politicians] promise things and nothing happens and I think Reform speaks for the average British-born person whether they are black or white.
'I'm not being racist,' she insists, 'But people who are born here think there are too many immigrants coming in and far too much being given to people who shouldn't have it.'
The woman is a Tory to Reform voter.
'I've always voted Conservative but it seems that once Boris Johnson led the Conservative government it's been a mess ever since.
"So I just decided, having listened to what Nigel Farage had to say.
'A lot of my friends think the same.'
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But it's not just this generation who feel this way.
A young couple are walking down Cadzow Street. The man overhears me talking about politics and is keen to share his thoughts.
'It's got to be Reform and I'm saying that after voting SNP for ages,' he says with his partner nodding in agreement. 'They just seem to know what they are talking about and the rest don't.'
One older woman tells me: 'You can't get an appointment with your doctor, you can't get anything done with the council.
'They're all incompetent and they don't know what they are doing."
Her answer?
'Reform. I want something done about all the carry on that's going on now.'
Another man simply comes up to me to tell me that 'Labour has betrayed pensioners' as he mentions the UK Government decision to limit the amount of people who are in receipt of it.
I waited in the town centre keen to get views of people who are anti-Reform to balance out a piece like this but in the time I was there nobody expressed this viewpoint. I was there for an hour.
It is important to point out that walking up to people in one specific area one Wednesday afternoon isn't the best litmus test of overall voter feeling. It can depend on the time and obviously the people you speak to.
But one thing was clear. The mood was that many people in this area are open, some even enthusiastic, about the presence of Reform UK in Scottish politics.
At the party's HQ in Hamilton town centre, their candidate Ross Lambie, tells me the reception to his party at constituents' doors has been positive.
'We are finding it fascinating because the support is coming from all corners,' Mr Lambie said. 'It's almost like the old divisions in Scottish politics are starting to break down.
"It's not like you are getting it from one section of the community but never the other. It's actually coming from across the board.'
Decorating their walls are maps of the area and canvassing strategies. It's obvious this is a pretty well thought out operation.
I'm informed they usually get over a dozen volunteers on a weekday and many more at the weekends.
Now, of course Mr Lambie will be keen to stress everyone is very enthused about his party but after speaking to people in Hamilton it genuinely feels as though many are and the other parties should be worried.
The Reform candidate is also jumping at the chance to do any media appearances such as an STV debate.
Meanwhile, others such as Scottish Labour and the Lib Dems are declining this offer and the Scottish Conservatives have yet to make up their minds.
If I were their campaign teams, I would be having a rethink because this is a party which seems to have tapped into many voters' psyches here and, more importantly, got them onside.
