SNP to “learn lessons” as a Labor crucial interim election wins

Senior figures in the SNP have sworn lessons to learn from Labor’s surprise victory in the interim elections of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse.

Davy Russell presented the party with 8,559 votes, a majority of 602 over the second SNP placed. The mood followed the death of SNP MSP Christina McKelvie, who had represented the constituency since 2011.

The Scottish constitutional secretary Angus Robertson said the SNP should look at the result and “learn the lessons” for the Holyrood elections.

Reform UK finished third with 7,088 votes and beat the conservatives in fourth place with only 1,621 votes.

The SNP was tipped to keep the chair, where some suggest that work could even be pushed behind reform.

The Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar said his party said that his party “had proven the pillars incorrectly”.

Russell said he would place the “Message of the people” in Holyrood.

He said: “For far too long the people of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, in fact in Scotland, they listened to the politicians – but the politicians did not deliver for them.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer congratulated Russell and said: “People in Scotland have again voted for change.

“Next year there is a chance to cost the supply of turbo by bringing labor on both sides of the border to power.”

The turnout was 44.2%, with more than 27,000 votes cast. It is a decrease in the 2021 elections when the turnout was 60%.

The result means that the Scottish work has destroyed a majority of 4,582 won by Christina McKelvie in 2021.

She died at the age of 57 in March after the diagnosis of secondary breast cancer.

The interior election result follows a difficult period for Scottish labor, because it has swept the SNP aside in the general elections of last summer.

The party had seen the support in the polls fall, with policy such as cutbacks on the winter fuel surcharge, the fault of rejecting voters.

Prior to the vote, Prime Minister John Swinney had claimed that it was a “two-horse race” between the SNP and the reform.

But the candidate of his party, Katy Loudon, tolerated her third election defeat in the area – after he was lost to Labor’s Michael Shanks in the general elections of 2024 and 2023 Rutherglen and Hamilton West in the interim election.

After the result, Swinney said that his party “had made progress since the elections last year not enough”. He Posted on X: “We still have work to do and we will do it.”

Davy Russell, who has been brought up and still lives in the village of Loses Shoes in the constituency, has worked for the local government and has previously served as deputy Lord Lieutenant, who represented the prince at local events.

His victory comes after criticism during the campaign for a lack of media appearances – with political opponents reject him as “the invisible man”.

Russell said that voters were “disappointed” by the SNP.

He added that the result sent a message to reform leader Nigel Farage that the “poison” of his party was not welcome in Scotland.

Reform has not won an election in Scotland, but the party has put on considerable voting shares in local bruts in recent months, especially in the central belt.

Deputy leader, Richard Tice, said it was “remarkable” result A “massive boost” for his party that takes the voice of 2026.

He also rejected the reform of the claims that had created a poisonous atmosphere in Scottish politics, and insisted that parties were “terrified” for reform.

The conservatives managed to avoid a worst-case scenario to lose their down payment by winning more than 5% of the votes.

Spokesperson Craig Hoy, spokesperson for the Scottish conservative finances, described it as a “disappointing” night.

He said his party was determined to “restore the trust with the Scottish people”.

In the run -up to the vote both Labor and the SNP accused reform of racism About an online advertisement that Anas Sarwar criticizes.

The video, posted on Facebook and Instagram, contains clips of a speech that Sarwar made in 2022.

Reform added text and claimed that Sarwar wanted to give “priority to the Pakistani community” – despite the Glasgow MSP not said that.

Farage defended the video and accused Sarwar during a campaign visit to Scotland of “sectarian politics”.

The Scottish Labor leader rubbed that claim and called Farage a “pathetic, poisonous little man”.

The last victory of his party in the area – in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West – in 2023, turned out to be a springboard for success in the general elections of the following year.

Sarwar will now hope for a similar boost prior to the election of the Scottish Parliament.