By-election reaction: Is this a new beginning for Scottish Labour?
Labour has won back their historic ‘safe seat’ in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election for the first time in 12 years, meaning they now have two MPs in Parliament.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has called it a ‘seismic win’ due to the scale in which the seat was won as Labours’ Michael Shanks a local modern studies teacher won with 17,845 votes nearly ten thousand more than the SNPs’ Katy Loudon who recorded 8,399 votes.
Sarwar continued to say: “This result is not just a reflection of our fantastic campaign – it is also the result of Scots growing weary of SNP and Tory failure and turning to Scottish Labour to deliver change.
“It is a result not 2 months in the making, but 2 years in the making. The people of Scotland can see that Scottish Labour has changed and is ready to deliver.
It is important to take a look back at previous elections involving the Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency as the historically safe seat was snatched up by the SNP in 2015 when they sent a landslide win of 56 out of 59 MPs to Westminster. A win that was one for the history books for the SNP- however the 2023 by-election will be something they would most likely like to keep in the past.
The constituency belonged to the SNP from the 2019 snap election before disgraced MP Margaret Ferrier was urged to resign by then first minister Nicola Sturgeon after breaking covid rules.
The door has been opened in Scottish politics through the Labour win as off the back of the previous election the party couldn’t get a look in- now they have taken votes from not only the SNP but the Scottish conservatives and Liberal Democrats.
As Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy said: “The result was what we expected. As the third party in a contest between Labour and the SNP, we knew that our vote would be seriously squeezed.
The loss of votes for the party will leave them with a sour taste as they didn’t gather enough votes to get their deposit back, meaning it is both a political and monetary loss for the party.
SNP depute leader Keith Brown didn’t comment on the loss itself but decided to focus on praising Katy Loudon as he said “[she] has been a superb candidate who brought the positive SNP message to doorsteps every day, and to her campaign team who have engaged with thousands of people over the course of the campaign.”
Jonathan Parker, politics lecturer at Glasgow University, said it’s an indication that Scottish politics is “wide open again” as the extent of the win is a surprise to a lot of people due to the scale in which it has been won.
The expected yet shocking win for Scottish Labour has left many wondering what the outcome of the next election will be as the party aims to be a party of unity and take voters from the opposition who may be on the fence over some of their policies.
