Shopping cart
Your cart empty!
Scottish Labour win Holyrood by-election as SNP suffer shock defeat
Scottish Labour's Davy Russell has won the by-election in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse.
Mr Russell took top spot with 8,559 votes. The SNP placed second with 7,957 votes, with Reform UK closely taking third with 7,088 votes.
The new MSP said he was "proud" to have been elected, adding: "I said in this campaign that I will put this community, our community first. "I will work every single day to do that." The by-election was called following the death of SNP MSP Christina McKelvie.
The Scottish government minister died in March at the age of 57, having last year taken medical leave to undergo treatment for secondary breast cancer. South Lanarkshire councillor Katy Loudon had hoped to retain the Holyrood seat for the SNP, given her party's heavy losses to Labour at last year's UK general election.
First Minister John Swinney told Sky News on Friday morning that the election result shows the SNP has "made some progress" since the 2024 General Election, but that this is "not enough". The SNP leader said: "We've got to make more progress, that's the blunt reality of the election last night." He noted that Labour "suffered a calamitous fall in their share of the vote" but added that he is pleased "the poisonous politics of Farage have not won last night".
"There's a warning for all of us in the presence of Reform and the appeal that Reform has.
Amir Nisi
Creative and experienced content writer with 6+ years of experience lazy to create unique content strategy for News5 to turn website visitors into customers.
Related to this topic:
AI and Marketing: Unlocking Customer Insights
Feb 22, 2024
