After one of the most bitter election campaigns in Scotland, Labour won the seat of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse from the Scottish National Party after it became vacant following the death of a Scottish government minister.
Voters rallied around Labour in the closely watched contest after Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, repeatedly referred to the ethnicity of the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who is of Pakistani heritage, drawing criticism from the other parties.
The betting odds had predicted a comfortable victory for the SNP with Labour pushed into third place behind Reform.
REFORM SURGE
John Curtice, Britain's most respected pollster, said although Labour had won an unexpected victory, the main takeaway from the result was the increase in support for Reform after the party won only 0.2% of the vote at the last election for the Scottish parliament in 2021.
“There is nothing in this result that suggests that Labour have turned around the reverse in the polls,“ he said.
Farage visited Scotland on Monday, days after a row over an online video put out by his party that falsely claimed Sarwar had said he would “prioritise” the Pakistani community.
Labour branded the advert “blatantly racist” and SNP leader John Swinney urged voters to reject Reform’s “gutter politics”. Farage responded by accusing Sarwar of introducing sectarianism into Scottish politics.
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