Keir Starmer’s hopes of winning the keys to Downing Street next year have been boosted after winning the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election.
Labour has been confident it would take the Scottish seat from the SNP after the disgraced former MP for the area broke lockdown laws to travel from London to Glasgow with Covid.
But victory was seen as a crucial step to prove the party was on course for victory next year, and avoid tough questions at its party conference which opens this weekend.
In the end, the party’s candidate Michael Shanks won 17,845 votes, out of a total of 30,531 cast. The result shows a 20.4 per cent swing to Labour from the SNP.
Speaking following the announcement, Mr Shanks said: “It’s truly the honour of my life to be elected to serve to people of Rutherglen and Hamilton West.”
He went on to thank his team, his fellow candidates, and all those who voted for him.
The Labour MP said his campaign offered a “fresh start”, breaking away from the divisiveness of the SNP and Conservative governments.
“People need change from governments that have too often been distracted… People are once again listening to the Scottish Labour Party,” he said, adding: “Change is possible.”
Out of an electorate of 82,104, some 37.19 per cent turned out to cast a vote in the by-election, despite earlier fears that issues with voter ID and poor weather conditions impacted turnout.
Labour had been campaigning for months in the seat and expectations were high.
In a post on X, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar wrote: “What a result! Congratulations to Labour’s newest MP- @MGShanks.
“He will be a great servant of his community. To everyone who helped make this happen- the Labour family & the families of Rutherglen & Hamilton W- thank you!
“We will deliver the change our country so deeply needs.”
Mr Sarwar previously told BBC Scotland News that the election was “a seismic moment” and that he hoped the result would be a “springboard” into the next election.
“To everyone who has voted for us in this constituency, thank you. We won’t let you down,” he said, adding: “This is not the end. This is just the start of rebuilding something special for our country and delivering the change that Scotland needs.”
The Scottish Labour leader later added that the comprehensive result had sent a very clear message – that people are “sick of two tired, failing, incompetent governments”.
“They’re desperate for a fresh start, they’re desperate for a change. Scotland will lead the way in delivering a UK-wide Labour government”.
Labour’s hopes were boosted when former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon was arrested and questioned as part of a police investigation into her party’s finances.
They had held the seat in 2010, but it flipped to the SNP in 2015 on a wave of support for the party in the wake of the independence referendum.
But there was widespread outrage when Margaret Ferrier breached strict Covid regulations by travelling from Westminster to Scotland after she tested positive for the virus.
She was kicked out of the SNP, who called for her to resign her seat.
She resisted but was eventually ousted when a so-called “recall” petition was supported by her constituents.
Following the Labour win, the SNP’s deputy leader, Keith Brown, acknowledged that the result was “a very good victory for the Labour party” and that his own party had “work to do.”
One of Britain’s top pollsters John Curtice said Labour would achieve “job done” if it turned a 10-point SNP lead in 2019 into a 10-point Labour lead.
“If it were to be much more than that, then this really would be potentially quite a spectacular result, and we’d be asking ourselves whether the Labour Party really could compete with the SNP to become the largest party in Scotland,” he added.
Labour hopes to win around 15 to 20 seats in Scotland at the next election, up from their current haul of just one.
