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Anonymous ID: 8b06ff June 2, 2025, 9:07 p.m. No.23115300 🗄️.is 🔗kun

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REFORM U.K CANDIDATE ROSS LAMBIE IN BY ELECTION IN HAMILTON THIS THURSDAY 5TH JUNE

Note: There is a lot going on atm, but in the u.k politics, Scotland is holding a by election due to the death of one of its mps.

Details below, article is behind paywall, read for free using archive link.

pb below.

>>23111577, >>23111597, >>23111618 Nigel Farage and Richard Tice speak LIVE from Aberdeen. (45 minutes including Q and A). with msm and antifa protestors outside.

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Explainer: Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/25191716.hamilton-by-election-need-know-vote/

https://archive.ph/ogAbX#selection-1419.0-1419.56

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By Kathleen Nutt

Political Correspondent

What is the Hamilton by-election and why is it happening?

A by-election will be held on 5 June in the Holyrood seat of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, following the untimely death of SNP minister and MSP Christina McKelvie.

Ms McKelvie, who took medical leave last August to undergo treatment for secondary breast cancer, died at the end of March at the age of 57. Her passing prompted powerful tributes from across the political divide, with fellow MSPs praising her dedication and compassion.

She had held the seat since 2011, when she defeated former Scottish Labour minister Tom McCabe. Before that, she served as a regional MSP for Central Scotland from 2007 to 2011. At the 2021 Holyrood election, she beat Labour’s Monica Lennon by 16,761 votes to 12,179.

Who is standing — and who is expected to win?

At the outset of the by-election campaign, most observers expected a straight fight between the SNP and Labour. The SNP is standing Katy Loudon, a South Lanarkshire councillor, and she has been joined on the campaign trail by party leader and First Minister John Swinney.

Labour, meanwhile, is hoping to rebuild its base in the Central Belt. Its candidate is Davy Russell, a former senior official at Glasgow City Council who lives locally.

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has has been campaigning hard in the area, buoyed by its performance in recent English local elections and a Westminster by-election win in Runcorn and Helsby earlier this month.

Deputy leader Richard Tice has visited the constituency and claimed the contest is now between Reform's Ross Lambie and the SNP.

Mr Farage himself is expected to campaign in Hamilton before polling day — his first visit to Scotland since 2019.

The party has previously struggled for a foothold north of the Border. But Reform hopes to attract disaffected voters across party lines — and if successful, could win its first seat in Holyrood.

Other candidates standing in the by-election include Richard Nelson for the Conservatives, Ann McGuinness for the Greens, Aisha Mir for the Liberal Democrats, Ross Lambie for Reform UK, Collette Bradley for the Scottish Socialist Party, Andy Brady for the Scottish Family Party, Janice Mackay for UKIP, and independent candidate Mark Wilkinson.

Why does this seat matter?

Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse has been an SNP stronghold for over a decade, but the area has a more varied electoral past. The by-election is being seen as a bellwether for the SNP’s popularity under new leadership, Labour’s appeal to traditional heartlands, and the potential disruption posed by Reform UK.

A strong performance for any of the parties could shape perceptions ahead of the next general election and beyond — and may provide an early glimpse of shifting political dynamics across Scotland.

continued

>>23115786

What do the polls say?

Pollster Mark Diffley said the SNP would go into the Hamilton by-election as favourites, but, speaking to the BBC, he noted the contest takes place against a backdrop of shifting voter loyalties.

“The SNP will be most confident going into the by-election,” he said, though the party’s support had dipped from 48% at the last Holyrood election to around 35% now.

Labour, he added, had seen “a significant drop” in support since becoming the UK government, while Reform UK — polling around 15% in Scotland — had emerged as a serious factor.

“The real story, probably both next week in Hamilton and for next year, is the rise of Reform UK.”

Mr Diffley said dissatisfaction with UK Labour policies — particularly on welfare — was fuelling a “scunner factor” among voters.

“There is a lot of discontent with what’s been happening in the last nine or ten months,” he said.

Reversals on policies such as the two-child benefit cap might help Labour, but may also appear “too late” or “too opportunistic”.

Reform, he said, had gained traction not just in traditional Brexit-supporting areas, but across the Central Belt, with growing concern over immigration beginning to echo trends seen in England.

“We are seeing a kind of diluted version of what’s happening down south,” he added, warning that Reform could perform “above expectations” in the by-election.

Why is Reform’s rise being compared to 1967?

Some commentators have already begun comparing this contest to the 1967 Hamilton by-election — one of the most dramatic in Scottish political history.

On 2 November that year, Winnie Ewing, mother of current SNP MSPs Fergus and Annabelle Ewing, won a surprise victory for the SNP in what had been a safe Westminster seat for Labour. The SNP had not even stood a candidate in the constituency at the 1966 general election, so poor were its prospects.

But the 1967 win made Ms Ewing only the second SNP MP ever elected, following Dr Robert McIntyre in 1945. “I certainly was an expert at being in a minority, for there was only me,” she later reflected. Her victory speech famously included the line: “Stop the world — Scotland wants to get on.”

Her win gave the SNP a voice in Westminster and helped transform it from a fringe movement into a serious political force. Reform UK is now hoping for a similarly game-changing result — though it remains to be seen whether this by-election will enter the history books in the same way.

What do voters need to know?

Polling stations across Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse will be open from 7am to 10pm on Wednesday 5 June. Eligible voters must be aged 16 or over and registered by midnight on Monday 19 May 2025.

Voting takes place using the first-past-the-post system. Voters mark a cross (X) on the ballot paper next to their preferred candidate. The person with the most votes becomes MSP for the constituency.

Ballots will be verified and manually counted from 10pm at South Lanarkshire Council headquarters in Hamilton. A result is expected in the early hours of Thursday 6 June.