Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election: Voting closed and count now under way to replace Margaret Ferrier
Voting has closed and counting is now under way to replace shamed MP Margaret Ferrier.
Ms Ferrier was ousted from her Rutherglen and Hamilton West seat in August following a successful recall petition for breaching COVID restrictions in 2020.
Voters took to the polls between 7am and 10pm on Thursday for the by-election, with Ms Ferrier’s successor expected to be announced during the early hours of Friday morning.
Out of the 82,104 electorate, a total of 30,531 votes were cast (37.19% turnout).
The turnout is down from 66.48% at the snap 2019 general election, when 53,794 valid votes were cast.
Fourteen candidates are battling it out for the hotly contested seat.
All eyes will be on the SNP and Scottish Labour – with both parties treating the by-election as an important battleground ahead of the next UK general election.
The South Lanarkshire seat has changed hands between the parties at each of the past three general elections.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and candidate Michael Shanks arriving at the count
Upon arrival at the count, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar told Sky News: “I think it’s going to be a significant night.”
Meanwhile, an SNP source earlier said: “We have to be realistic. It’s been a tough time and we think the turnout will be very low.”
The result is expected during the early hours of Friday morning
Ms Ferrier, who won the seat for the SNP in 2019, was forced to sit as an independent after losing the party whip when her COVID breach came to light.
Ms Ferrier was subsequently charged by police, ordered to undertake unpaid work, suspended from the Commons for 30 days and removed from her seat following a successful recall petition.
Ballot boxes arriving at the count
The count is taking place at South Lanarkshire Council headquarters in Hamilton.
Who is standing?
• Gloria Adebo (Scottish Liberal Democrats)
• Bill Bonnar (Scottish Socialist Party)
• Garry Cooke (Independent)
• Andrew Daly (Independent)
• Cameron Eadie (Scottish Green Party)
• Prince Ankit Love (Independent)
• Niall Fraser (Scottish Family Party)
• Ewan Hoyle (Volt UK)
• Thomas Kerr (Scottish Conservatives)
• Katy Loudon (SNP)
• Christopher Sermanni (Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition)
• Michael Shanks (Scottish Labour Party)
• David Stark (Reform UK)
• Colette Walker (Independence for Scotland Party)
SNP: Katy Loudon
SNP leader Humza Yousaf and candidate Katy Loudon outside a Cambuslang polling station earlier on Thursday
The SNP are fielding South Lanarkshire councillor Katy Loudon.
The former primary school teacher has lived in the constituency for 14 years and has been a councillor since 2017.
Ms Loudon believes the by-election is an opportunity to “show Westminster that Scotland wants – and deserves – better than the Tory status quo”.
She added: “The Tories and Labour now stand hand in hand on a range of damaging policies including Brexit and the two-child cap and rape clause, which hits 1,600 children in Rutherglen and Hamilton West.”
During her campaign, Ms Loudon said she would push Westminster to reinstate a £400 energy bill rebate to help struggling families over winter.
She also said she would happily speak out on issues which disproportionately impacted her constituents.
She said: “I’m not shy to come forward. I’ve got the ear of the first minister and the ear of ministers, especially through this campaign.”
Ms Loudon also accused opponent Mr Shanks of “only talking about Margaret Ferrier” on the doorstep and claimed Scottish Labour “are offering nothing”.
Scottish Labour: Michael Shanks
Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar joined candidate Michael Shanks on the campaign trail
Scottish Labour are championing Renfrewshire teacher Michael Shanks.
Mr Shanks previously made headlines after running along all 6,110 streets in Glasgow. He started the challenge during the first COVID lockdown and “crossed the finish line” in January last year.
Sir Keir Starmer’s party is hopeful that a win in Rutherglen and Hamilton West will show that Labour can make gains against the SNP at the upcoming general election, potentially paving the way for the party’s return to power at Westminster.
Scottish Labour put the cost of living crisis front and centre of its campaign.
It set out proposals to tackle the issue – including a clean energy plan that will reportedly save households up to £1,400 a year and a new deal for working people that it said would boost the minimum wage and make work pay.
As the count got under way, Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “Michael Shanks should be proud of the energetic campaign he has led in Rutherglen and Hamilton West.
“It is clear for all to see that Scottish Labour is once more a serious force in Scottish politics.
“From our plans to make work pay to acting to put money into the pockets of working people, Scottish Labour has proudly campaigned on the priorities of the people.
“The people of Rutherglen and Hamilton West have spoken – soon we will know whether they have chosen a fresh start with Scottish Labour.”
Scottish Conservatives: Thomas Kerr
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross with candidate Thomas Kerr, second right. Pic: Scottish Conservatives
The Scottish Conservatives are backing Glasgow councillor Thomas Kerr, who has pledged to tackle the cost of living crisis, reduce NHS waiting times and protect local services.
At the count, Mr Kerr said his party ran a “pretty positive campaign”.
He noted that the Scottish Tories were “punching above their weight” against favourites the SNP and Scottish Labour, but added his party was laying the groundwork ahead of the next Westminster and Holyrood elections.
Mr Kerr said many of the constituents he spoke to during his campaign highlighted their struggles with the cost of living crisis, which he could relate to.
He stated that there was no “real difference” between the SNP and Scottish Labour.
Mr Kerr earlier said the SNP will be “fully focused on relentlessly pushing for another divisive referendum”.
He added: “Meanwhile, Scottish Labour cannot credibly offer voters a fresh start when on so many issues you cannot put a cigarette paper between them and the SNP, including when they voted for Nicola Sturgeon’s flawed gender self-id bill.”
Mr Kerr told Sky News: “We’re offering a real alternative and a real change.”
Scottish Greens: Cameron Eadie
Gillian Mackay MSP and Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater with candidate Cameron Eadie. Pic: Scottish Greens
Student Cameron Eadie is standing for the Scottish Greens and had urged voters to put “people and planet” at the top of the agenda at Westminster.
If elected, he said he would fight to remove the “cruel two-child benefit cap and rape clause whilst standing up for our environment”.
At the count, Mr Eadie told Sky News that he was “absolutely proud” of his campaign and team, and said it had been a “fantastic opportunity” to energise activists in the area.
He said most people he spoke to while canvassing were concerned about the cost of living crisis and climate damage.
Mr Eadie acknowledged that most people believe it’s a “two-horse race” between the SNP and Scottish Labour.
But speaking of his run, he said: “It’s something I’ve really enjoyed. It’s been a good experience.”
Scottish Liberal Democrats: Gloria Adebo
Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Alex Cole-Hamilton with candidate Gloria Adebo. Pic: Scottish Liberal Democrats
Data analyst Gloria Adebo is running for the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
Ms Adebo said constituents had been “badly hammered by unnecessary and damaging SNP government cuts”.
She added: “SNP cuts now look set to cause the closure of all local police stations in the area – on top of the threat to care homes, day services, swimming pools and leisure facilities.
“It is time to stop the SNP’s centralising policies in their tracks and give a fair share of the Scottish budget to local services and local people.”
Ms Adebo said the SNP have “no interest” in working constructively.
She added: “Rather than perpetuate division, Scottish Liberal Democrats would work in partnership across the UK on key issues like the cost of living and reforming the UK to make it work better, strengthen ties with our European neighbours and build a better way forward together.”
South Korea’s National Tax Service warned that cold wallets are not beyond its reach, as it will conduct home searches to combat tax evasion.
The World Transformed, a left-wing political festival, has historically ran alongside the Labour Party Conference as an unofficial fringe event.
But a lot has changed since it began in 2016, organised then by the Corbyn-backed group Momentum. And like the former Labour leader himself, TWT has gone independent.
From Thursday to Sunday, a programme of politics, arts and cultural events will be held in Manchester, a week after Labour’s annual party gathering ended.
“It no longer made any sense to be a fringe festival of the Labour conference,” Hope Worsdale, an organiser since 2018, tells Sky News. “We need a space for the independent left to come together.”
This decision was made before the formation of Your Party in July and the surge of support behind the Greens and its new leader Zack Polanski, but both these factors have given TWT some extra momentum. Organisers say it is not just a festival, but a “statement of intent from the British left” – and a left that looks different from how it used to.
Previous headline speakers were Labour MPs in the left-wing Socialist Campaign Group, and in 2021, the showstopper was American democrat Bernie Sanders calling in live for an event alongside John McDonnell.
The World Transformed, previously headlined left-wing Labour MPs
Bernie Sanders and John McDonnell in conversation at TWT in 2021
This year, Mr Polanski, Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana are the only British politicians due to speak at events – though Brian Leishman, who lost the Labour whip in the summer, is also scheduled on a panel.
TWT was put on pause last year for organisers to reflect upon its role going forward, after Sir Keir Starmer’s election victory.
In 2021, 2022 and 2023, while he was leader of the opposition, the festival was able to “co-exist” with Labour as a space for activists on the left to discuss ideas.
But the prime minister’s “shift to the right” has alienated so many of those grassroots members that it was felt TWT’s core audience would no longer be at Labour Party conferences, says Hope, who joined Labour in the Corbyn years and has since left.
TWT in 2016. Pic: TWT
Event at TWT in 2023
“Our official position isn’t that Labour is dead and no one should engage with it,” she says.
“But they have shifted the values of Labour so radically since the last election, broken promise after promise, attacked civil liberties… there’s been such a suite of terrible decisions that mean people who are generally progressive and generally left wing feel like they have to take their organising elsewhere.”
So what’s on the cards?
There will be 120 events held in Hulme, Manchester, from Thursday to Sunday evening.
At the heart of the programme is daily assemblies, which organisers say are “designed to hold genuinely constructive debates about what we should do and how we should do it”.
But there’s just as much partying as there is politics – Dele Sosimi and his Afrobeat Orchestra are headlining the Saturday night slot while a “mystery guest” will host what TWT calls its “infamous” pub quiz on Friday night.
Back in 2018 that was Ed Miliband’s job, when 10,000 activists were expected to attend TWT. This year, organisers anticipate around 3,000 people will gather, but those involved insist this is a real chance for the left to strategise and co-ordinate, given the involvement of over 75 grassroots groups, trade unions, and activist networks.
Collaboration ‘vital’
A key question the left will need to address is how it can avoid splitting the vote given the rise of the Greens, socialist independents and the formation of Your Party,
One activist from the We Deserve Better organisation, which is campaigning for a left-wing electoral alliance and will be at TWT this weekend, acknowledged collaboration is “vital” if the left is to make gains under Britain’s first-past-the-post system.
Jeremy Corbyn at TWT. Pic: Reuters
But it remains to be seen whether Your Party co-leaders Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana can even work together following their public spat last month, let alone with other parties. The pair put on a united front at a rally in Liverpool on the eve of TWT, when Sultana said she was “truly sorry” and promised “no more of that”. But will the truce last?
“It’s not ideal”, says the activist. “Hopefully they are back on track…a lot of collaboration is happening at the grassroots and we need to make sure it’s formalised so we can beat Labour and the right, we need to put on united front.”
They point to seats like Ilford North, where Health Secretary Wes Streeting clung on by a margin of just 528 votes in the general election, after a challenge from British-Palestinian candidate Leanne Mohamad, who ran in protest against Labour’s stance on Gaza.
Meanwhile, in Hackney, the Greens are hoping to gain their first directly elected mayor next May, with the Hackney Independent Socialist Group of councillors throwing their weight behind the party’s candidate, Zoe Garbett.
The We Deserve Better activist says Labour’s “hostile war on the left” has made these areas ripe for the taking, and what is more important than party affiliation is galvanising momentum behind one candidate who shares socialist values on issues like public ownership and immigration – be they the Greens, independents, or Your Party.
“The World Transformed reflects a general reorientation of the left outside of Labour. If they are taking these places for granted, we are going to win. If we unite as the left then we can win even bigger. Bring it on.”
Is Labour in danger?
There is some cause for Labour to be worried. It is haemorrhaging votes to both the right and the left after a tumultuous first year in office (13% to Reform UK, 10% to the Greens and 10% to the Lib Dems, according to an Ipsos poll in September).
Many Labour MPs feel the prime minister has spent too much energy trying to “out Reform Reform” with a focus on immigration, and he needs to do more to win back moderate and progressive voters that will be gathering at TWT this weekend.
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Starmer’s ‘anti-Reform party’ gamble
One fed-up MP told Sky News it was a shame TWT had decided to branch away from Labour, but not a surprise.
“This was something that was on the cards for a while, a parting of the ways, it’s another thing to show what’s happening with the direction of the party.”
He said in previous years the festival “was full of people for the first time in their life who were excited about politics and had a leadership looking at how it could challenge the biggest issues in our country”.
“Debates could be heated but it was always a place for intellectual discussion and that inside the Labour Party is now dead.”
But he said the party ultimately had bigger things to worry about than TWT, with a budget round the corner and potentially catastrophic local elections in May.
“I don’t think it will keep Keir Starmer or Morgan McSweeney up at night.”
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