‘John Swinney ran a campaign of misinformation’, Anas Sarwar says

Pollsters were “duped” by the SNP’s campaign of “misinformation”, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has said after his party’s surprise win in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election.

Sarwar told journalists: “There are huge lessons for the political pollsters, the pundits, the commentators and the bookies, because they all got it wrong, and they didn't understand what was actually happening on the ground.”

The Scottish Labour candidate Davy Russell took the seat, despite polling ahead of the by-election indicating he could come in third, behind the SNP and Reform UK.

However, when polls closed, Russell had 8,559 votes, beating SNP candidate Katy Loudon, who was predicted as the frontrunner.

This marks the third time Loudon has run for office and been defeated, having lost to Labour's Michael Shanks at the 2023 Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election and at last year’s general election.

She finished second on 7,957 votes and Reform UK’s Ross Lambie came in third, securing 7,088.

Scottish Labour’s win comes at a critical time for the party, which has seen its popularity take a hit following Keir Starmer’s win at last year’s general election.

Sarwar said the result proved next year’s Scottish Parliament election will be a “two-horse race” between his party and the SNP.

He said: “They [SNP] didn't run a campaign based on the issues facing the people here in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse. Instead, the big message was, vote SNP to stop Farage. And all that did was demonstrate that this is a party that is devoid of ideas, devoid of energy, and is now running down the clock to be removed from office.

“And all it did was try to drive people into the arms of reform and Nigel Farage. That is not going to work next year…And I think this by-election has proved to all that this is now a straight choice.”

The by-election was held following the death of SNP MSP and Scottish Government minister Christina McKelvie, who passed away in March from secondary breast cancer.