'Seismic' Labour win in Scotland may ease Starmer's path to No.10
A 20% swing from SNP to Labour 'transforms the Scottish political weather'
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Keir Starmer is basking in a "seismic" win for his party in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election with the result suggesting a shifting in the power balance in Scotland.
Labour candidate Michael Shanks won 58.5% of the vote, vastly outstripping the SNP’s 27.5% in a 20.4% swing since the last election.
This result "transforms the Scottish political weather – and in so doing changes the forecasts some will make about the next general election", said the BBC's political editor Chris Mason.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"It will leave some pondering if this is an indication that there might be a return to pre-independence referendum politics in Scotland – where Labour are the dominant party," he added.
Labour's leader in Scotland, Anas Sarwar, told broadcasters at the count in Hamilton: "This is, I believe, a seismic moment. I think it is a significant point in Scotland's political history."
But Scottish Tory Miles Briggs, a member of the shadow cabinet at Holyrood, said the by-election result, in which his party lost their deposit with just 3.9% of the vote, showed unionists were prepared to vote tactically to defeat the nationalists.
He predicted that unionists would return the favour next year in several seats across Scotland, "which have traditionally been contested between the Tories and the nationalists", said The Daily Telegraph.
Yesterday's result, though, was certainly a boon for Labour and if Starmer "was at all worried about his party conference getting off to a good start, well, his fears may be said to be safely allayed now", said Sean O'Grady in The Independent.
"That Labour have shown that it can win and win well in Scotland makes its path to a majority easier," agreed Stephen Bush in the Financial Times. Not just "numerically (in that it means the party can hope to make gains in Scotland) but even more importantly, politically (because this means Labour will find it easier to avoid getting sucked into talk of coalitions and deals with the SNP)".
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Jamie Timson is the UK news editor, curating The Week UK's daily morning newsletter and setting the agenda for the day's news output. He was first a member of the team from 2015 to 2019, progressing from intern to senior staff writer, and then rejoined in September 2022. As a founding panellist on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast, he has discussed politics, foreign affairs and conspiracy theories, sometimes separately, sometimes all at once. In between working at The Week, Jamie was a senior press officer at the Department for Transport, with a penchant for crisis communications, working on Brexit, the response to Covid-19 and HS2, among others.
-
Ben Fountain's 6 favorite books about Haiti
Feature The award-winning author recommends works by Marie Vieux-Chauvet, Katherine Dunham and more
By The Week Staff Published
-
6 picturesque homes in apartments abroad
Feature Featuring a wall of windows in Costa Rica and a luxury department store-turned-home in New Zealand
By The Week Staff Published
-
Why 2023 has been the year of strikes and labor movements
The Explainer From Hollywood to auto factories, workers are taking to the picket lines
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Calling women "ladies" belongs in the dark ages'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week Staff Published
-
Would Keir Starmer get a better Brexit deal?
Today's big question Labour leader must overcome fact that European capitals 'consider Brexit yesterday's problem'
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published
-
Will Labour's election promises be exciting enough for voters?
New employment rights bill in its first 100 days in office should the party win power
By Sorcha Bradley Published
-
Labour’s plans to tackle small boat migrant crossings examined
feature Opposition dismisses ‘gimmicks’ such as Rwanda scheme and asylum barges and sets out five-point plan to clean up Tory ‘mess’
By The Week Staff Published
-
Rutherglen by-election: a pivotal moment for Labour in Scotland?
Talking Point The contest in Rutherglen and Hamilton West is being seen as a chance for the party to rebuild its Scottish credentials
By Arion McNicoll Published
-
Rishi Sunak’s drive to survive: are pro-car pledges a ‘vote magnet’?
Talking Point Conservative and Labour parties refocus on green policies following Uxbridge by-election
By Julia O'Driscoll Published
-
Labour’s Green Prosperity Plan: ‘no such thing as a free lunch’
Speed Read Keir Starmer’s position on energy and climate branded a sly compromise
By The Week Staff Published
-
Can Labour win over Scotland?
Talking Point Anas Sarwar forecast to ‘cannibalise’ SNP votes but can he shake the ‘puppet’ image?
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published