Labour celebrates ‘seismic’ victory over the SNP

ODN

Michael Shanks won the Rutherglen and Hamilton West seat after securing more than twice the votes of his SNP rival Katy Loudon. Thursday’s by-election saw the SNP’s majority overturned by Labour after Mr Shanks won 17,845 votes, well ahead of the 8,399 votes returned for Ms Loudon.  The results give the new Labour MP a majority 9,446 - with Mr Shanks having polled more than 58% of the votes cast. UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had meanwhile insisted a win for his party in the seat would be an "historic victory" which could be a "milestone" on Labour's journey back to power. The loss of the seat to Labour also heaps further pressure on SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf - who has seen his party's fortunes decline in the polls in the wake of the ongoing police investigation in SNP finances.   Report by Caponm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn

Transcript

00:00 The Labour Party have defied all expectations with their overwhelming victory in Scotland's

00:04 first recall by-election. Labour's Michael Shanks won the Ruther Glen and Hamilton West

00:09 seat after securing more than twice the votes of his SNP rival, Katie Loudon. The shock

00:15 landslide piles more pressure on beleaguered SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Humza

00:20 Yousaf, who has seen his party's fortunes decline in the polls in the wake of the ongoing

00:25 investigation into SNP finances.

00:27 The message from tonight is a resounding failure. We've had more than enough of managed decline,

00:34 more than enough of division, more than enough of distracted, chaotic government. It's time

00:40 for change.

00:41 Humza Yousaf reflected on the shock Labour landslide, saying the buck stopped with him

00:46 for the loss.

00:47 Of course I'm the leader of the SNP, the buck does absolutely stop with me, but I think

00:51 everybody knows that this particular by-election has some very difficult contextual factors

00:56 around it.

00:57 Sakir Starmer held a victory rally in Ruther Glen and Hamilton West, hailing the result,

01:01 insisting it could be a victory for Labour's journey back to power.

01:04 They put their trust in a changed Labour party and we will repay that trust, but we accept

01:09 this victory humbly knowing that it's a step on the journey towards the next general election.

01:15 Polling expert Professor Colin Rawlings hailed the impacts of Labour's win in Scotland and

01:20 what this means for Sakir Starmer heading into a general election.

01:23 An overall majority needs a strong Labour performance in Scotland and last night suggests

01:28 for the first time in many years that Labour are actually on course for that strong performance

01:33 north of the border.

01:34 Prior to the by-election, Labour had just won MP in Scotland, with the party now hoping

01:38 the result in Ruther Glen and Hamilton West will be a springboard for the next general

01:42 election, expected to be held sometime next year.

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