SCOTTISH Labour’s victory at the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election could propel them into power at next year’s Holyrood elections, its leader Anas Sarwar claimed today.

Mr Sarwar made the remarks as he celebrated Davy Russell’s win in the by-election, which was sparked by the death of SNP minister Christina McKelvie after a years-long battle with breast cancer.

Despite polling suggesting that Labour was battling for second place with Reform UK, the party enjoyed a 7 per cent swing from the SNP. Mr Russell garnered 8,559 votes while SNP candidate Kay Loudon’s picked up 7,957, leaving Reform UK’s Ross Lambie a close third with 7,088.

Despite the turnaround Labour’s vote share dropped 2 per cent, compared with a 16.8 per cent slump in support for the SNP since 2021. Reform UK, which had never contested the seat before, got 26.1 per cent.

Arguing the result was “more significant than the Rutherglen by-election result two years ago,” Mr Sarwar said: “The result in Rutherglen helped lead the way in helping to elect a UK Labour government and I also believe the by-election result here will help lead the way to elect a Scottish Labour government next year.”

Accusing SNP leader John Swinney of running a “disgraceful campaign,” he added: “The best he had to offer was ‘vote SNP to stop Farage.’

“Nigel Farage is not standing to be first minister. It is a straight choice — it is either going to be John Swinney, or it’s going to be me.”

Defending his tactics, Mr Swinney hit back: “The way I saw it was the Labour vote was collapsing compared to the general election last summer, which it did.

“We saw the Reform vote surging, which it has. In that context, I thought the SNP was best placed to see off Reform.”

He added: “Clearly, we’re disappointed that we didn’t win last night, but we made progress in the election compared to the general election last summer and we’ve got to build on that and make sure that we strengthen our support in advance of 2026.

“So what my government is going to focus on is addressing the day-to-day priorities of people in Scotland, about improving their lives.”