PARTIES have made their final pitches to the voters of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, just hours before the polls open in the Holyrood by-election today.

The campaign has become dominated by a Reform UK campaign advert, which alleged that Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar would “prioritise” the Pakisitani community, a assertion branded “racist” by both Mr Sarwar and his SNP counterpart John Swinney. 

Urging voters to back his party to “stop Nigel Farage,” Mr Swinney said: “The Labour Party has lost its way and Keir Starmer’s abject failure to deliver on his promises has led to the concerning rise of Nigel Farage across the UK.

“This by-election is an opportunity to reject the politics of Farage and make sure Scotland’s interests are front and centre — and only a vote for the SNP will do that.”

Despite polling suggesting Labour and Reform UK were battling for second place, Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie insisted: “The Reform circus is nothing but a convenient distraction for the SNP. This by-election is a direct fight between Scottish Labour and the SNP.

“The SNP’s woeful record is plain to see here: chaos in local NHS services, high streets in decline and a generation of young people let down.”

However, Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) candidate Collete Bradley called on voters to reject “Kamikaze Keir Starmer’s declaration of a war economy.”

She added: “The people of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse face a stark choice tomorrow: [between] one of the many parties which support wars against the women, children and men of Palestine and subsidise the profits of the military-industrial complex or a party which campaigns for peace and socialism, for welfare and wages, not warfare, for bairns, not bombs – the SSP.”