Voters go to the polls in crucial Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election

Voters are going to the polls in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election.

The seat in South Lanarkshire was vacated following the death of SNP MSP Christina McKelvie.

McKelvie announced in August last year that she would be taking medical leave due to treatment for secondary breast cancer.

She died at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary on March 27, aged 57.

Her successor to represent the seat at the Scottish Parliament will be announced on Friday after votes are counted.

Polling stations opened at 7am on Thursday and will remain open until 10pm.

To be eligible to vote in the election, you must be aged 16 or over and have registered to vote before midnight on Monday, May 19.

You will not need to bring photo identification to vote in the Scottish Parliamentary by-election on Thursday.

Information about polling stations should be included on your polling card, but can be found online on the Electoral Commission’s website here by typing in your postcode.

The votes will be verified and manually counted at the close of the poll on Thursday at the South Lanarkshire Council Headquarters in Hamilton.

Full list of candidates

Candidate name	Party
Collette Bradley	Scottish Socialist Party
Andy Brady	Scottish Family Party
Ross Alexander Lambie	Reform UK
Katy Loudon	Scottish National Party (SNP)
Janice Elizabeth Mackay	UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Ann McGuinness	Scottish Green Party
Aisha Jawaid Mir	Scottish Liberal Democrats
Richard Nelson	Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Davy Russell	Scottish Labour Party
Marc Wilkinson	Independent