Voters urged to ‘call time on SNP failure’ as by-election looms

Voters in Lanarkshire have been urged to “call time on SNP failure” as a Holyrood by-election campaign enters its final days.

Voters will go to the polls in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election on Thursday with the SNP, Labour and Reform hoping to win the seat vacated by former government minister Christina McKelvie.

The SNP and Labour were initially seen as the frontrunners but a surge by Nigel Farage’s party has made a second place finish seem possible, though leaders have publicly said they believe they can win.

As the final week of campaigning begins, Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie urged voters in the seat to “chart a new direction for the whole of Scotland”.

“After almost two decades in charge, the SNP has left public services at breaking point – almost one in six Scots are on an NHS waiting list, violence is rife in our schools, and high streets across Scotland are struggling,” she said.

“We cannot risk a third decade of SNP government and only Scottish Labour can beat them.

“Ignore the desperate spin of Reform and the SNP – this by-election is a direct fight between Scottish Labour and the SNP.

“We have three days to put this failing SNP government on notice and start the journey towards a better future for Scotland.”

Baillie added that the Labour Government had spent its first year in office “working to clean up the mess left behind by 14 years of Tory chaos”.

But Scots are “still not feeling the benefit of these changes” because of the Scottish Government.

“SNP inaction means we still have sky-high NHS waiting lists, a low-pay, low-growth economy, and a devastating housing emergency,” she said.

“It’s time for John Swinney and the SNP to take responsibility for their failures and admit that the blame for Scotland’s biggest challenges lies squarely at the door of Bute House.”

An SNP spokesperson said: “The SNP is taking action on what matters to people – creating 100,000 additional GP appointments, 150,000 extra NHS appointments and procedures, scrapping peak rail fares, investing £186.5 million to increase teacher numbers and keeping key costs like water bills lower.

“That’s what it means to put Scotland first. We recognise that times are still too tough for too many, and we are doing something about it.

“Meanwhile, Labour are letting down Scots – taking away the winter fuel payment from 900,000 Scottish pensioners, cutting £5 billion of support for disabled people and presiding over a £150 increase in energy bills.

“That’s the reality of Labour in power – broken promises and Scotland treated as an afterthought – and even they know they’ve lost with a candidate who is running scared of hustings and debates.

“This contest is a straightforward fight between the SNP and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, and the only way to stop Farage on June 5 is by voting for Katy Loudon.”