ALTHOUGH disappointed by the Rutherglen result, I am certainly not despondent. It is a kick up the backside to a hesitant SNP and as such may turn out to be a good result for the party and indeed Scotland.
The total Unionist media herald this one result as a fantastic and complete political change, forecasting a possible 40 Scottish Labour seats at next year’s General Election. In 2015 the same media did not herald such change when the SNP won 56 out of 59 seats.
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The facts are that the Tories lost their deposit and Labour now have two MPs in Scotland.
However, at this month’s SNP conference it is vital that unity of purpose is now restored and that yesterday’s stalwarts, Alex Neil and Fergus Ewing, gracefully retire.
Rather than scratching about for reluctant election candidates, SNP branches should be looking for committed young and vibrant people to lead Scotland forward but with the drive and energy of a young Alec Salmond!
Grant Frazer
Newtonmore
LABOUR’S UK and Scottish leadership are celebrating what they claim to be a “seismic” shift in Labour’s electoral fortunes as a result of the comfortable win for Labour at the Rutherglen by-election. Well, I hope that they and the other jubilant Unionists really believe that, and base their future electoral strategy on it, because it has no basis in terms of the actual voting in Rutherglen.
There was no seismic change in political alignment evidenced by the results of this election, nor was there evidence of a surge to support Labour. The great change which this election result illustrates is the significant rise in apathy and disillusion of SNP voters.
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The figures show us that Labour actually had 700 votes fewer than they got last time from a slightly larger electorate. This was no seismic shift in Labour’s direction. This loss in support was of course hidden by the mass voter abstention, particularly of those who would normally vote SNP.
Many thousands of voters just refused to take part in the by-election, that was the significant factor of the election. Some of us who were talking to people in the constituency during the election noticed this disillusion, but I doubt if we thought it was as widespread as it clearly was.
So the message to the SNP from this election is crystal clear: continuity is not acceptable to the electorate, they want the SNP to be active and to be presenting clear policies which are directed to the people’s present needs and future hopes. The SNP have not lost these supporters to any other party yet, but unless they address this urgently they will lose this electoral support.
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Labour at this election had everything in their favour – the failings of the sitting MP, the turmoil in the SNP leadership, the divisions in the indy movement on strategy. Labour also got the media behind them and clear support from the Tories and LibDems, who played it low-key in order to get their supporters to back Labour. Yet, in spite of all this effort on the Unionist side the Labour vote fell.
I really hope that Labour do not look carefully at that and continue to believe their own propaganda.
Andy Anderson
Ardrossan
LABOUR had held the old Rutherglen and the enlarged Rutherglen and Hamilton West seat since 1964, often with more than 50% of the vote, until they lost it to the SNP in 2015.
In 2010 the Labour candidate retained the seat with 61% of the vote only to get turfed out by the the voters in 2015 when they gave the SNP candidate an unbeatable 53% of the vote. Two years later Labour regrouped and won the seat back from the SNP, but only held on to it for two years until the SNP took it for the second time in 2019.
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Labour have thrown everything that they possess into their campaign, and at the SNP, in the by-election campaign and their vote was less than in 2019, even with some tactical votes from other Unionists.
Labour have won because the SNP have been hit by an unpredictable chain of circumstances, and thousands who feel they have been let down by the SNP’s last candidate have withheld their votes.
Labour shouldn’t be celebrating, they should be asking themselves how they managed to lose this seat to the SNP twice in quick succession after holding it for more than 50 years.
Abbi Garton-Crosbie says she has found that Anas Sarwar turns a deaf ear to her at press conferences unless he wants to take a pop at The National.
She should probably be prepared to be ignored by Anas Sarwar in a matter of months at the General Election. History might well repeat itself in Rutherglen and Hamilton West if the new Labour MP doesn’t deliver on the promises that he has made – which is not an easy task as many of them are in conflict with Labour Party policies.
John Jamieson
South Queensferry
ON the conclusion of Thursday’s by-election, Anas Sarwar announced that “Scottish politics has fundamentally changed.” Can somebody please go out and survey the position on independence of the residents of Rutherglan and Hamilton West, to put his gas at a peep? Polls consistently indicate that the country is divided 50/50 on independence. Yes, the SNP may have lost support, but many in Scotland will never identify with the branch office that is Labour Scotland. The by-election has disappointed many nationalists and will only act as spur to many who wish to right the wrong of the 1707 Act of Union.
Stuart Smith
Aberdeen
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