Can the SNP hold on to Rutherglen?

Last night’s televised hustings entrenched the battle lines already drawn in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election. Labour candidate and local teacher Michael Shanks sought to pin unpopular SNP policies, including council tax rises and lengthy NHS waiting times, on the Nationalists’ Katy Loudon, a South Lanarkshire councillor. Loudon retreaded her two-point case for giving the SNP another chance: Westminster Tories had created a cost-of-living crisis and Labour was no different from them. For his part, the Conservatives’ Thomas Kerr tried to paint Loudon as too deferential to the SNP hierarchy while accusing Labour of having ‘more flip-flops than Blackpool beach’.

The by-election was prompted by a recall petition in which constituents ousted former SNP MP Margaret Ferrier. Ferrier had been suspended from the Commons for 30 days for travelling from London to Scotland on public transport during the pandemic, despite knowing she was infected with Covid-19. The hustings aired on Scotland Tonight, a current affairs programme from Scotland’s channel three franchise STV, and were moderated by political broadcaster Colin Mackay.