Commentators have been keen to find lessons for Rutherglen and Hamilton West in the recent three by-election results in very different parts of England.
Labour’s surprise failure to take Uxbridge and the Conservative survival there has been largely attributed to ULEZ.
The Herald, staying with the unthinking under-researched majority, had:
Tory victory in Uxbridge a ‘warning sign’ for ‘anti-motorist’ SNP
The Guardian today has gone deeper:
The key divide in this story is between Westminster and local politics. Time and again, Tory activists began the account of their victory with the freedom to choose their candidate. How they got so much say in a closely watched byelection still mystifies them (“Maybe CCHQ [Conservative campaign headquarters] thought the seat was already lost,” says one). However, in Tuckwell, they picked neither a star performer nor a political veteran – but someone born and bred in the area, who has raised a family there and even led a local scout troop.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/aug/03/uxbridge-brexit-tories-anti-green-labour-local
What has UK Labour done?
A formal complaint has been lodged by two Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) amid concerns around the selection process for two Scottish seats. Grassroots members at the Rutherglen branch, along with those in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse CLP, have written to UK Labour leader Keir Starmer and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar. In their letter, they accuse party bosses of a “lack of transparency” in the process used to draw up the shortlist of prospective candidates in the Westminster seats. They say they have been “inundated” with complaints from local members with concerns over the “integrity” of the process.
https://news.stv.tv/politics/complaint-lodged-over-integrity-of-labour-selection-process-in-margaret-ferrier-rutherglen-and-hamilton-seat
What has the SNP done?
The SNP has selected a local councillor for the crucial Rutherglen byelection despite Humza Yousaf previously rejecting applicants from within the constituency because of a perceived lack of quality.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/snp-lines-up-local-councillor-to-fight-ferriers-seat-in-by-election-ldmjlbw8k
Once the troops get out on the streets, the MSM-driven national trend for Labour might get the same treatment as happened in Uxbridge.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
And once the troops get out on the streets with a copy of this video, potential Labour voters may well be scratching their heads. Starmer’s hand-picked candidate apparently intends to vote against every one of Starmer’s policies.
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Labour counting their chickens before they are hatched (as are their friends in the media)….not a good look…….and also the way this by-election is being presented , by the media, as the result being a supposed indicator for the next GE…..Ha Ha
Someone tell them, Labour, that their preferred candidate Michael Shanks, as in their CHOSEN preferred candidate via Labour HQ (as opposed to other potential candidates the constituency Labour activists preferred but who were overruled by HQ influence in what they, activists, called a “stitch up”) was a person who resigned from the Labour party because of Brexit indeed on social media he stated that they, Labour, were ” “a party that has a bankrupt approach to our membership of the EU and is complacent about the impact it will have on the poorest people across the UK.” ……..that’s the SAME Michael Shanks now standing for the Labour party in this By-election… under a new Labour leader, Starmer, who as Labour leader states he will “Make Brexit work”…..so Shanks is another one who is promoting, that for him , via his position on Brexit well…. ‘Those WERE his principles…if you DID NOT or DO NOT like them then he (obviously) has OTHERS”….as in other principles he has changed to align with Labour HQ….obvs.
Surely this very pertinent FACT is in itself something that can NOT be glossed over (ignored) via the media (yes I know…. as if the media here or elsewhere would touch upon that inconvenient truth that could potentially impact the result)…..BUT the SNP can and should….as his blatant hypocrisy is as clear as crystal.
Scotland voted AGAINST Brexit….but Labour neither respected nor acknowledged that fact….indeed that was and is an indicator of how , as the potential next UK government, they, Labour, will act in respect to Scotland (as in just like the Tories)…. that is that they are NOT a party for “Change” or for a “Fresh start” but just a continuation of what we, Scotland, always must be expected to meekly accept via both main pro UK parties as THE UK government……our needs, wants and votes just do not count in their UK…..Michael Shanks is NOT going to be the one who decides Labour policy…..HQ are ….so if you do not like what they are saying and intending to do then do not vote for HIM at this By-election…simples.
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Labour cannot acknowledge the fact that, by a large majority, Scotland voted to remain in the EU, because it’s position is that the U.K. is one country and the U.K. as a whole voted to leave. So, for Labour to acknowledge the fact of Scotland’s vote to remain, means it acknowledges that Scotland is in some way different.
However, it claims that Scottish Labour is able to set its own policies even if these differ from those of the wider Labour Party. But, why should it’s policies differ? The only answer must entail recognising something distinct about Scotland.
This is a Starmerite stance in that it contains contradictions which Labour does not acknowledge.
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Vote SNP, why vote for a party that is based in the country next door. It makes no sense.
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Perhaps worth remembering that in one of the recent by-elections Labour came 4th after the Tories 2nd, & Greens in 3rd place. Hardly a ringing endorsement for a party that thinks it will win the next GE. May not have been likely to win but surely you would have expected them to be further up the pecking order.
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Labour will reform social security in Government including with the goal of removing the two-child cap and bedroom tax, but recognise that this may not be immediately possible until stable economic growth has returned.
Part of reply I received from Lab MSP,so lets have a think about that if Lab win the election we have to wait for economic growth and if that does not happen we are stuck with Tory laws,for goodness sake people of Scotland waken up we are we are shafted no matter who rules in London.
PS I see Scotland was given more borrowing powers why should we have to ask London. Independence is the only way forward.
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“Starmer’s hand-picked candidate apparently intends to vote against every one of Starmer’s policies”.
(tried to reply to above comment but my reply didn’t come up…must have done it wrong…LOL)
So if he, Shanks , is going to oppose Starmer’s policies then why stand as a candidate for HIS, Starmer’s, Labour party ?
Call me cynical but surely this is looking very much as if Shanks is distancing himself from policies that he KNOWS Scots will not support….as these policies are Labour adopting Tory policies…..as in him currently adopting a ‘method in his madness’ position to fool the voters in this constituency that he is ‘different’ from the party he represents… in order for him to win this seat for Labour via him being somehow seen by voters as one who is his ‘own man’….which means nothing really in as much as HE as a solitary MP who does not get to decide the direction the Labour party will go or indeed the policies that they will ultimately implement as a UK government….and we all know what Labour do to MP’s who do not tow the party line do we not.
However if that unfortunate event does happen (him being elected)….he, Shanks, can then just ‘Do a Starmer’ and U turn on his supposed previous (current opposing) position ..and then give a (weak) excuse for doing so ( and they do whip their MP’s in the Labour party do they do not….to tow the (HQ) party line and to vote FOR for whatever their party leader wants at WM)…..
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By elections – low turnout. People who support Independence need to get out and vote.
GE in the Spring?
ULEZ a restriction 10 year old vehicles. A scheme to scrap vehicles. Congestion. Thatcher routed transport through London. Tilbury Docks etc. 26 miles of container port. London transport is subsidised.
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