7 June 2025, 01:13

By Gina Davidson

Dig for victory. The WWII slogan might as well have been painted on the windows of Scottish Labour’s HQ in Hamilton town centre. It’s certainly how the party won the Lanarkshire seat of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse in Thursday’s by-election.

The party pulled off a win that no-one except their troops on the ground thought was possible. Not the media, not the opposition, not even the bookies.

It dug deep. It poured hundreds of activists into the campaign trenches. It canvassed the electorate to within an inch of their lives. On polling day around 250 party members knocked at somewhere between 8000 and 9000 doors to ensure their vote went out and actually put an X on the lilac ballot paper.

And then there was their secret weapon - the candidate Davy Russell. Who you may well ask? And you’d be right to. Russell is not a man who has ever stood for election before. He is not a media performer - he refused to take part in a TV debate, he did few television interviews - one saw him asked the same question about winter fuel payment cuts over and over again without any real answer. He was roundly mocked by his opponents for his “invisibility” and apparent inability to perform as a politician.

The SNP candidate, Cllr Katy Loudon, accused Russell of being unable to defend Keir Starmer’s record in government and running scared of debate. The Reform UK candidate Cllr Ross Lambie produced a social media video asking “where’s Davy?” as if he was some kind of anorak-wearing Scarlet Pimpernel of the Lanarkshire lawn bowls scene. Little wonder then as he stood on the stage making his winners’ speech Russell triumphantly asked “do you see me now........

© LBC