Margaret Ferrier

Labour " blew The Doors off" to take the Rutherglen and Hamilton West seat back from the SNP, leader Keir Starmer has said.

Speaking at a victory rally, He Said it was " The First step on a very important journey" in Scotland and the UK.

The Party 's new MP Michael Shanks won the by-election with 17,845 votes.

This Was More Than double The Number achieved by the SNP's Katy Loudon, with a swing of 20. 4% from SNP to Labour in the Westminster poll.

The by-election was called after former SNP MP Margaret Ferrier was.

Sir Keir told a rally in the constituency that voters had become disillusioned with both the SNP government in Scotland and The Conservative government at Westminster.

He Said : " Scottish voters looked at the Tory government in Westminster and saw something that didn't represent them - They turned their backs on that.

" But They also, not so long ago, saw a Labour that had drifted away from them.

" We've changed, and because we've changed, We Are now The Party of change. "

He added: " As for the SNP, this isn't about just a few months of turmoil in the SNP, it is about years and years of non-delivery. "

Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf said there were " A Number of difficult issues around this by-election which made it a very difficult night. "

The SNP leader said the " reckless actions" of their former MP during Covid and police investigations into SNP finances played a part in The Poor result.

But He Said his party would.

SNP candidate Katy Loudon's 8,399 votes represented a 27. 6% share, down by 16. 6% on the SNP result at the 2019 general election.

Michael Shanks took victory for Labour with 58. 6% of the votes cast.

The newly elected MP described the result as " remarkable" and said it was the " honour of my life" to speak to thousands of voters during The Campaign .

Turnout for the vote was just 37. 19%, a dramatic fall from the 66. 5% at The Last general election.

Keir Starmer told Bbc Scotland that Labour would lay out its " positive case for change" at The Party 's annual conference, which begins on Sunday.

" People wanted to come out and vote for a changed Labour Party , " He Said .

He promised that The Party would " repay that faith and trust with The Change that I know They desperately want to see. "

He added: " We have to earn every vote across Scotland and we will only do that if we have a positive case of change to put before Scotland and the UK.

" Having changed our party, I want to change politics. "

He also used the opportunity to attack " nodding dog" Prime Minister Rishi Sunak over the cancellation of the HS2 and " circus" of the Tory conference in Manchester.

Salvation Army volunteer Douglas Macdonald from Rutherglen told Bbc Scotland News that he voted tactically in the by-election to get the SNP out.

The 81-year-old said: " I Am most definitely happy that there was a big change in the by-election. I wanted rid of the SNP because of their reputation here in Rutherglen.

" I always vote, if you don't vote you can't complain about who gets in and what They 're doing. "

Conor Campbell voted for the SNP but said he was not surprised that They lost to Labour.

" It's to be expected after the recent issues with The Party , " He Said . " I think a lot of people lost faith a little bit. "

He Said the SNP needed to stop pushing for a second referendum and Focus On current issues in Scotland. He pointed to problems facing Young People , and Domestic Violence and homelessness.

Kieran Paterson, 26, was one of the More Than 51,000 people in the constituency who chose not to cast their vote.

" Everything that's been promised doesn't seem to manifest at all, so a vote's kind of useless at this point, " He Said .

The security worker said politicians need to prioritise tackling crime in the area to persuade voters like him to visit The Polling station.

Source of news: bbc.com