Sir Keir Starmer has pitched Labour as the “party of change” as he set his sights on the general election after Labour’s resounding victory over the SNP in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election.
The Labour leader said his party “blew the doors off” in the Scottish contest after it enjoyed a higher-than-expected 20.4 percentage point swing from the SNP.
The result led analysts to believe that Labour could return to being the largest party north of the border and open the door to Downing Street if it is replicated at the next national poll.
Speaking at a victory rally alongside Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and winning Labour candidate Michael Shanks, Sir Keir said to applause: “They said that we couldn’t change the Labour Party and we did it.
“They said that we couldn’t win in the south of England and the north of England, and we did it. They said ‘you’ll never beat the SNP in Scotland’ and Rutherglen, you did it. You blew the doors off!”
Sir Keir, whose party is riding high in the national polls, said voters had “turned their back” on a Tory government.
“But they also not so long ago saw a Labour Party that had drifted away from them.
“We’ve changed. And because we’ve changed, we are now the party of change here in Scotland. We’re the party of change in Britain, we’re the party of change right across the whole country.”
Labour candidate Mr Shanks secured 17,845 votes, well ahead of the 8,399 votes returned for his closest rival, the SNP’s Katy Loudon.
After gaining more than 58 per cent of the votes cast, Mr Shanks now has a majority of 9,446.
At the 2017 general election the Conservatives secured 12 per cent of the vote share – a figure that increased to 15 per cent at the 2019 general election.
But on Friday morning the Tory candidate Thomas Kerr lost his deposit, coming third with just 1,192 votes and 3.9 per cent of the vote share. Candidates failing to win 5 per cent of the vote share must forfeit their £500 deposit.
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