The Labor Party, the largest opposition force in Britain, achieved an unexpected victory in the by-elections in Scotland, lagging far behind the ruling Conservative Party in Great Britain and the ruling Scottish National Party, which seeks independence. According to experts, the result could be of great importance in relation to the expected outcome of next year’s national parliamentary elections in Great Britain.
In the constituency of Rutherglen and Hamilton West near Glasgow in central Scotland, a by-election had to be held because the former MP, Margaret Ferrer, who represented the Scottish National Party in the House of Commons in London, was recalled by voters in the summer after her success. Request to resign. As a prelude to this, it was revealed that in 2020, despite testing positive for coronavirus, Ferrer returned to his constituency from London by train – in serious breach of restrictions at the time.
Based on the results of Thursday’s by-election, which became final on Friday, Michael Shanks, the Labor Party candidate, won the MP position with 58.6 percent of the vote. The Scottish National Party’s representative candidate got 27.6 per cent, while the Conservative candidate barely got 3.9 per cent. Labor increased its share of the local vote by 24.1 percentage points compared to the result of the last national parliamentary elections held in 2019. The Scottish National Party weakened by 16.6 percentage points and the Conservative Party by 11.1 percentage points compared to the results four years ago.
According to expert calculations, if the distribution of votes prevails in the current by-elections in the British parliamentary elections next year, out of the 59 seats belonging to Scotland in the House of Commons in London, the Scottish section of the Labor Party will obtain 42 instead of 59 seats. The current two, while the SNP faction, which currently has 44 members, will be reduced to five.
Support for the SNP in Scotland was badly damaged by the scandal that erupted in the summer surrounding the use of election donations to the party. During the investigation, which began on suspicion of fraud, police temporarily detained and questioned former Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the former leader of the Scottish National Party, as a suspect, although no charges have been brought against her since. At the same time, the significant progress made by the Labor Party is clearly indicated by national opinion polls.
According to the latest poll by YouGov, Britain’s largest polling group, presented on Friday, Labor already enjoys a lead of 21 percentage points: 24 per cent would vote for the Conservatives, who have been in power for thirteen years, and 45 per cent would vote for the Conservatives, who have been in power for thirteen years. They will vote Conservative. Labor Party if parliamentary elections were held in Great Britain now (MTI)
