Michael Shanks takes victory in contest that Labour considered a crucial test of apparent turnaround of its fortunes in Scotland
Scottish Labour’s Michael Shanks has won the Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection, in a resounding victory over the SNP that the party hopes will have a “seismic” impact across the UK.
In a win that UK Labour leader, Keir Starmer, predicted would be a “milestone” on his party’s “hard road back to power”, Shanks beat his closest rival, the SNP’s Katy Loudon, by 17,845 votes to 8,399 – a majority of 9,446.
