Counting begins in Hamilton by-election
Ballot boxes began arriving at South Lanarkshire Council’s headquarters just after 10pm.
Counting has begun in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse Holyrood by-election.
Ballot boxes arrived from across the constituency at around 10.15pm, before being rolled out across the counting room at South Lanarkshire Council’s headquarters in Hamilton.
Turnout has been announced as 44.2%, with a total of 27,155 votes cast on Thursday out of a possible electorate of 61,485.
A senior Reform UK source told the PA news agency the party would likely come third in the seat, averting the potential surge the SNP and Labour feared could take hold.
A number of high-profile figures in Scottish politics are observing the count, including Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie, Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan and Labour MSP Monica Lennon.
The contest was called in the wake of the death of Scottish Government minister Christina McKelvie and was initially viewed as a battle between the SNP and Labour, but Reform UK saw a surge during the campaign, with the party thought to have a good chance of unseating Labour and coming second.
The campaign has been marked by attack ads from the Nigel Farage-led party against Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, accusing him of prioritising people from Pakistan and using a speech he gave encouraging people from a South Asian background to get into politics.
Opponents of Reform roundly criticised the ad as “racist”.
First Minister John Swinney described the contest as a “two-horse race” between his party and Reform, but Labour has consistently said it is still in with a chance.
The First Minister said voters should back his party in order to “stop Farage”.
He added: “People face a simple choice in this by-election.
“They can either vote for the SNP – elect an SNP MSP – or they will end up with a Reform MSP. That’s the simple choice.”
Reform is yet to win an election at any level in Scotland, but boasts a number of defected councillors.
Mr Farage himself, in a visit to Scotland this week, said it was unlikely his party would win, despite recent polls suggesting Reform was second in voter preference in Scotland with just 11 months to go to the next Holyrood election.
