First Minister Swinney says party 'still have work to do' after loss

There were contrasting responses from the runners-up in the hotly-contested by-election.

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The SNP admit they are “very disappointed” to lose the constituency seat after 14 years, while rising Reform called their performance “incredible” and say they are now the third party in Scottish politics.

Katy Loudon polled 7957 votes for the SNP and Reform candidate Ross Lambie took 7088 votes, with the two South Lanarkshire councillors respectively finishing 602 and 1471 votes behind new MSP Davy Russell of Labour.

Both parties now say they are setting their sights on the Scottish Parliament general election in 11 months’ time and will learn from voters’ views during the seven-week campaign as they seek to make gains in the nationwide 2026 Holyrood vote.

Labour, the SNP and Reform accounted for a combined 87 per cent of the vote. The Conservatives, for whom Richard Nelson was a distant fourth with 1621 votes, were the only other party of the 10 on the ballot paper to gain more than 1000 votes or to keep their deposit.