Surprise Labour victory as Reform’s fallout continues
Coffee House Shots
The Spectator
4.4 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 6 June 2025
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Scottish Labour have a new MSP today as Davy Russell won the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, taking the seat from the SNP. Labour won with 31.6% of the vote with the SNP second on 29.4%, Reform close behind on 26.1% and the Conservatives a distance fourth with just 6% of the vote; this marks rare good news for both Keir Starmer and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
Both SNP and Reform will be disappointed not to have won, but Reform have been quick to highlight how close they came, considering how new the party is. Plus, there are signs that Reform took votes away from the incumbent SNP, demonstrating again that Reform can appeal to voters across the political spectrum – what does this mean for next year’s Holyrood elections? This comes as Reform reels from the resignation of its chairman Zia Yusuf last night – how much impact will this have on the party?
Lucy Dunn was in Scotland for the by-election and joins James Heale, alongside former Reform strategist Gawain Towler.
Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Megan McElroy.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The economic tumult of the past month has forced many people to take another look at their finances and whether their retirement plans are on track. |
| 0:07.7 | This is where having an experienced wealth manager can make all the difference, because it's not just trying to hit a number, it's about planning the life and lifestyle that you want to lead. |
| 0:16.7 | Charles Stanley wealth management can help you chart your financial course, guiding you on when you can retire comfortably, |
| 0:22.9 | as well as how best to pass on your wealth to the next generation, |
| 0:26.1 | unless you're planning to spend it all. |
| 0:28.4 | For more information, visit www. |
| 0:30.5 | www.charls-htanley.co.uk today |
| 0:34.0 | to schedule a free no-obligation call to discuss your situation. And remember, investment involves risk. |
| 0:44.8 | Hello and welcome to coffee house shots. I'm James Hill. I'm delighted to be joined today by my |
| 0:49.1 | spectator colleague Lucy Dunn and Gwain Towler, formal reform director of communications. |
| 0:54.1 | Now, Gwain, thank you for joining us here today. |
| 0:56.6 | Pleasure. |
| 0:57.5 | Zia Yusif, gone as party chairman. |
| 0:59.4 | So it seems. |
| 1:00.3 | Yes. |
| 1:01.9 | It is quite a surprise, but I think that there'd been a couple of missteps, |
| 1:05.8 | and I think he'd been receiving an awful lot of grief from people out with the party. |
| 1:10.5 | I get death threats. I get |
| 1:13.3 | attacks from the online rights. I dread to think what he has to put up with. What do you think |
| 1:17.7 | those missteps were? Well, I think that he's worked so hard, but he is still politically naive |
| 1:23.8 | and green. It's a massive job to come in with virtually no experience of the game |
| 1:28.6 | yeah um and sort of conducting discussions online isn't necessarily the best place to do it |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 19 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Spectator, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Spectator and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.