A byelection will be held in Rutherglen and Hamilton West after constituents voted for the Covid rule-breaking MP Margaret Ferrier to be removed from her seat. Voters in the constituency had six weeks to sign a recall petition, which was automatically triggered after Ferrier, the former Scottish National party member who now sits as an independent, was suspended from the Commons for 30 days after being convicted of breaking travel rules during lockdown. More than 10% of eligible voters did so, triggering a byelection contest that Scottish Labour and the SNP consider a crucial test in advance of the next general election. In total, 11,896 of 81,124 (15%) eligible constituents signed the petition. Once the Commons resumes in early September after the summer recess, it is for the SNP to move the writ to set a byelection date. Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader and Rutherglen campaign coordinator, said the party believed the byelection should be held as soon as possible. She said the SNP should set the date for 5 October, the earliest possible date after the Commons returns from its summer recess. “The people of Rutherglen and Hamilton West have waited long enough. Give them a say and name the day,” she said. “For far too long the area has been failed – let down by two incompetent governments and left voiceless in parliament by their rule-breaking MP. “Scottish Labour’s candidate Michael Shanks is ready to hit the ground running and be the local champion his home constituency deserves.” Ferrier confirmed she would not stand in the byelection. In a statement to Sky News, she said the petition process had been “difficult and taxing” and she did not want to prolong it. “I respect the outcome of the petition,” the statement said. In a seat that has swung between Labour and the SNP in recent elections, both parties consider this a key indicator of what polls suggest is a step-change in Scottish politics after Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation in February. Polls suggest that the SNP’s dominance is diminishing, as the party struggles with questions of transparency and governance linked to the police investigation into its financial conduct, with Labour the beneficiary. With no clear route to a second independence referendum and the public overwhelmed by cost of living concerns, there are strong indications that Scottish voters are now less likely to choose which party to back based on their constitutional preferences. Responding to the result, the SNP leader and first minister, Humza Yousaf, said: “Every Labour candidate standing in Scotland – including here in Rutherglen and Hamilton West – does so on a regressive platform of maintaining among the very worst of Tory policies. “Keir Starmer has made a political choice to keep children and working families in poverty.”
The SNP’s candidate for the byelection, the councillor Katy Loudon, said: “I will oppose any policy that pushes children into poverty, such as the two-child benefit cap and bedroom tax. Keir Starmer’s U-turning to back Tory policy underlines that Labour in Scotland are just a branch office of Westminster.” Ferrier faced widespread opprobrium after she visited local businesses and travelled to the Commons in September 2020 while waiting for the results of a Covid test, and then returned home by train despite being told it had proved positive. Repeated visits to the area by the Guardian have found that anger at her behaviour has not abated. • This article was amended on 3 August 2023 to clarify that Margaret Ferrier knew she had tested positive before returning from London by train in September 2020, but was still waiting for the result when she travelled to the Commons the day before.