THE SNP’s tactics in the Hamilton by-election were “foolish”, a former party MP has said.
Writing in The National on Monday, Tommy Sheppard said it had been a “disaster” to paint the by-election as a race between the SNP and Reform UK.
Ahead of the vote last Thursday, which was won by Scottish Labour’s Davy Russell, First Minister John Swinney had said the contest was a “two-horse race” between his SNP and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
On Monday, Sheppard said the only reason Labour’s win had been framed as a surprise was due to the SNP having “foolishly created a narrative that it was a race between them and Reform UK”.
He went on: “Undoubtedly it seemed a good idea at the time, but in retrospect it was a disaster.
“I cannot think of another example where the two-horse race line has been deliberately created by an incumbent. Usually, it’s a story concocted by an opposition party to galvanise support for a challenge by asking supporters of other parties to lend them a vote.
READ IN FULL: Tommy Sheppard: SNP narrative of two-horse race is not inspiring or smart politics
“When the incumbent presents this argument, a number of unfortunate and unintended consequences result. First, it necessarily portrays the SNP as the status quo, signalling to a disgruntled electorate that they can get change by voting for someone else.
“Presenting yourself as being in pole position might even create a degree of apathy among your own supporters.
“Second, in defence the argument has the reverse effect on your opponent that it might in attack. The other party – in this case Reform UK – are thus presented as the second most important party. Bigging up your opponent is just daft.”
On Sunday, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar claimed Swinney had been “attempting to push people into the arms of Reform” during the Hamilton by-election campaign.
Sarwar repeatedly described the SNP campaign – which urged voters they could only stop Reform by voting SNP – in the run-up to last week’s poll as “dishonest and disgraceful”.
Dr Michael Higgins, a political communications expert at the University of Strathclyde, said the SNP had “demeaned themselves” by focusing on Reform UK in the by-election campaign.
Swinney said on Sunday that he was “standing up to Farage”. “I’m going to make no apology for it,” he added.
Last week, asked if it was a mistake to call the by-election a “two-horse race”, the SNP leader said: “I called it the way I saw it.
“The way I saw it was the Labour vote was collapsing compared to the general election last summer, which it did, it was down 20%."
