JOHN Swinney and the SNP's by-election candidate Katy Loudon have warned of a "tight contest" brewing in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse as they both admitted concern over the rise of Reform UK.
The seat was being billed as a battle between the SNP and Labour, but many are now speculating that Reform are the SNP's main rival after Nigel Farage's party beat Labour in the by-election held in Clydebank earlier this month.
Several Scottish Government ministers turned out for a campaign photoshoot on Monday, suggesting the SNP know they have a fight on their hands to hold onto the seat previously held by Christina McKelvie, who died in March.
Speaking exclusively to The National, the SNP's candidate Katy Loudon said she was concerned about the support for Reform she had come across on the doorsteps, but added she was determined to push back their rhetoric.
"I do think it is a bit of a worry seeing the rise in Reform, we saw that in the Clydebank election, and we’re just being very clear we are polar opposites and we’re talking about delivery, we are pushing back on their rhetoric and the only way you’re going to stop Reform in this by-election is voting SNP," she told The National.
"We’re picking up support for Labour still, for ourselves and for Reform, but we’re very much concentrating on what we’re doing.
"I think it’s fair to say Labour have completely lost their way, not only during this campaign, but people have been talking to us about how they feel let down at a local level with some of the decisions the Labour council have made on cutting 8000 school bus places for example from this August.
"So it’s fair to say Labour have lost their way, but we’re not taking anything for granted. We’re out to win every vote."
"It's something we all need to work on," she said.
"It’s people who are scunnered with politics, it’s people who have been through all those years of Tory austerity who maybe had thought previously in a General Election, for example, that they would give Labour a chance and for Labour to turn around and immediately start cutting disability benefits, taking away the Winter Fuel Payment, not compensating Waspi women, that’s angered a lot of people and I can understand why some people are feeling politically homeless as a result."
The SNP took the Clydebank Waterfront by-election in West Dunbartonshire with 1331 first-preference votes for Kevin Crawford, but Reform came second with their candidate securing 919 first-preference votes.
Farage said afterwards it was proof that Reform are now the main opposition to the SNP in Scotland.
While he refused to say whether it was not a battle between the SNP and Reform in Hamilton, Swinney told journalists at the town's train station that he was anticipating a tight "three-way contest", warning that the threat of Farage's party is real.
He said: "It’s a tight contest. It’s 10 days out from polling day, and a lot can happen in 10 days. We’ve been working hard for ages, and Reform's support, it's visible. Labour support is visible, our support is visible, not seeing support for much else.
"So that’s a three-way contest and we’re working hard to make sure we come out on the right side of it."
He told The National it was "difficult to call" where the SNP's principal challenge is coming from.
He added: "We want to make sure in Christina’s memory that we win this constituency, but we also want to make sure we see off the threat from Farage and it's real in this constituency, I’m encountering it on the doorsteps.
"I try my best to counter it and to address that."
