NEW MSP Davy Russell has been sworn in to the Scottish Parliament.
The Labour MSP – who won the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election last week – took the oath in Edinburgh on Tuesday afternoon.
He stood next to Labour leader Anas Sarwar as he was sworn in, before shaking the hand of Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone.
He becomes Scottish Labour’s 23rd MSP after Russell gained the seat for the party from the SNP for the first time since it was created in 2011.
The by-election was held following the death of the SNP’s Christina McKelvie.
Former local government worker Russell, 63, became known throughout the by-election for dodging TV debates and interviews, with opponents branding him “the invisible man” throughout campaigning.
But he still managed to beat the SNP by more than 600 votes in a result considered a shock.
The SNP came second, attracting 29.4% of the vote, while Reform UK came in third, garnering support from 26.2% of voters.
Despite their success, Scottish Labour won the seat on less than a third of the vote and Professor John Curtice warned the party is “more or less back to where it was in 2021”.
He added that the vote result showed that there was a “chunk” of pro-Yes voters who had backed Labour in the 2024 General Election and “have not returned to the SNP fold”.
Curtice said Reform UK’s vote share had been a “bit of a surprise given the national polls”.
First Minister John Swinney said the SNP came “frustratingly close” to winning the election after he was criticised for implementing a strategy of pitting the party against Reform in what he dubbed late on as a two-horse race between the two parties.
He said the party had made “modest progress” since its collapse at last year’s general election – when it dropped from 48 MPs to just nine – but had further to go.
Former SNP MP Tommy Sheppard called the SNP campaign strategy “foolish” in a piece for The National this week.
He said it had been “disaster” to paint the by-election as a race between the SNP and Reform UK.
Dr Michael Higgins, a political communications expert at the University of Strathclyde, also said the SNP had “demeaned themselves” by focusing on Reform UK in the by-election campaign.
