Farage Reform UK gunning for shock breakthrough in Scotland in 'two horse' by-election race against SNP

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is seeking to pull off a shock by-election breakthrough in Scotland in what appeared to be a “two horse” race against the Scottish National Party.

Voters were going to the polls on Thursday in the Holyrood by-election for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse seat following a bitterly-fought campaign dominated by the rise in support for Reform.

But for Mr Farage’s party to win it would have to soar from just 0.2% of the vote in 2021 to beat both the SNP in one of its safe seats and Labour.

More realistically, leap-frogging over Labour into second place would show that Reform can compete in Scotland.

Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney has said the contest is a “two horse race” between his SNP and Reform.

If Reform were to come second, beating Labour, it would show it can reach into Scotland, following its victory in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election on May 1.

The by-election is taking place following the death of the SNP MSP Christina McKelvie, who had been receiving treatment for breast cancer.

She had held the seat since 2011, winning it comfortably in the 2021 Scottish election with a majority of 4,582 over Labour, with 14,924 votes and 9,187 respectively.

The Tories got 7,925 votes, with Reform just 58, or 0.2%.

First Minister and SNP leader John Swinney is urging voters in a Holyrood by-election to back his party to ‘stop Nigel Farage’ (Michael Boyd/PA)

But SNP leader Mr Swinney says it is now Reform UK that is the main threat to his party there, claiming the contest is a “two horse race” between the two parties.

Mr Swinney, who has made several campaign visits to the area, has spent much of his time attacking Mr Farage and his party.

Mr Farage says Reform had made “remarkable strides” in Scotland over the last year and was “beginning to eclipse Labour”.

But his party has come under attack from Labour, with a furious row prompted by an online ad which alleged Scottish leader Anas Sarwar would “prioritise” the Pakistani community.

Labour has branded the claim as “racist”, but as the war of words between the parties escalated, Mr Farage used a rare visit to Scotland earlier this week to accuse Mr Sarwar of “sectarian politics”.

Anas Sarwar, leader of Labour in Scotland, which has accused Reform of a ‘racist’ attack on him (PA Wire)

Mr Sarwar still insists his party’s candidate Davy Russell can win the seat, despite him coming in for criticism over his failure to take part in a TV debate.

Speaking on Wednesday, the Scottish Labour leader branded Mr Farage a “pathetic, poisonous little man”.

Hitting out at his rivals Mr Sarwar said: “Reform have chosen a campaign of dirt and smear, the SNP have lacked all ambition, the best they can offer is ‘vote SNP to stop Farage’.”

Mr Swinney however was adamant that people needed to vote for SNP candidate Katy Loudon if they wanted to “stop Farage”.

While Reform have not yet won an election north of the border, one poll last month suggested they could come in second to the SNP in the May 2026 Holyrood elections.