THE SNP, Labour, and Scotland’s other main political parties “demeaned themselves” by focusing their Hamilton by-election campaigns on Nigel Farage, an expert in political communications has said.
Speaking to the Sunday National, the University of Strathclyde’s Dr Michael Higgins said that the communication around the by-election, in terms of both the media coverage and political parties’ output, had been “dominated to some extent by Reform UK” who had made the vote “about race”.
Voters in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse went to the polls on Thursday to elect a new MSP, with Scottish Labour’s Davy Russell emerging as the winner when the vote was called in the small hours of Friday.
In the wake of the SNP’s loss, party activists told The National that concerns raised about a campaign focused on opposing Reform UK rather than unpopular Labour Government policies had been dismissed by party bosses.
Dr Higgins similarly said that focusing on Farage – as First Minister John Swinney did with his claim that the by-election contest was a two-horse race between Reform and the SNP – had been a “miscalculation”.
“I think that Nigel Farage is better ignored,” the political communications expert went on.
“I think people who are serious political players – whether you're on the side of the Conservatives or the Greens or Labour or the Scottish National Party, all of them are contributing, all of them are long-standing, democratic institutions that make a considerable and valuable contribution to political culture.
“I think they demean themselves by comparing themselves or responding to the interventions of individuals such as Nigel Farage, who is not a politician but a snake oil salesman.”
Dr Higgins was one of the political experts to attend Swinney’s anti-far-right summit, convened in Glasgow in April, from which Reform UK were explicitly excluded.
Asked if that conference had also been a “miscalculation” by allowing Farage to present himself as anti-establishment, Dr Higgins said that had been a different case. “I think it was a legitimate response to concerns that are shared across the political spectrum,” he told the Sunday National.
Outside that conference, demonstrations were held by both Reform UK and the fascist-adjacent fringe group A Force for Good, led by Holocaust-denier Alistair McConnachie.
Dr Higgins noted that the Reform UK activists had been “very keen indeed to distance themselves” from the extremists, and said the party had an obligation to ensure that its messaging did the same.
The advert used footage from 2022 which had been unearthed by an anonymous far-right account on Twitter/X just two weeks before Reform UK began paying for extracts of the same video to be promoted on Facebook.
Asked if this was a coincidence or perhaps evidence of a rhetorical pipeline from the far right to Reform UK, Dr Higgins said: “You're quite right in saying that is extremely coincidental, and those sorts of coincidences are to be avoided in the future.”
The advert was widely condemned – with Sarwar calling Farage a “pathetic, poisonous little man” and First Minister John Swinney labelling it “blatantly racist” and “unacceptable” – but became a key story of the by-election.
“I think it’s really, really unfortunate in a Scottish context – I think it's unfortunate in a context anywhere – but they made it about race and immigration,” he went on.
“The social media post grossly misrepresented something that Anas Sarwar said. It was simply untrue, but that doesn't matter to parties such as Reform UK and Donald Trump and the populist right.
“They'll happily just try out a line and whether it's true or not, it will stick to the wall, it will stick with their constituency.”
Dr Higgins said that while he would not “characterise Reform IK’s social media posts as racist, I think that they may well appeal to members of the electorate who are racist”.
“Of all the parties that are serious contenders, Reform UK are the party that will appeal most to those who are very hostile to immigration and racist.”
The political communications expert and author, who has written extensively on populism and the right, said that the Hamilton by-election had seen Reform UK “setting out their stall in a national context”, suggesting that similar tactics will be deployed ahead of the full Holyrood elections in May 2026.
However, he further said that Reform UK’s 26% vote share – which his University of Strathclyde colleague Professor John Curtice described as a “surprise” due to being notably higher than the party is polling – may not be reflected in the full 2026 elections.
“People tend to vote in by-elections in ways that they wouldn't vote in a general election, knowing that they're not voting to constitute the government of the day,” Dr Higgins said.
“Disillusionment's really important. Most people who are not spending their days immersed in politics and are simply annoyed at both the SNP Government in Scotland and the Labour Government in the UK may be disillusioned, may not wish to vote Conservative, and may see Reform UK as a way of registering that disillusionment.”
The wheels did seem to come off Reform UK’s bus slightly on the day of the by-election, when their party chair Zia Yusuf resigned after an MP raised what he called the “stupid” question of a ban on the burqa at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Whether Farage’s party can keep their momentum going into 2026 – or more crucially for them, the 2029 General Election – may depend on how the other parties respond.
Can the SNP find a message which is not simply “lock out Reform UK”? If the Hamilton by-election is a warning, they will have to.
