Leaders drop in as campaign heats up
Sturgeon and Corbyn back their general election candidates
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon visited Rutherglen on Monday as campaigning for next month’s General Election started in earnest.
The constituency will be a key seat as the nation heads to the polls on December 12, for the first winter election in almost a century.
Labour will be hoping to regain the seat they won back in 2017, with Ged Killen defending a slender majority of 265.
That tiny margin means it has been earmarked as a winnable seat by the SNP, who will be represented by previous incumbent Margaret Ferrier.
She held the seat for the party from 2015 until 2017, when she lost out to Mr Killen.
And proof of the SNP’s high hopes for the seat came at the start of the week, when Ms Sturgeon visited the area.
She joined Ms Ferrier at Burnside Pharmacy, and then had a coffee in Cafe Gelato.
Ferrier sensationally took the Labour stronghold in 2015 after a 31 per cent swing to the SNP.
She said: “I am delighted and honoured to have been chosen to stand as the SNP’s Westminster candidate.
“Having lived in the constituency most of my life, and raised my family here, I understand local needs, skills and resources and, if elected, I will continue to work hard every day standing up for the people of Rutherglen and Hamilton West.
“It has been great meeting folk out on the doorstep throughout the constituency over the past few weeks, and I am really looking forward to the campaign.
“Having the First Minister visit the constituency this week was a pleasure, and she emphasised how important this campaign is for Scotland.
“During the past three years of Brexit chaos Scotland’s voice has been totally ignored by Westminster, and this election is an opportunity to bring that to an end.”
Mr Killen, who took the seat with an 8.9 per cent swing from Ms Ferrier in 2017, has stated that a Labour victory would lead to a second vote on Brexit.
He said: “Boris Johnson has spent most of his time in office impersonating someone who knows what they are doing.
“He has never had a credible plan to resolve Brexit because it cannot be resolved in Parliament, it needs to go back to the people to decide in a confirmatory vote.
“The Tories want to make this an election all about Brexit, and the SNP want to make it all about independence. In truth, this election is an opportunity to remove Boris Johnson and his right wing government from office, resolve Brexit in six months, and then get onto the really important issues that directly impact people’s lives like investment in public services and putting an end to in work poverty.
“My re-election campaign got off to a great start in Rutherglen on Saturday and local residents were keen to hear more about Labour’s bold plans for real change.“
The Liberal Democrats are aiming to improve on their recent results in the constituency, after receiving just four per cent of the vote in 2017.
They will be represented by Mark McGeever, the Hamilton West & Earnock councillor who defected from the Conservatives earlier this year.
He said: “Brexit is a nightmare from which Britain must awake.
“In this election I have the privilege of standing for the only party that unequivocally backs both Scotland staying in the UK and the UK staying in the EU.
“With the realignment of British politics it offers a historic chance for a Liberal Democrat government with progressive and internationalist values at its core.
“Rutherglen and Hamilton West can be part of building that brighter future.”
The Tories have yet to officially confirm their candidate, although the Reformer understands that it will be Lynne Nailon, a Hamilton South councillor.