Closing summary
The blog is coming to a close. Thank for you joining us, below is a roundup of today’s stories:
Labour has won a “seismic victory over the SNP in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection. Labour’s Michael Shanks beat his closest rival, the SNP’s Katy Loudon, by 17,845 votes to 8,399 – a majority of 9,446 and a resounding swing of more than 20%.
Keir Starmer told jubilant Scottish Labour activists that they “blew the doors off” with the party’s overwhelming victory in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection. The party leader said the result was “not just about a couple of months of turmoil but years and years of non-delivery” on the part of Holyrood’s SNP government.
Pat McFadden, Labour’s national campaign coordinator, said the party’s conference will be “policy rich”. Speaking to GB News, he said: “You’ll see a policy rich conference and one that will make clear that as the country wants change, the only people who can deliver that change are the Labour party.”
Rishi Sunak failed to defend Suella Braverman’s remarks that a “hurricane” of illegal migrants was coming our way. Speaking to ITV’s This Morning, he was asked if he was embarrassed or ashamed when he heard Braverman talk. He said: “If you just take a step back, what do I think we all agree on? We all agree that Britain is an incredibly welcoming place.”
Support for Scottish independence still remains strong despite the drop in support for the SNP, according to new findings released by the Tony Blair Institute. Polling carried out by the institute found that 45% of respondents would vote yes in a new independence referendum, compared with 41% who would vote no, a four-point lead for independence.
Buses are to be brought back into public ownership in Liverpool, making it the second area outside London to regain control of its network. The Liverpool city region combined authority voted on Friday to adopt a franchising model. The mayor, Steve Rotheram, said it “marks the start of a new era for public transport in our area – we’re taking back control of our buses”.
Updated
The Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection was the first Scottish election where new voter ID laws were in force, some voters were turned away, Severin Carrel reports
This was the first Scottish election where new voter identification rules for Westminster elections were in force and South Lanarkshire council confirmed there were isolated incidents were voters failed to bring any ID or the correct ID.
Those are being investigated on behalf of the Electoral Commission. In many cases the voters returned with the correct documents, officials said. All the main parties had flagged the new voter ID regulations with voters, to avoid mass refusals at polling stations.
