When local businessman Davy Russell was announced as the new Scottish Parliament member for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse in the early hours of the morning, the look of relief on the faces of Labour members at the count was palpable. And they were entitled to revel in what was a shock result.
The party had defied the polls and the bookmaker odds to win a seat which in the last Holyrood election in 2021 was easily held by the late SNP MSP Christina McKelvie.
