Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection could be ‘make or break’ for Labour

‘There is no obvious route back to power for us that does not run through Scotland,’ Starmer said. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Keir Starmer has made no secret of the fact that winning the byelection in Rutherglen and Hamilton West on the outskirts of Glasgow next Thursday is crucial to Labour’s path to government.

Labour sees a win as a critical test of the party’s wider prospects in Scotland and the UK before the general election expected next year. Starmer needs a chunk of the 41 seats that Labour held as recently as 2010 to win a workable majority at Westminster.