Labour is the “party of change”, leader Sir Keir Starmer declared, after its victory in the by-election in Scotland.

Michael Shanks’s win in Rutherglen and Hamilton West returned the seat to Labour after it was won by the SNP in 2019.

Speaking after the win this morning, Sir Keir said: “We’ve changed. And because we’ve changed we are now the party of change here in Scotland. We’re the party of change in Britain, we’re the party of change right across the whole country.”

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Speaking to the press afterwards, the Labour leader said: “I don’t think anybody will look back at this and think it’s anything other than a historic day for Labour in Scotland.”

He added to a rally: “They said that we couldn’t change the Labour Party and we did it.

“They said that we couldn’t win in the south of England and the north of England, and we did it. They said ‘you’ll never beat the SNP in Scotland’ and Rutherglen, you did it.

“When I left here a week ago with the team, I said ‘you’ve got to win it’. You blew the doors off!”

Mr Shanks replaces the former SNP MP Margaret Ferrier, who was ousted from her seat in August following a successful recall petition for breaching COVID restrictions during lockdown in 2020.

Created in 2005, the seat was held from then until 2015 by Labour, before going to the SNP. It was won back by Labour in 2017 before flipping back to the SNP in 2019.

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