Why are only SNP and Reform putting up candidates for by-election debate?

I’ve been to a lot of by-elections so apathy from the voters doesn’t surprise me, but apathy from the candidates really is a new one on me.

We are planning a candidates’ debate on Scotland Tonight on Monday, June 2 – but only the SNP and Reform are willing to take part.

The Lib-Dems and Greens ruled it out from the start; the Conservatives don’t look likely.

And after much to-ing and fro-ing, Labour is not willing to put up its candidate, Davy Russell.

Scottish Labour

Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party

The SNP candidate Katy Loudon and Reform’s Ross Lambie say he is running scared and in hiding.

Davy Russell has told newspaper journalists that he would “rather be chapping doors and talking and listening to ordinary voters” – but given that Scotland Tonight hustings is not on until 10.40 at night – if he is chapping doors, he’s likely to get chased.

Insight

‘Scunnered’: The mood in crucial by-election battleground

Colin Mackay

The Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election is in two weeks on Thursday, June 5.

I can’t think of a by-election when the main parties refused to take part in a television debate.

SNP

Reform UK

If you cast your mind back to the Rutherglen by-election in October 2023, that was most people’s chance to see the candidates in some kind of action.

They are seeking to represent the interests of thousands of local people in parliament. What are voters to think of them if they can’t see them and can’t see them being tested?

There have been some fascinating by-elections in Scotland over the years and some politicians have made their careers on the back of them.

Look no further than Hamilton 1967 when Winnie Ewing won for the SNP. That was probably the biggest by-election in Scotland’s political history.

But there are others too, where political leaders earned their spurs. Sometimes they weren’t even on the winning side.

Donald Dewar, Scotland’s first First Minister lost his Aberdeen seat in the 1970 General Election and restarted his political rise in the Garscadden by-election in 1978.

It was seen as a landmark for Labour in stopping the rise of the SNP.

Then there was Govan 1988 when Jim Sillars made another by-election breakthrough for the SNP.

STV held a thrilling by-election debate that played a big part in the outcome of the election.

Former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson cut her political teeth as a by-election candidate in Glasgow North East in 2009.

She had no chance of winning but put up a good performance in the campaign and in debates and went on to lead the Tories into second place in the Scottish Parliament.

Former Lib-Dem leader Willie Rennie ran by-election campaigns for his party before winning in Dunfermline in 2006.

Yet in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse in 2025 only the SNP and Reform candidates are willing to put themselves up for debate on STV.

If by-election candidates can’t be bothered, how can anyone expect disillusioned and disengaged voters to bother?

Candidates in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election

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