Reform continues to rise in Scotland and the Scottish political and media class continue either to ignore it or hold panicked summits on countering the ‘far right’. Thursday’s council by-election for Clydebank Waterfront, in West Dunbartonshire, saw Reform come second despite never having contested this ward before. The SNP proved the eventual victor in the seventh round of counting – Scottish local elections are conducted using single transferrable vote – but Reform narrowly beat Labour into third place. They used to weigh the votes for Labour in Clydebank, a town once synonymous with the socialist radicalism of Red Clydeside. Like manners and Saturday night telly, the Scottish Labour party ain’t what it used to be, but it’s remarkable that the people’s party is now being outpolled by an Essex Man tribute act in the heartland of the deindustrialised west of Scotland.
There is now plainly a trend in place, one I pointed out last November following three Glasgow council by-elections in which Reform came out of nowhere to claim third place.
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