THE four local by-elections on Thursday were always going to be a daunting challenge for the SNP, because all four were in seats technically being defended by Labour.
THE headline story of Thursday's bumper batch of five local by-elections in Scotland was of the Conservatives making four gains from the SNP. But as is often the case in the complex, contradictory world of by-elections held under the Single Transferable Vote system, that story is at least partly misleading ...
ONE of the traditional rules of Budget Day is that the snap reaction of commentators to the Chancellor's speech often bears little resemblance to the narrative that takes shape after the dust has settled. So there can be no certainty at this stage over whether Rachel Reeves has successfully addressed the causes of the catastrophic drop in Labour's popularity that has been so evident in the opinion polls since they took office in July.
Local by-elections usually only attract interest as glorified opinion polls, writes polling expert James Kelly ...
THERE'S now a growing consensus that Keir Starmer has made a mess of his first three months in power, partly due to a dogmatic insistence on demonstrating "toughness" by making lower-income people suffer to plug the fiscal black hole, and partly due to inexplicable errors of personal judgment such as the accepting of lavish freebies ...
AND so we return to the little pantomime that predictably occurs every few months.
Is it really looking good for Anas Sarwar? ... Polling expert James Kelly doubts it.
ACROSS the UK, a record-breaking 66% of the electorate did not vote for the winning party, and similarly in Scotland, 64% did not vote Labour.
IN showing the SNP on 10 seats, the exit poll is towards the lower end of expectations, although the true pessimists among independence supporters might even feel a small touch of relief because previous exit polls have produced truly shocking results that were way outside the bounds of what was assumed to be possible.
THE eve-of-election Savanta poll showing a three-point SNP lead in Scotland will have provided a timely boost for Martin Docherty-Hughes, the SNP candidate for West Dunbartonshire...
