Nigel Farage has said Reform UK is "delighted" with its results in Scotland despite a by-election defeat. Scottish Labour claimed a surprise victory in Hamilton early on Friday, with the SNP coming second and Reform third.

Mr Farage said: "Reform UK are delighted with our progress in Scotland. The Hamilton result marks a huge advance for the party. We are only just getting started in Scotland."

Davy Russell took the seat vacated by the death of Scottish Government minister and SNP MSP Christina McKelvie.

The deputy lord lieutenant of Lanarkshire, who has never held elected office, beat out SNP candidate Katy Loudon, who fell to her third defeat since 2023.

The win comes against the backdrop of national polls which place Scottish Labour in third place behind the SNP and Reform UK and will undoubtedly give a boost to Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar’s bid to become First Minister in next year’s election.

While the party had been believed to be among the frontrunners alongside the SNP, the Nigel Farage-led Reform UK saw a surge which took them into third place, just 800 votes away from the SNP.

When the votes were counted, Mr Russell polled 8,559, with Ms Loudon coming second on 7,957, ahead of Reform’s Ross Lambie, who secured 7,088 votes.

Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice has said his party is “delighted with the results” in the Hamilton by-election.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “It’s truly remarkable.

“We’ve come from nowhere to being in a three-way marginal, and we’re within 750 votes of winning that by-election and just a few hundred votes of defeating the SNP, so it’s an incredible result.”