Tories are ‘gifting’ Runcorn to Reform, Labour says, as Badenoch claims bad local election result won’t be due to her – UK politics live

<p>Labour chair Ellie Reeves says the Tories are doing nothing on the ground in Runcorn as Kemi Badenoch defends approach</p><p><em>Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.</em></p><p>Keir Starmer is not expected to campaign in the Hamilton byelection, a critical contest for Scottish Labour which takes place in early June, <strong>Anas Sarwar</strong> has confirmed.</p><p>I wouldn’t expect Keir to be campaigning in the byelection. That’s not to say he won’t, but I’m not expecting Kier to campaign in the byelection.</p><p>I’ll be on the stump campaigning for a Labour win. I’m the candidate for first minister next year. I’m the one that wants to remove the SNP from government.</p><p>Next year, we’ve got to demonstrate to people that for all Nigel Farage might want to come here with his easy answers and create a bit of a circus, the reality is a vote for Reform only helps the SNP. If you want to get rid of the SNP, only Scottish Labour can beat them.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/apr/29/labour-tory-reform-lib-dem-local-elections-kemi-badenoch-nigel-farage-keir-starmer-uk-politics-latest-live-news">Continue reading...</a>