Labour's huge win over the SNP in a Scottish by-election is "really not good news" for Rishi Sunak, based on a number one educational.

Professor Matthew Goodwin mentioned the 20 p.c swing to Sir Keir Starmer's get together in yesterday's Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election suggests they're outperforming nationwide polling, which already places them forward of the Tories.

He added if the swing was repeated at a common election Labour would take 40 seats north of the border, opening the door to No 10 for Sir Keir.

Prof Goodwin, who writes about politics on his Substack, mentioned it means "life has become a lot harder" for Mr Sunak's Conservatives as they might want to choose up extra constituencies throughout England.

The University of Kent educational advised the Express: "Essentially the better Labour do in Scotland, the easier their path to winning a majority government.

"The key level popping out of this by-election for me is that Labour at the moment are outperforming their place within the polls.

"So they're doing better at recent by-elections than the national polling would suggest, which is not good news for the Conservatives and again suggests that we're heading towards a Labour government.

"I believe the opposite factor price mentioning right here is that this gives additional proof for the way Labour at the moment are poised to re-emerge as a dominant political drive in Scotland.

"Were we to apply these numbers in the by-election to a national general election, then it's likely that Labour would pick up about 40 seats, up from just two at the moment. And that again makes life much easier for Keir Starmer.

"For the Conservatives, whereas they could cheer the decline of the SNP and the decline of assist for Scottish independence which has been falling in current months, what all of this actually does imply is that life has develop into so much more durable for Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives as a result of now they're going to must do significantly better throughout non-London England with a view to fend off doubtless Labour features in Scotland.

"So this is really not good news for Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives even if it is good news overall for our United Kingdom."

Labour candidate Michael Shanks secured 17,845 votes, properly forward of the 8,399 for SNP rival Katy Loudon.

After gaining greater than 58 p.c of the votes forged, Mr Shanks has a majority of 9,446.

He turns into Labour's second MP in Scotland - far off the get together's greater than 40 in 2010 earlier than illustration collapsed within the wake of the 2014 independence referendum.

The Scottish Conservatives got here in third place, with their candidate Thomas Kerr taking 1,192 votes.

A gleeful Sir Keir mentioned his get together "blew the doors off" within the Scottish contest as he stepped out within the constituency right now alongside Scottish Labour chief Anas Sarwar and his latest MP Mr Shanks.

SNP chief and Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf admitted it was a "tough day" and "disappointing result" for the nationalist get together.

Thursday's by-election was sparked after a recall petition in opposition to Margaret Ferrier, who had gained the seat for the SNP in 2019 with a majority of 5,230.

Ms Ferrier had the SNP whip eliminated for breaching Covid guidelines in 2020, and after remaining as an unbiased MP was suspended from the Commons.