THE SNP’s candidate for a key upcoming by-election has said she will “stand up for the community” like Christina McKelvie did.
The Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election is being held on June 5 after the untimely death of the respected SNP minister and MSP.
“Christina was such a strong and fearless champion of our community. She really was. And I aspire to be the same,” Katy Loudon told the Sunday National in an exclusive interview.
“To take one issue – energy bills, which is a huge issue for people just now – Christina (below) helped to set up a scheme which allows customers who refer to food banks to get fuel assistance as well. That was piloted in Hamilton and that's helped thousands of people since.”
She added: “Absolutely incredible, and if you compare and contrast that to what's been happening recently with the new UK Labour Government – where we've got energy bills going up three times, pensioners being hit hard with cuts to the Winter Fuel Payment.”
Loudon was first elected to South Lanarkshire Council in 2017 and is the SNP's local government convener.
Before becoming a councillor, she worked as a primary school teacher for almost 10 years.
Loudon previously stood in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West Westminster by-election in October 2023, which saw Michael Shanks become the second Scottish Labour MP in Scotland until last year's General Election.
Loudon also stood as a candidate in the newly formed Rutherglen constituency during the General Election, again losing to Shanks.
But her chances of election seem a lot greater this time.
McKelvie won the seat in 2021 with a majority of 4500, so the SNP are entering the race as perhaps slight favourites, aided by a slide in the polls for Scottish Labour since last July’s General Election.
That being said, polling experts and bookmakers still view the crunch by-election as a toss up between the SNP and Scottish Labour, with Reform UK also expected to do well.
And Anas Sarwar has come out swinging, saying he plans to use the Hamilton by-election campaign to hit out at First Minister John Swinney’s record in Government and claimed voters needed a “new direction” with Scottish Labour.
Asked about those comments, Loudon said the “new direction” slogan was just a “synonym” of the previous “Change” slogan.
“People in this constituency are going to remember leaflets flying through their door promising them £300 off their energy bills,” she said.
“And they know what's happened since.”
Loudon added: “This election is about finding someone who's going to stand up for communities and to represent them well and to stand up for their interests and their needs.
“Other people will have plenty of opinions about what this election is about, but this election is about the fact that we've just lost a fantastic MSP who was such a champion for this community and for many other issues. And that's what I'm interested in, being a champion for this community.”
Asked what issues she will be campaigning on, she said tackling the cost of living is the one voters have told her on the doorstep, as well as childcare and education.
“There are local issues which are very much South Lanarkshire-wide issues which are very much going to play into this as well,” Loudon said.
“It's a Labour-led council at the moment and people are seeing what that has meant for them. It has meant slashing school bus services, for example.”
She then said that it is an “honour” to even have the opportunity to be elected.
Loudon added: “I promise I'm always going to put the people of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse and their priorities first.”
