Scottish Swing and Bank Blues: The Readout With Ruth David

Labour leader Keir Starmer began Friday on an exuberant note, describing his party’s win in a special election in the Glasgow suburbs as “seismic.” While that seems a big word for the result of one by-election, the swing from SNP to Labour is a boost for Starmer as he readies to lay out his pitch to rule the nation at the party’s annual conference this weekend in Liverpool.

Labour’s optimism in Scotland also stems in large part from falling support for the SNP, amid a police investigation into its finances, writes my colleague Emily Ashton. The election in Rutherglen and Hamilton West was the first major ballot since the popular SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon stepped down from her role as head of Scotland’s semi-autonomous government in March.