Labour '˜ready to make even more election gains from the SNP'

Labour is ready to make even more gains from the SNP if there is another election this year after claiming a surprise haul of seven seats last week.

Kezia Dugdale and campaign manager James Kelly believe Labour can win even more Scottish MPs if another snap general election is called. Picture: John Devlin/TSPL

Campaign chief James Kelly says Labour will remain on an election footing throughout the summer as speculation mounts that Tories deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) could collapse and mean a second general election later this year.

Labour gained six seats from the SNP in last week’s election and held the Edinburgh South seat of Ian Murray, but the party says it is within “touching distance” of more gains.

Mr Kelly pointed to a handful of seats where Labour was within 400 votes of winning. Labour won back Glasgow North East from the SNP two years after Nicola Sturgeon’s party swept the board and claimed all the seats in the city, and it was within 60 votes of taking Glasgow South West and 75 votes of winning Glasgow East.

In Airdrie and Shotts, the SNP’s majority over Labour was slashed to 195, while in Motherwell and Wishaw, Lanark and Hamilton East, and Inverclyde, the nationalists now have majorities of less than 400.

“Voters across the country turned out to send Nicola Sturgeon a message that Scotland doesn’t want a divisive second independence referendum,” Mr Kelly said.

“She should now get back to the day job of running our schools and hospitals.”

He continued: “In six seats, Labour is fewer than 400 votes behind the SNP, while many others are also in play. With SNP majorities slashed, Scottish Labour is in a position to make more gains and we will remain on an election footing for another vote over the summer.”