Holyrood elections 2026 - All you need to know about Glasgow Southside
In one of Scotland’s most complex constituencies the voters - and the candidates - have a varied mix of issues of their minds
Last time round, the contest for Glasgow Southside was a straight SNP vs Labour fight.
In 2021 Nicola Sturgeon, then First Minister, saw off Anas Sarwar, the man who now would dearly love to be First Minister.
Ms Sturgeon received 19,735 votes and Mr Sarwar 10,279 - although this represented a 4.8 per cent swing to Labour.
This time round the campaign was very nearly a battle of the fedoras. At the last minute, however, George Galloway dropped out of the running.
“We were supposed to appear on a hustings together”, Holly Bruce, the Scottish Greens candidate, said, “And I thought I might try and wear a bigger hat than him.”
After more than a decade as Nicola Sturgeon’s seat, the Scottish Greens very much see the newly-drawn constituency as a green/yellow battleground - and Ms Bruce is in it to win it.
“Genuinely what we’re hearing on the doors is a switch from SNP to Green - and both votes Green,” she said.
Glasgow Southside is a complex constituency. It is home to Scotland’s largest Roma population. It has areas of the most extreme deprivation in the country and pockets of wealth.
It is also the most ethnically diverse area of Scotland - a point to consider given the encroachment of Reform UK.
The Scottish Greens laid the ground early with a canvassing campaign that began last October.
Ms Bruce, a councillor for Langside Ward, claims the party has knocked “tens of thousands” of doors in the area.
Ms Bruce believes - as residents do also - that the constituency needs a fully focused, hands-on MSP.
“Nicola was very busy as First Minister, and I've got the respect for that, but the south side has been missing that person on the streets,” she says, emphasising that the area needs someone who will stand alongside grassroots campaigners.
And the area is replete with grassroots campaigns, such as that to reopen Govanhill Baths.
It is also the constituency in which the Kenmure Street anti-Home Office protest took place.
The south side is socially progressive, environmentally conscious and has a deep rooted campaigning spirit.
You will see pro-Palestine and trans rights flags on lampposts on the main thoroughfares. It is home to one of Scotland’s two LGBT bookstores.
Due to its diversity, the area has previously attracted the attention of the far right. Ex-Britain First depute leader Jayda Fransen stood as an independent in the constituency in 2021.
Ms Fransen gained 46 votes and, at the time, the question was ‘how on earth did she gain so many?’
It remains to be seen how the hard right Reform UK will do in Southside Central but it is certainly not viewed as a priority seat by the party.
The SNP candidate is Kaukab Stewart, currently serving as equalities minister.
“Because I come from a different culture myself, I feel as though I fit in, whereas there's lots of spaces I don't fit in,” Ms Stewart said.
“There's different generations, different colours, different cultures and, by and large, people rub along quite nicely.”
Ms Stewart lived in the area as a child, went to Bellahouston Academy, her family lives locally and she has returned to live in the constituency in recent years.
She feels a passionate connection to it.
She is keen to emphasise that she is not trying to fill Ms Sturgeon’s shoes and is her own women. She aims to be as hands-on as possible in the area, taking nothing for granted despite being the polling favourite to win.
The Conservative candidate Ross Hutton works for Glasgow City Council and also lives on the patch.
He acknowledges the socio-economic differences in the area but says voters’ desires align no matter where they live.
“Whether you're in the Avenues of Pollokshields or over in Govanhill, people fundamentally want the same things,” he said.
“A well-paying job to buy a nice house, send their kids to a good school and if, God forbid, anything happens, get a GP appointment.”
Mr Hutton was eight when the SNP came to power and is disillusioned with the way the party has governed.
“I'm very clear eyed and realistic about the prospects. But someone has to be there making those centre right arguments,” he said.
Mr Hussain is also a local councillor and leader of the Labour group on Glasgow City Council. He was parachuted into the constituency after the original Scottish Labour candidate was dropped over a fraud charge.
He claims that in his own council ward “everyone knows my name”.
His pitch is that, given success on May 7, he would take a grassroots, ground-up approach.
On the doors, he says, it’s all about the cost of living crisis and the NHS as well as local issues like Shawlands parking charges. On the question of the SNP and Scottish Greens challange, he says: “That may well be what people were thinking, but now they know that I've arrived and the dynamics have changed.”
Reform UK candidate Gordon Millar is more circumspect. His main campaign message focuses on housing.
“That will have a significant impact on the people that are affected, although we don't really have a good sense of how many people are involved,” he said.
He says the SNP “would rather give priority to people who have just arrived” but doesn’t elaborate on how Reform UK at Holyrood would tackle the devolved issue of immigration.
Mr Millar is planning to spend the weekend in Aberdeen helping campaign for a seat that Reform has designs on winning.
He hopes to see more of the area in the next two weeks and find more people to help him leaflet.
Mr Millar said SNP and Greens voters can be quite abusive on the doors and said the list of candidates is “majority Asian background” because “the constituency itself has got some very strong ethnic areas” and says he notices more “Palestine flags than Union Jacks”.
CANDIDATES
Independent, Arzoo Abdullah
Scottish Greens, Holly Bruce
Scottish Common Party, Kamran Butt
Labour, Rashid Hussain
Conservative, Ross Hutton
Reform UK, Gordon Millar
Liberal Democrats, Rachel Park
Scottish National Party, Kaukab Stewart
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