Lynsey Hamilton is to stand at next year’s Scottish Parliament election as the Labour candidate for the Clydesdale constituency.
The current Clydesdale West councillor was this week selected by constituency party members to appear on the ballot at the Holyrood poll, due to take place in May 2026.
She has been a councillor since 2012 and is South Lanarkshire Council’s chair of education – and told voters she is “delighted to have been selected” and will “fight night and day to gain your vote running up to the election”.
Councillor Hamilton told Lanarkshire Live: “I look forward to getting out onto the doorstep and speaking to as many people as possible throughout the next year, finding out what matters to the people of Clydesdale the most.
“I will be an MSP who stands up for Clydesdale and make sure we get our fair share of funding and power from a Scottish Labour government.”
She told how she was born and brought up in the area, and added: “I have had the privilege of representing Clydesdale West as a councillor for the past 12 years, but throughout that time I have felt the frustration of seeing our community badly let down by the SNP government. I will stand up for the people of Clydesdale and fight to make their lives noticeably better.”
The constituency has been represented at Holyrood since 2021 by SNP member Mairi McAllan, who serves in the Scottish Government as cabinet secretary for net zero and energy.
She posted on social media last month that she had confirmed to constituency association members that she intends “to seek their nomination to be Clydesdale’s SNP candidate in the 2026 Scottish Parliament election” during the party’s ongoing selection process.
Ms McAllan added: “Clydesdale, my home, and the SNP, my party, mean the world to me. It would be an honour to serve for another term and to help build a better Scotland for future generations.”
*Don’t miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
And did you know Lanarkshire Live had its own app? Download yours for free here.