Labour is facing questions over transparency after it failed to disclose that a byelection candidate worked for a company previously embroiled in a data falsification scandal.
The party has not told voters in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse byelection that its candidate, Davy Russell, worked as a consultant to a subsidiary of Mears Group in the neighbouring area of North Lanarkshire.
Scottish Labour is facing defeat in the byelection, which was called after Christina McKelvie, the area’s popular Scottish National party MSP, died suddenly in March.
Labour fears it may come in third behind Reform UK, which would send shock waves through the party. It would mark a significant reversal of fortunes for Labour since it won the adjacent Westminster seat of Rutherglen and Hamilton West by a landslide in October 2023.
Last year it emerged that MearsScotlandLLP had allegedly falsified at least 13,000 maintenance records, after a whistleblower reported the firm to North Lanarkshire council’s auditors.
That led councillors to postpone the signing of a new £1.8bn contract with the company, a joint venture between Mears and the council that provides all the maintenance and repairs for every council building and all of its 36,700 council houses.
Russell told Scottish Labour in his application to become the party’s byelection candidate that he worked for Mears Group as a part-time consultant, as well as a serving as an unpaid trustee for Sense Scotland, a disabilities charity.
Scottish Labour officials told the Guardian that Russell, formerly a senior official at Glasgow city council, worked for two days a week for the subsidiary from the start of 2025 until he was selected as Labour’s byelection candidate in April.
That work for Mears has not been disclosed in his biography on the campaign website set up by Scottish Labour or in any other campaign material. Instead, his biography says he “supports people with disabilities, helps run a local hospice” and is also deputy lord lieutenant for South Lanarkshire.
An SNP spokesperson said: “This will certainly raise eyebrows in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse – Scottish Labour must come clean.”
A Labour source critical of the omission said candidate selection was very tightly controlled. “It’s outrageous they’re trying to hide it. The party needs to be straightforward with the public about the candidates it’s putting forward,” they said.
Scottish Labour would not comment directly on why it had not mentioned Russell’s work for Mears in its campaigning, but said: “Prior to being a candidate, Davy Russell used his expertise in local government to support work being done at North Lanarkshire council. It’s this lifetime of experience in delivering public services he will use to deliver for the people of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse.”
Mears, one of the UK’s largest housing and maintenance groups, has close ties to numerous councils in the region, including South Lanarkshire, where the byelection is being staged, and has Home Office contracts to house asylum seekers in the area.
In April 2020 it was criticised formoving more than 300 asylum seekersin Glasgow into what was reported to be inadequate hotel accommodation. Two months later, a Sudanese manstabbed six peopleat one of those hotels and was shot dead by police.
There is growing disquiet within Scottish Labour about its chances in the byelection. Party figures involved in canvassing have been dismayed by the strength of support for Reform and voter anger about spending decisions made by Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, most notably over winter fuel payments.
Earlier this month, Reform pushed Labour into third place in a council byelection in Clydebank that the SNP won.
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, told reporters during a byelection campaign visit to Larkhall on Wednesday that he believed Labour needed to listen to potential Reform voters.
“It’s really important to stress that people who are tempted to vote Reform, the vast majority if not all of them, they’re not racist, they’re not stupid, it’s not that they don’t understand politics. It’s because they’re scunnered [fed up] because they think government doesn’t work for them.”
Russell confirmed on Wednesday that he would not appear in a televised candidates debate hosted by STV, amid reported concerns that he is not a polished media performer.