SNP MSPs and activists join Grant Costello on final stretch of campaign to become MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven

Grant Costello kicked off the final three-week stretch of his campaign to become the next SNP MP for the East Kilbride and Strathaven constituency on Saturday when he was formally adopted as candidate.

At a packed event at Moncrieff Parish Church, dozens of activists joined special guests Christina McKelvie MSP, Neil Gray MSP and Stewart McDonald, SNP candidate for Glasgow South, for the night's activities.

Voters across South Lanarkshire are getting set to go to the polls in the general election on July 4.

Costello, the 30-year-old digital manager for the party, was the favourite to unseat sitting MP Lisa Cameron before she sensationally quit the SNP and defected to the Tories.

A prominent campaigner, the politics and history graduate, the former pupil of Canberra Primary and Duncanrig Secondary schools in East Kilbride, led a Scottish Youth Parliament campaign to change the voting franchise for 16 and 17 year olds for Scottish elections and fought for equal marriage rights.

Mr Costello said: "I was delighted to see such an amazing turnout and I want to thank everyone who made the night so special. It was fantastic to see so many faces.

"We've been on the campaign trail for months, leafleted every door in the constituency and spoken to thousands of local people. I know that people are sick of this rotten Tory Government and furious at what Labour are doing at council-level.

"The Tories have created a cost-of-living crisis that has pushed up mortgage rates, energy bills and food prices, and made people poorer as a result. Locally, the Labour-run council have closed our community halls and libraries, some in the poorest parts of the East Kilbride and Strathaven, and slashed access to sports and leisure facilities.

"That isn't the kind of change we need - local people are rightly exasperated and know the Westminster parties don’t have anything to offer, but I am on their side. I want to be East Kilbride and Strathaven’s local champion, giving my all for the area I grew up in and still call home."

He added: "People in East Kilbride and Strathaven know that it’s the SNP who has brought in the game-changing Child Payment, mitigated the bedroom tax and is the only party willing to condemn Westminster's inhumane two-child cap and rape clause. While Labour and the Tories want to use Westminster's powers to punish people, it’s the SNP Scottish Government that’s building a fairer social security system which has lifted 100,000 children out of poverty and is helping the poorest in our society.

"It’s clear that only the SNP has the vision and strength to stand up and put Scotland’s and our local community’s interests first. And it is only by voting SNP that we can achieve independence, allowing us to rejoin the EU and abandoning the failed Brexit project we resoundingly rejected.

"For a local MP, that's fighting to put Scotland's and our local community's interests first - here in East Kilbride and Strathaven people have to vote for the SNP on July 4."

Results in the East Kilbride & Strathaven constituency will be declared by South Lanarkshire returning officer Paul Manning at John Wright Sports Centre in the early hours of July 5.

The candidates standing in East Kilbride & Strathaven are:

Grant Daniel Costello, SNP

Ross Alexander Lambie, Conservative

Donald Mackay, UKIP

Ann McGuiness, Scottish Greens

David Mills, Reform

Aisha Mir, Liberal Democrats

Joani Reid, Labour

David Richardson, Scottish Family Party

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