STEWART PATERSON

Political Correspondent

When Labour suffered a Westminster wipe-out in Glasgow in 2015 the party lost MPs with 93 years of collective parliamentary experience.

Two years later a new generation of candidates are looking to start the fightback in the city that was once solid Labour red.

The polls and the recent council results do not suggest seats will be reclaimed from the SNP but in the selection of candidates the party has moved from the old familiar faces to new, younger Labour men and women.

The temptation is to believe Labour is old, a dying party with yesterday’s men and women swept away and any young person getting into politics now is either joining the SNP or the Tories.

In Glasgow the candidates are new but have a mix of experience either in Labour campaigning or in the referendum.

They are, the party hopes, the people to take Labour forward in winning back those voters it has lost in the last ten years.

Michael Shanks is the party’s candidate in North West where Carol Monaghan took the seat from John Robertson with a swing of 39%, turning a 13,000 plus Labour majority into a 10,000 SNP one.

Mr Shanks said he doesn’t need as big a swing to take it back and sees the seat as winnable.

As was evident in the council elections a second referendum is high on the agenda.

The Labour candidate said he is talking to people about welfare reform and austerity but the biggest issue people want to talk about is a referendum.

With a significant Tory and LibDem vote in the area tactical voting could be crucial to Labour chances

Mr Shanks, said: “There is still a strong Labour vote, people haven’t completely left us and many are coming back.

“People also know they voted Tory at the council elections and got a Tory councillor, but it’s a wasted vote at Westminster.

“People are telling me they don’t want a second referendum, even people who voted yes.”

With enough tactical voting and traditional Labour voters returning Mr Shanks hopes he can win the seat.

In Glasgow East, Kate Watson has both SNP and Tory voters in her sights as she looks to win a seat which has flipped between Labour and SNP in recent times.

She said: “People are sick of services being cut. They are feeling Tory austerity and SNP failure.”

There is also a strong anti-independence vote which the Labour candidate feels strongly placed to capture, though the recent council elections show she will have to fight the Tories for this.

Ms Watson was director of operations for Better Together and she said continuing with that work was a factor in deciding to stand.

Glasgow East has gone from solid Labour to SNP in a by election then back to Labour before the SNP captured it back in 2015.

Kate Watson thinks it is ready to turn once again.

She added: “The more time we are spending speaking to people as the campaign goes on the more winnable this seat is.”

Labour is also standing new Westminster candidates Paul Sweeney in North East, Faten Hameed in Central, Eileen Dinning in South, Matt Kerr in South West and Pam Duncan-Glancy in North