GEORGE Galloway is eyeing up a return to Westminster politics and is considering running as an MP.
The Herald understands the All For Unity party leader is "seriously considering" standing for the Airdrie and Shotts by-election, triggered by the departure of the SNP's Neil Gray.
The fedora-clad politician is also running for Holyrood in the South Scotland list.
He launched his Holyrood campaign last week in Ayr, urging voters to get the "SNP out" because they had "ruined" Scotland.
Sources close to the former Labour and Respect MP said he was considering putting his name forward for the Airdrie and Shotts by-election, to be held on May 13, as well.
Mr Galloway previously said he would stand in Rutherglen MP Margaret Ferrier's seat, if she stood down following alleged breaches of Covid rules.
One source said the plan was "under active consideration" adding: "We are taking the fight against separatism everywhere".
Another added: "This is an SNP seat, and it makes sense for George to stand in it. Anything he can do to reduce the power of the SNP, he will do. He also will want to keep his profile up, as he is standing in South Scotland."
READ MORE: Salmond launches rival party to SNP for Holyrood election
The speculation comes following a week of high drama in Scottish politics, when Alex Salmond announced on Friday that he was launching a new pro-independence party, Alba.
Mr Salmond plans to stand as a list candidate for Holyrood in the North East.
The Airdrie and Shotts by-election has already caused controversy this week after the SNP's Ian Blackford scored an own-goal at Prime Minister's Questions, declaring that his colleague Mr Gray had saved the taxpayer £175,000 in election fees by standing down before the Holyrood poll.
READ MORE: SNP leave taxpayers facing £175,000 bill for byelection
While he is running for Holyrood, the SNP had hoped that his departure would allow the vote for his Westminster replacement to be held on the same day as the Scottish Parliament vote - May 6.
Mr Blackford boasted at PMQs: “By doing the right thing, he [Neil Gray] will avoid a dual mandate and a separate by-election that would cost the public £175,000.”
However the SNP failed to account for the pandemic.
North Lanarkshire Council confirmed there would be a standalone by-election on May 13 because of Covid safety concerns, meaning a separate bill for taxpayers.
The council had been expecting the by-election to be on April 29, based on standard parliamentary procedure, the legal timetable for the vote and pandemic precautions.
However, in an unusual move, the SNP asked that the parliamentary writ triggering the election be moved on April 6, making the by-election date either May 6 or 13.
The returning officer for the by-election chose May 13.
SNP sources suggested that the Labour-run North Lanarkshire council had made a politically-motivated decision by holding the by-election on a separate day.
Anas Sarwar, Scottish Labour leader, dismissed this on Friday when asked by sister paper The Herald.
He said: "It's important to emphasise that the operation of our elections is free of political interference.
"The Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) that we have across all our local authorities aren't guided by political decisions, they are guided by the political makeup of those individual councils.
"They are independent in that role."
He added that if it were his decision, the two votes would be held on the same day.
READ MORE: Sarwar claims only BAME politicians are scrutinised over family when challenged on living wage
He said: "In an ideal world the elections should be on the same day, partly because it would be less likely to confuse the electorate, partly because those who have postal votes for example will be receiving potentially two envelopes, they have to send back on two different dates which could have an element of confusion.
"You're also asking people to come out and go to polling stations in a way that is perhaps more difficult particularly in a COVID environment, to have two separate dates when they could be going out and making that journey just on one day. So I genuinely don't think that's a political decision, I think that was a decision made by the independent ERO.
"They will understand the risk assessments we have taken. My own view, thinking about logically I don't see why it couldn't be done in the same day, but fundamentally that decision will be made by an ERO based on what they think is the risk assessment for their staff, and a risk assessment of how they operate the election.
"If that's what they believe I think we have to respect that decision, even if some of us may individually disagree."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel