Meet Gordon McKee, the 29-year-old son of a welder vying for Glasgow South

With the SNP facing difficulty in the polls, Labour looks set for a substantial return to form in Scotland – with some polls forecasting the party could win the majority of seats north of the border for the first time in almost a decade.

One crucial area Labour needs to flip in order to make significant in-roads into Scotland is Glasgow. The largest city in Scotland, Glasgow has had a long history of political radicalism and been a crucial part of the British labour movement – dating as far back as the era of Red Clydeside from the 1910s to 1930s.

Labour had been the dominant force in the city for generations until 2015 when, in the aftermath of the independence referendum, the SNP swept the party out of Glasgow.

Small gains in 2017 were reversed in 2019, but now Labour is hopeful of a change in the political tide – with the realistic possibility the party will flip all six of the city’s constituencies.

‘Best opportunity we’ve had in a long time’

One of those vying to enter Westminster is Gordon McKee, standing against the SNP’s Stewart McDonald in Glasgow South. Labour needs a less than 10% swing in order to win the seat.

I met Gordon on a sunny afternoon in the residential areas of Maneswood before he and his team set off to canvas for votes.

He said: “I think it’s the best opportunity we’ve had in a long time. I’ve been involved in the Scottish Labour Party for more than ten years and it’s obviously been a very difficult decade. There’s definitely movement in this election. You can see that people are moving away from the SNP and looking at us in a way that they haven’t looked at us for some time.

READ MORE: Meet Zubir Ahmed, the NHS doctor hoping to become Labour’s MP for Glasgow South West

“That’s because both Anas (Sarwar) and Keir (Starmer) have been enormously successful in the way they have changed the party and made the party face the country.

“I’ve lost enough elections not to take anything for granted, but it’s definitely the best option we’ve had in a long time.”

‘My life improved enormously under the Labour government’

 McKee is seen by some as a “rising star” in the party, according to the veteran political journalist Michael Crick.

The 29-year-old studied computer science at university and joined the Labour Party in 2012.

“I come from a very working-class family. My dad’s a welder and my grandpa was a miner.

“The Labour Party has done incredible things. If I think about my own life, it improved enormously during the time of the Labour government. My mum was able to go and retrain and start a business, and that helped provide us with economic stability. My life as a kid transformed during that time.

“In the past 14 years, the country’s direction has been going the wrong way and I am hoping that we can get a Labour government and that will unlock the same potential for millions more children across Britain.”

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McKee explained that he doesn’t come from a political family, although his parents vote Labour, and that he didn’t know a single person who was a member of a political party when he joined.

“There’s nothing about my background and my birth that would mean I’d be a Member of Parliament. If you’re lucky enough to serve, you’ve always got to remember the people that put you there.”

‘It felt like nationalism was unassailable’

One of the first campaigns he was involved in was the 2015 election, which McKee describes as a “formative political event for me”.

He said: “I really remember very clearly the feeling after the election that all the things I stood for and believed in, and the Labour Party, were in real threat.

“It felt at that point like nationalism was kind of unassailable. So to be here just nine years on from that and potentially reversing that trend is pretty exciting.”

‘Overwhelming sense of responsibility’

McKee said being elected as the MP for Glasgow South would be “the greatest honour of my life” and vowed to work “day and night” to serve people who put their trust in him on July 4.

He said: “I’m really struck by being a Labour candidate the immense responsibility that actually even just being a candidate alone is on you.

“There are so many people who drop you off, that give up their time, their energy, their money, because they want to have a better future. They want to help create a Labour government and improve everyone’s lives.

“I just feel that overwhelming sense of responsibility and if I am lucky enough to be elected, I have no doubt in my mind I’ll have an even greater sense of responsibility as an MP.”

‘A plague on both your houses’

McKee claimed that the SNP has taken people for granted in Glasgow, and that people in the city want a change. “You go and ask people on the doorstep – you know what they want? They want to get rid of the government. You go, which one? They go ‘both’.

“People are just fed up with both governments (Westminster and Holyrood). They know that the SNP have failed on the NHS and they also know the Tories have crashed the economy and caused mortgage rates to go up.

“Honestly, it is a case of a plague on both your houses. We have the alternatives to that.”

‘Independence is not on the ballot’

Glasgow voted by less than 5,000 votes to back independence in the referendum ten years ago. McKee said that while the issue does come up on the doorstep, “independence is not on the ballot”.

“There are people who are voting Labour who are pro-independence. The conversations I have with them are the conversations I have with everyone else, which is that this election is not about the constitution.

“Even the SNP themselves will admit there is not going to be a referendum in the next couple of years, but what we almost all agree on is getting rid of the Tories and making Scotland a stronger, fairer and more equal place over the next five years.

“People who are pro-independence understand that independence is not on the ballot, but getting rid of the Tories is – and that is the priority they’re choosing.”

‘I almost won’t stop campaigning’

Success at the general election will only be a stepping stone for Scottish Labour activists towards the 2026 elections for the Scottish Parliament. McKee knows Anas Sarwar more than most, having served as director of his leadership campaign in 2021.

READ MORE: What do the latest three MRPs show for Scotland?

“He’d be a great First Minister,” McKee said. “He is the most genuine, decent guy you could ever meet. He is incredibly hard-working, he’s got a fantastic grasp of the detail which is so important in that job and he’s also got a kind of knack for connecting with people. I can’t wait to be out there on the doors campaigning for him – I almost won’t stop campaigning.”

Hitting the campaign trail

After I wrapped up our interview, I joined McKee and his team knocking on doors in the neighbourhood. One of those helping out was a local resident who had only joined the party a few months before, called Keir.

The team was running their “get out the postal vote” campaign and while there were plenty of residents who were committed to backing Labour, there were still a number of undecided voters and those still backing the SNP – further strengthening the importance of not taking anything for granted.

As McKee showed me to the nearest bus stop after the session came to a close, I still had one burning question – what do candidates to do try and de-stress from the pressure of running for election?

McKee’s prescription for a good night’s sleep was a round of canvassing, which he said tires him out enough to be rested enough to do it all again the following day…

Read more of our 2024 general election coverage:

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2024 manifesto versus 1997: ‘There are big similarities, but big differences’

‘How can I help Labour this election? The party insider’s guide to campaigning’

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