Nicola Sturgeon went on the campaign trail for Angela Crawley last month

Distraught. That’s how Marjorie Bent says she feels after canvassing for the SNP in the Lanark & Hamilton East constituency.

“We’re finding a lot of doors we’re chapping where people say, ‘We’re not voting for the SNP this time’, ” she reports gloomily. “A lot are saying they are voting Tory; they want Brexit over and done. Honestly, I can’t understand their reasoning.”

Jean, her friend, shakes her head in sympathy, as they drink their coffee in Hamilton’s Regent mall. It’s disappointing because they expected a comfortable win here. Instead, Mrs Bent concedes, “it’s very close”.

If their analysis is correct, something remarkable is happening in this sinuous stretch of South Lanarkshire where mining, steel, and textiles once held sway. Formerly a Labour stronghold, the