Labour take key Scottish constituencies from SNP
Labour take key Scottish constituencies from SNP
31 minutes agoBy Angus Cochrane, BBC Scotland News PA MediaScottish First Minister and SNP leader John Swinney, MSP Jim Fairlie and SNP candidate for the Perth and North Perthshire constituency, Pete Wishart, at the general election count in Perth
Labour have made gains from the SNP as constituencies across Scotland declare their election results, with Sir Keir Starmer’s party on track for a landslide victory.
Labour took the first constituency to declare, Kilmarnock and Loudoun, from the SNP – the party’s fourth safest seat.
Former Labour cabinet minister Douglas Alexander – who was defeated in 2015 – made a comeback after taking Lothian East from the SNP.
In East Renfrewshire, SNP deputy Westminster leader Kirsten Oswald was ousted by Blair McDougall – the former head strategist of the Better Together campaign for the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
The SNP won its first constituency of the night when Kirsty Blackman hung on to her Aberdeen North seat, beating Labour by 1760 votes.
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn also clung on to his seat in Aberdeen South but saw his majority reduced to 3758.
The SNP’s longest serving MP, Pete Wishart, kept his seat in Perth and Kinross-shire with a majority of more than 4,000.
SNP leader and Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney it was a “very poor result” for his party.
“There will be a lot of soul searching that we have to do as a party,” he told BBC Scotland News.
The early results suggest Labour is on course for a landslide victory as the Conservatives face their worst ever general election night.
A BBC projection with more than 160 seats declared, suggests Sir Keir Starmer is heading to Downing Street with a majority of 160.
The Conservatives are forecast to end up with 154 MPs.
The Scottish National Party is forecast to be reduced to just six MPs.
Nigel Farage’s Reform party is finishing second in many seats across Great Britain – taking large amounts of votes from the Conservatives – but the latest BBC forecast puts their finally tally of MPs at four.
The Liberal Democrats are also set to benefit from a collapse in Tory support and are predicted to get 56 MPs.
The Green Party of England and Wales is predicted to double its number of MPs to two and Plaid Cymru is set to get four MPs. Others are forecast to get 19 seats.
Most constituencies are expected to declare by 05:00.
Scotland’s Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said her party faced a difficult night
Mr Flynn told BBC Scotland it was a “very difficult and bleak night” for the SNP and that the party had to learn from it.
“There’s the Starmer tsunami, the fact that people want change in Downing Street and we’ve undoubtedly been squeezed in that context.”
Former first minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon told ITV: “This is not a good night for the SNP on these numbers and there will be a lot of questions that need to be asked as we come out of it.”
Alex Salmond, who preceded Ms Sturgeon as SNP leader and first minister, said the “slaughter of the SNP” was not due to its support for Scottish independence.
He added: “How could it be? The SNP did not even campaign on it.”
PA MediaScottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, pictured with his wife Furheen and son Aliyan, is hoping for a major revival for his party
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said he was confident his party would win a majority in Scotland.
“This is a changed Scottish Labour Party and tomorrow that work for change begins,” he told BBC Scotland News.
His party is aiming for a major revival, having won just one seat at the last general election in 2019.
The SNP returned 48 MPs in 2019, but that total was reduced to 43 by the time of the election – due mainly to defections.
The Scottish Conservatives won six seats in 2019, but increased this to seven when Lisa Cameron defected from the SNP.
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross described it as a “historically bad night” for the Tories.
“There is no shying away from that at all and there will be a huge amount of reflection on the campaign and also clearly the last few years,” he told BBC Scotland News.
“It has been particularly difficult and there is no denying that.”
Ruth Davidson, the former Scottish Conservative leader, told Sky News the exit poll predicted a “massacre” for the Tories.
However, she said the projections were better than earlier internal Tory figures.
The Lib Dems returned four MPs north of the border at the last election.
Ex-Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson said the party was set to become a “substantial force again”.
ReutersBallot papers are being counted across Scotland
The number of constituencies in Scotland has been reduced from 59 to 57 in this election due to boundary changes – affecting all but 10 seats north of the border.
The alterations are based on recommendations by an independent commission in each part of the UK and are designed to reflect population shifts.
This means it will not be possible to do a direct comparison between this year’s results and the previous election in 2019.
Instead, to measure gains and losses, “notional” results will be used.
These have been calculated using localised voting data to estimate what the result would have been in 2019 had the current consistency boundaries been in place.
Using notional results, the picture is largely similar to the original 2019 outcome – with the SNP on 48 seats, the Tories on six and Labour on one. The Lib Dems, however, have lost two seats according to the notional results – down from four to two.
This election falls during school summer holidays for much of Scotland and some voters reported not receiving their postal ballots in time.
Councils were distributing replacement voting packs until 17:00 but some voters still had difficulty casting their ballot.
It is also the first time photo ID has been required for a national election in Scotland.
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