“Now that she has failed to win a majority, whatever claims the SNP were pursuing with regard to constitutional brinkmanship over the next five years have now been utterly shredded”.
Advertisement
The SNP’s Dennis Robertson lost his Aberdeenshire West seat to the Conservatives while Oliver Mundell – son of the Scottish Secretary – captured the Dumfriesshire constituency from Labour.
His comments reflected deep unhappiness among MPs opposed to Mr Corbyn’s left-wing agenda, but his position was bolstered by Tom Watson, Labour’s influential deputy leader, who warned critics to show “patience”.
Labour lost the Rutherglen constituency, which it had held since 1999, to the SNP, with mental health nurse Clare Haughey elected as the new MSP for the area.
Sturgeon said: “What we’re seeing tonight, not just across Glasgow but across the central belt of Scotland, is the SNP replacing Labour”.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is expected to lead her party to a third successive term in office, telling supporters: “We have made history”.
Mr Mason, who is standing in the Shettleston constituency, said: ” Looking at things it seems very positive for us and I get the impression that it’s consistent throughout Glasgow.
Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie also won the North East Fife seat from the SNP as his party stood still on five.
The result leaves the SNP as Scotland’s largest party but they will now have to form a minority government – as they did between 2007 and 2011 before earning a majority in the 2011 election.
It is forecast to lose Edinburgh Western to the Liberal Democrats, a outcome in part of the controversy facing the suspension of SNP MP Michelle Thomson, under investigation for alleged financial impropriety.
The SNP leader will ask MSPs to re-elect her as First Minister after her party won 63 seats at Holyrood, two short of a majority.
In the end, the Tories secured 31 seats-seven more than Labour.
In an election campaign dominated by the question of independence, the surprise success on the night was the Scottish Conservatives.
Labour lost 13 seats overall and won in only three constituencies, down from 15 in 2011.
That was rebutted by Gray. “I think Kezia Dugdale has run a courageous campaign”. “We are going to walk hand in hand with the party in Scotland to build that support up once again so that the Labour tradition in Scotland will be established once again”, Corbyn said.
Just 20 months after losing the independence referendum, in which Scottish voters retained ties to the United Kingdom, the SNP has enjoyed a surge in popularity under Sturgeon’s leadership, sparking speculation that another independence referendum may be possible.
With the overwhelming majority of grass roots members still strongly behind the leader, his close ally, shadow chancellor John McDonnell, said it was time for the “begrudgers” in the party to “put up or shut up”.
Advertisement
“It’s given us the ability to run a campaign on a scale we’ve been lacking previously. This time we did and if the indications are correct we’ve had our strongest ever showing”.
