Labour, Britain’s main opposition party, performed strongly in the capital, taking more than 40 percent of Londoners’ votes.
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The secessionist Scottish National Party (SNP) won a third consecutive victory in the Scottish parliamentary election.
Early indications it could be a bad night for Ms Dugdale’s Labour were apparent from the second seat to be declared.
The strength of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is under particular scrutiny in this first nationwide poll since he became leader past year.
The Tory leader always said she would be better than her party had ever done and campaigned explicitly to be the opposition. Ms Davidson hailed an “incredible result” after she unexpectedly took Edinburgh Central from the SNP by just 610 votes.
The Scottish Parliament has returned a majority of pro-independence MSPs.
Green co-convener Patrick Harvie said: “There are real opportunities in the next session for the Greens to push the government beyond its comfort zone”.
But if the result put a damper on Ms Sturgeon’s night it was a massive triumph for the Tory leader Ruth Davidson who emerged with a stunning 31 MSP – up from 15 – as the second largest party.
She added: “The government I lead will be an inclusive government”.
Ms Dugdale has conceded the row over anti-Semitism in the party “unquestionably” had an impact on her faltering campaign. It will be interesting to see to what extent we see a repeat this time around – and whether the nationalists continue to treat Labour as their primary enemy.
Scotland has historically been a Labour stronghold, but in recent years the party has fallen from favour there.
Just 20 months after losing the independence referendum, the SNP has enjoyed a huge surge in popularity. Between 2007-11 Alex Salmond enjoyed a constructive relationship with, of all parties, the Scottish Tories (although both now prefer to pretend that didn’t happen), and a similar arrangement is likely during this parliament – there is certainly no appetite for a formal coalition.
“With the Smith Commission delivered in full, and the Scottish Parliament set to get a raft of significant new powers, we have a real opportunity for our two governments to work together for the benefit of the people of Scotland”.
However, she played down talk of a fresh independence referendum to follow the unsuccessful one in 2014 after the SNP lost its outright majority, which will force it to work with a smaller party like the Greens.
He said there is a “natural majority” against named person and the Tories “want to stop it”. It lost only a handful of council seats and held on to control of major English cities including Birmingham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Sunderland.
The SNP was dominant in the constituency vote (See map below).
But it was also expected to be hit by doubts over its commitment to defending Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom after a series of U-turns on the issue.
With no overall majority at Holyrood, Ms Sturgeon will need the support of other parties to secure her place as First Minister and to pass legislation.
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Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed her intention to relaunch the SNP’s independence campaign in the summer despite being reduced to a minority in Holyrood.
