Image source, PA Media

There has been further reaction today following the SNP's emphatic victory in Thursday's Scottish Parliament election. Here are some of the key points:

• First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was on the Andrew Marr Show celebrating her party's landslide victory, but insisted she would not seek a second independence referendum during the pandemic
• She also expressed her sadness over the situation with her former friend and mentor Alex Salmond
• UK Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove was in Glasgow to talk to the BBC. He said the UK would not take the matter to court if the Scottish Parliament passed legislation for another independence referendum
• But he later denied he was giving the Scottish government a green light to pass a referendum bill
• Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said people voted in an election for the parliament to use the powers it has and another independence referendum was outside its remit
• Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar told The Sunday Show he would push for Covid recovery first and work with any other party to do this
• Scottish Green co-leader Lorna Slater said she was looking forward to her party having more influence in Holyrood after the party won eight seats
• The parliament will have its most diverse group of MSPs this session, with 58 women and more people from minority groups

That's all from the live page today. Thanks for joining us.

Is this Scotland's most diverse parliament yet?published at 12:53 British Summer Time 9 May 2021

12:53 BST 9 May 2021

Philip Sim
BBC Scotland political correspondent

Holyrood's diverse representation had somewhat stalled in recent years - but that has all changed now.

The class of 2021 includes a record number of 58 female MSPs. The SNP now has 34 women, Labour have 10, the Conservatives have eight, the Scottish Greens have five and the Lib Dems have one female MSP.

It has chiefly been driven by the SNP's policy of having all-women shortlists for many seats where male MSPs were retiring - meaning a lot of older male MSPs have effectively been replaced by younger women.

Among those are the first women of colour elected to Holyrood, the SNP's Kaukab Stewart and Pam Gosal of the Scottish Tories.

Labour's Pam Duncan-Glancy became the first wheelchair user returned to Holyrood, in what may be the most diverse parliament to date.

See the Scottish election results in maps and charts

Polling expert Ailsa Henderson says the turnout figure was higher than three of the last six UK general elections in Scotland, though not the last three.

At 63.4%, it was up 7.6 percentage points on 2016, meaning an extra 425,000 voted.

Prof Henderson says the rise was good for democracy, for participation and engagement in politics.

She says extending the right to vote and the ease of access helped with the high turnout.

The picture across Scotland as the SNP win a fourth consecutive victory in the Scottish Parliament.

'There's more to Scottish politics than the independence question'published at 12:32 British Summer Time 9 May 2021

12:32 BST 9 May 2021

Philip Sim
BBC Scotland political correspondent

Image source, PA Media

It is perhaps understandable that there is lots of talk of independence and referendums the morning after a Holyrood election, given the SNP have won big once again.

However, there is an argument to be made that the constitution is not necessarily the most interesting storyline in the wake of the polls.

There is still a pro-independence majority at Holyrood, and there is still an intense debate about mandates and process. But for all that, neither side actually wants anything to happen immediately, while there is still a pandemic to be dealing with.

The arguments being exchanged this morning are really rather familiar, and there is little incentive for anyone to change their tune straight away – not until the facts on the ground change, such as with the passing of a referendum bill at Holyrood.

And there are some really pressing issues for the SNP in the coming days and weeks as it forms a new administration.

To start with – who will take up key Cabinet posts left vacant by retiring MSPs? These include the health secretary, during a pandemic; the constitution secretary, as Brexit unfolds; and the environment secretary, in the year of COP26.

And then there are the other big ideas in the SNP manifesto – things like a National Care Service, a minimum income guarantee, publicly-owned rail services.

The constitution was clearly a big issue in the campaign and thus it is no surprise that it is the focus of intense discussion today.

But there is a lot more to Scottish politics than just the question of independence.

Image source, Reuters

Ailsa Henderson, professor of political science at the University of Edinburgh, told the Sunday Show the parties are roughly where they were after the 2016 election.

That might lead people to believe it was a boring election, she says, but there is a lot of churn occurring below the surface.

Prof Henderson says there are three distinct patterns of voting behaviour on display, what she calls "a three-Scotland model".

One is areas with strong Yes support at the referendum in 2014. Here the SNP support has held up well and there is relatively little movement among the other parties.

In areas with strong No support you see bigger swings among the pro-union parties, she says. The direction of these swings, sometimes in excess of 10 percentage points, depends on how those areas voted in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

In stronger Remain areas, pro-union voters have shifted to Labour or sometimes the Lib Dems.

In stronger Leave areas (perhaps above 40% in favour of Brexit) you see pro-union voters shifting to the Conservatives.

So seven years after Indyref and five years after the Brexit referendum we see that both are still influencing voting in Scottish elections, Prof Henderson says.

Same debate but intensified by the election resultpublished at 12:16 British Summer Time 9 May 2021

12:16 BST 9 May 2021

Lynsey Bews
BBC Scotland political correspondent

Nicola Sturgeon has been on TV this morning stressing that the ability to hold an independence referendum is a fundamental issue of democracy.

She says she has been saying that for a long time. Remember the SNP said they already had a mandate for a second referendum after the 2016 election and they say this result adds to that.

There has been debate over whether the UK government would mount a legal challenge should the SNP administration proceed with its own legislation for a referendum.

Michael Gove didn't really want to be drawn on any of that this morning.

He wanted to deflect and turn the talk on to pandemic recovery.

We are really just seeing this continuation of the debate that already existed, slightly intensified by the election we had.

Image source, PA Media

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon joined some of the SNP's newly-elected MSPs for a photocall during a visit to Airdrie, North Lanarkshire.

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Why was Scotland's voter turnout so high?published at 11:47 British Summer Time 9 May 2021

11:47 BST 9 May 2021

Philip Sim
BBC Scotland political correspondent

In an election of continuity, there was one surprise result which was quite different from previous years - turnout.

Some 63% of the electorate came out to vote, a full 10 percentage points above the average for previous Holyrood polls.

It is hard to say exactly why this happened, but a number of factors will likely have been at play.

The rise in postal vote registrations could be one, as could the expansion of the franchise to new groups including refugees.

And the pandemic may have ultimately boosted turnout, rather than held it down, as many had predicted.

People might have had more time to engage with activists or go out to vote due to lockdown.

Indeed lockdown itself may have encouraged some to vote, having been a very clear example of the powers that governments can exercise.

See the Scottish election results in maps and charts

Pam Gosal told the Sunday Show she was very proud to be the first Indian Sikh to be elected to the Scottish Parliament.

Ms Gosal was elected as a Conservative MSP for the West of Scotland region.

Along with Kaukab Stewart of the SNP, who was elected to represent the Glasgow Kelvin constituency. They were the first women of colour to be elected to the Scottish Parliament in its 22-year history.

While Ms Stewart first stood for election in 1999, Ms Gosal says she has only been in politics for one-and-a-half years.

She says the Scottish Conservatives supported her to be able to stand and get elected so quickly.

Ms Gosal adds that she will be "calling out" any abuse from internet trolls and keyboard warriors as she goes about her business at Holyrood.

Scottish Green co-leader Lorna Slater says she is delighted to have won the largest Green group ever at Holyrood.

The party won eight seats, up two from 2016.

Ms Slater says: "I think it'll give us significantly more influence. Having the SNP as a minority government means that with every single piece of legislation they need to work with another party.

"Whenever they choose to work with us we can push them to be more progressive, to be fairer, to be greener, to be more environmentally concerned."

Ms Slater says her party's position is different to the SNP on many issues but the Greens were good at amending legislation to make it greener and fairer.

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Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross told BBC Radio Scotland's Sunday Show the Scottish people voted in an election for the parliament to use the powers it has and another independence referendum is outside its remit.

He says the people he spoke to were voting for recovery from the Covid pandemic.

Mr Ross says he had to put blocking an independence referendum at the forefront of his campaign because the SNP had put holding the vote at the heart of its push.

He says he has spoken to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and he wants all the UK nations to work together to deliver the recovery from Covid.

Asked about voters who say Labour has left them, Anas Sarwar says he doesn’t think people should be considering the politics of 20 years ago.

The country has changed because of the independence referendum, Brexit and Covid, and Scottish Labour can not revert back to the politics that won the General election in 1997, he says.

"It isn’t going to work in 2021," Mr Sarwar tells the Sunday Show.

"We’ve got to confront the world as it is and have vision about where we want to take the country.

“I want us to unite our country. I want us to have a politics of hope and empathy, but also transform what we are as a nation in terms of being an outward looking nation, that’s fighting poverty, that’s getting its NHS back on track and building the education system so it can be the best in the world."

Speaking on BBC Scotland's Sunday Show, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar says his party has done well despite having fewer Holyrood seats.

"I think you need to remember where we were 10 weeks ago," he says, referring to the opinion polls before he became leader of the party.

Scotland hasn’t had a good opposition, he adds, but “Labour is back on the pitch”.

He says he will push for Covid recovery first and work to unite the country. He promises to work with any other party willing to fulfil their election promises on the recovery.

"Yes we will have big disagreements," he says. "But that will not stop me working with them."

What do 64 SNP seats mean for the Scottish Parliament?published at 11:15 British Summer Time 9 May 2021

11:15 BST 9 May 2021

Philip Sim
BBC Scotland political correspondent

The fact the SNP did not win a majority will make a real difference to the next five years at Holyrood. A minority government needs support from other parties to pass budgets and all of its major reforms.

If it had been a majority, we could have put every other manifesto in the bin and taken the SNP's manifesto to be the definitive guide to the term ahead.

The Scottish Greens in particular - who were the SNP's partner of choice last term - will be looking forward to potentially having some of their policy priorities passed in return for crucial votes.

It also means the SNP will not have a majority on any Holyrood committee, meaning their legislation will not necessarily sail through the parliament with ease.

See the Scottish election results in maps and charts

SNP deputy leader Keith Brown says the first 100 days of the new government will be dedicated to making sure we get through Covid.

Speaking on BBC Scotland's Sunday Show, he says First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will be back behind her desk at Bute House this afternoon to get on with that.

Mr Brown says the SNP's massive victory gives them a mandate for a second independence referendum.

And he adds that the referendum will happen when it is safe to hold one.

Mr Brown says he is "very confident" an independence referendum will result in success for the Yes side.

There is no question the pandemic has changed the financial fundamentals and an independent Scotland will have to deal with that, he says.

There will be a detailed White Paper setting out the proposals before an independence campaign begins, he adds.

Image source, Getty Images

Here's a reminder of some of the key points from the Scottish election results:

• The SNP is once again the biggest party at Holyrood with 64 MSPs - an increase of one, but one seat short of an overall majority
• The shape of the parliament is similar to the 2016 result, with the Scottish Greens making the biggest gains. The Conservatives have 31 MSPs (unchanged), Labour 22 (down two), Greens eight (up two) and the Lib Dems four (down one)

• Alex Salmond's Alba party did not return any MSPs - but he said Alba was "here to stay" and he was staying on as leader
• The SNP took 62 of the 73 first past-the-post constituency seats. Three seats changed hands, with the SNP taking two (Ayr and Edinburgh Central) from the Tories and one (East Lothian) from Labour
• The SNP success in the constituency vote meant they had fewer list MSPs in South of Scotland, with Labour and the Tories both gaining one there
• In the regional lists the Greens gained one seat from Labour in Central Scotland and one from the Lib Dems in North East. The Tories gained one from Labour in Highlands and Islands

• The SNP's Kaukab Stewart and Pam Gosal of the Conservatives became the first women of colour to be elected to Holyrood. Labour's Pam Duncan-Glancy is the first permanent wheelchair user to be elected
• A total of 58 women were elected as MSPs - a record number at Holyrood

Mr Gove is asked if he has concerns about his party's performance in Scotland after the SNP was returned to government for a fourth successive term.

He says: "Let's look at the facts, Nicola Sturgeon did not secure a majority. Good result but not a majority as Alex Salmond did in 2011.

"Secondly, the proportion of votes for pro-union parties in the constituencies was more than 50%.

"Third, we had, not just 31 MSPs being re-elected but also the biggest vote for the Scottish Conservatives in the history of Holyrood."

Mr Gove says it is the best result ever for the Scottish Conservatives.

BBC Scotland's Sunday Show asks Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove to clarify the indication he gave to the Andrew Marr show that the UK government would not mount a legal challenge to a Scottish independence referendum bill.

Mr Gove says: "We are not going to go down the route of talking about independence or legal challenges or anything like that now when our principle focus and exclusive attention is going on pandemic recovery.

"At the moment all we want to do is work with the first minister to concentrate on dealing with the consequences of the pandemic and the need to recover and build back better."

Mr Gove denies he is giving the Scottish government a green light to pass a referendum bill.

"Nope, what we are concentrating on is recovery at the moment," he says.

Mr Gove says he will not be drawn down the cul-de-sac of a constitutional rammy.

"My sense is people in Scotland don't want their politicians to be having abstract arguments about the Supreme Court, they want them to be relentlessly focused on making sure we have recovery first and foremost," he says.

Nicola Sturgeon is asked if there is any chance of a personal rapprochement between herself and former SNP leader and first minister Alex Salmond.

Sturgeon replies: "I don’t think Alex Salmond and I are going to go back to the way things were but there is nothing about what has happened around Alex Salmond in the last few years that gives me any pleasure whatsoever, it is a source of quite deep sadness to me.

"That's personal obviously - the politics are separate."

Ms Sturgeon says she has the energy and appetite to take Scotland through Covid "and then I hope to lead Scotland to independence".

"But the future of Scotland, and I hope the independent future Scotland, is much bigger than any one individual politician," she adds.

Image source, Getty Images