Scottish election results 2021: The story so far
- Published
The first day of counting in the 2021 Holyrood election is over, with the SNP dominating the constituency vote. The party won three new seats but failed to win some target constituencies, making it hard, but not impossible, to achieve an overall majority. Here's the story so far:
Three seats have changed hands - all won by the SNP. After the first day of counting, with 48 seats declared, the SNP have 39 MSPs, the Lib Dems four, the Conservatives three and Labour two.
The SNP's Angus Robertson had a big win in Edinburgh Central, the seat held by Ruth Davidson who is going to the House of Lords, taking it with a majority of 4,732.
Angus Robertson celebrates his win
Earlier, the SNP took East Lothian from Labour with a majority of 1,179 and unseated the veteran Conservative MSP John Scott in Ayr with a majority of 170.
The SNP's hopes of an overall majority were dealt a blow late in the day when Scottish Labour's Jackie Baillie held on to the most marginal constituency, Dumbarton, with an increased majority of 1,483. Daniel Johnson also held Edinburgh Southern for Labour.
Former Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw also increased his majority in Eastwood - another target seat for the SNP - as did Oliver Mundell in Dumfriesshire. Rachael Hamilton also held Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire for the Tories, although with a reduced majority. And the Tories came a close second in Banffshire & Buchan Coast, reducing a 6,583 SNP majority to 772.
The list results will not be finalised until Saturday but from the few seats that have given details it seems the Greens are polling about 7% and Alba about 2%. The Alba leader Alex Salmond conceded his party may not return any MSPs.
Nicola Sturgeon was re-elected as MSP for Glasgow Southside
Nicola Sturgeon was returned in Glasgow Southside, with a comfortable majority, just marginally down on last time. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar came second, but he boosted Labour's share of the vote by 8.5%.
The Scottish Lib Dems retained all four of their constituency seats. Leader Willie Rennie increased his majority in North East Fife as did Alex Cole-Hamilton in Edinburgh Western.
But there was disappointment for the Lib Dems in Caithness, Sutherland & Ross which they failed to take from the SNP - and in Shetland their majority was slashed to just 806 by a strong SNP challenge.
Police were called to escort Liberal Party members away from the the Glasgow count
Police were called at the Glasgow count when members of the Liberal Party, a small party with no connection to the Lib Dems, confronted the SNP's Humza Yousaf, questioning him about conditions for women and children in Pakistan. They wore yellow stars with "unvax" written on them and made military salutes as they were escorted away. The Liberal Party later apologised and suspended candidate Derek Jackson
Deputy First Minister John Swinney and Finance Secretary Kate Forbes were both returned with increased majorities. Ms Forbes took 56.1% of the vote in Skye, Badenoch and Lochaber.
Labour candidate Pam Duncan-Glancy, who is a wheelchair user, said she was delayed entering the Glasgow counting venue because staff did not believe she was a candidate.
A common theme has been the high turnout which in many constituencies was nearly 10% up on the previous Holyrood vote.
Some lighter moments of the day included an errant cat being ejected from the Orkney count, a power cut at the Dumfries count - and the wife of victorious Airdrie and Shotts SNP candidate Neil Gray tweeting that he needed to pick up some milk on the way home. He did.
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