SNP to emerge as largest party in Scottish parliament

Scottish National Party leader John Swinney has said he is "certain" the SNP will emerge as the largest party in Holyrood as his Scottish Labour rival Anas Sarwar effectively conceded defeat, saying his party was "hurting" after it "didn't win the argument".

With the SNP having been in power since 2007 in Scotland, the party now seems set to win a record fifth consecutive term in government in Edinburgh.

It comes after the party made gains from other parties in early results in the Holyrood election, winning the Shetland seat which has been held by the Liberal Democrats since the start of devolution.

The SNP also won the Eastwood constituency outside of Glasgow from the Scottish Tories, although here perhaps Mr Swinney’s party were helped by the rise of Reform.

The Conservative vote was down by more than 10%, with Reform picking up 9% of the vote, resulting in former SNP MP Kirsten Oswald being elected to Holyrood.

Elsewhere, the SNP saw current Westminster leader Stephen Flynn elected as the MSP for Aberdeen Deeside and North Kincardine, with fellow SNP MP Stephen Gethins also swapping Westminster for Holyrood after being elected in Dundee City East.

Speaking as results started coming in, Mr Swinney said: "What I’m certain about is the SNP is going to be the leading party in the Scottish Parliament after these elections, and we will be so by a very considerable margin."
Meanwhile, Mr Sarwar said Scottish Labour is "hurting", telling reporters as he arrived at the count in Glasgow that "those who seek to divide us and use people with frustrations to divide us are going to win the day today".

But Mr Sarwar hinted that he would not step down from his post despite the defeat, adding: "My party is hurting - we’re disappointed.

"We advocate for change, we didn’t win that argument, but it’s my job to hold us together and that’s a job I intend to do."
Mr Swinney however claimed Labour had fought a "fundamentally negative campaign".

Speaking about this rivals, the SNP leader said: "They have essentially said to people to vote against the SNP, they’ve not given people any reasons to vote for the Labour Party.

"I set out an ambitious agenda to continue the improvements in the National Health Service, to deliver practical support, to tackle the cost of living challenges that members of the public face, and offer people in Scotland the opportunity of a fresh start with independence.

"You’ve got to motivate people with your message and your ideas and your hopes.

The SNP has done that, and the Labour Party hasn’t."
Rise in support for Reform not reflected in seats
While the election had been fought against a background of rising support for Reform UK, that has not, yet, translated into any seats for Nigel Farage’s party at Holyrood.

Scottish leader Malcolm Offord was third in the Inverclyde constituency he was standing in, but he, along with other Reform UK candidates could still be elected on the list vote.

He spoke out as results started coming in from 73 constituency seats across Scotland, with the 56 regional list MSPs who will also take their place at Holyrood to be announced later in the day.

Unlike most previous Scottish Parliament elections, counting of the ballots took place the following day, with the traditional overnight count abandoned.

After 66 first-past-the-post constituency results out of 73 in the Scottish Parliament election, the SNP was on around 38% of the vote.

Scottish Labour was on around 20%, with Reform UK on around 16%.

The Scottish Conservatives was on around 12% and the Liberal Democrats on around 10%.