Scottish Election results 2021 RECAP: Alex Salmond concedes Alba unlikely to win seats | SNP's Angus Robertson takes Edinburgh Central from Scottish Conservatives | Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney win constituencies | Labour's Jackie Baillie holds onto Dumbarton | Turnout surges | Interactive constituency map
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Take a look back on the events as they happened throughout the day.
Scottish Election 2021 RECAP: Election results and updates from across Scotland
Key Events
- Angus Robertson takes Edinburgh Central from Tories
- Sturgeon plays down chances of SNP majority
- SNP take Ayr from Tories in tight race
- Salmond concedes Alba unlikely to win seats
- SNP gain East Lothian from Labour
Watch now: The Scotsman’s political team host a one-hour livestream to bring you the latest from the Scottish election
Comment from Scottish Conservative candidate Craig Hoy
Our Live Reporter, Rachel Mackie, has been speaking to Scottish Conservative candidate Craig Hoy about tactical voting in East Lothian.
He said: “I think what we’re seeing is it’s getting a lot of tactical voting around.
“I think that was to be expected, it was quite a dominant feature of the election campaign. So we have to wait and see the final result.
“I think what, at this stage, is looking clear for us is that that message we put out about the importance of the second vote, the peach vote, the pary list vote certainly seems to be seems to be better for us, so early stages but for the most part, that’s a positive for us.”
Rachel then asked him how canvassing was during Covid.
He said: “It was difficult.
“I think all of us have probably been speaking to our core support base more than we ordinarily would.
“So we’ve all been operating some degree in our own bubbles.
“This is the first time we break out a couple and see what’s going on with the parties but certainly the conversations we have with with our loan officers were positive, and I think they understood the nature of the seat they were in here in East Lothian and the challenges that were that were presented for us in order on election night.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has described the early election results as “very encouraging”, adding this is because the Government has been focusing on “our priorities, the people’s priorities, and bouncing back from the pandemic as much as we can.”
Stornoway Gazette’s Murray Macleod writes:
It’s been a low-key election and little wonder. The late-night count, the dramatic anticipation, all gone in the knowledge of another SNP victory and electoral apathy. Quite frankly there are important things to worry about.
Na h-Eileanan an Iar (the Outer Hebrides) is one of the smallest constituencies and traditionally returns one of the highest turnout. We’ve been told that for this election it has the biggest postal votes in Scotland (maybe, final figures pending), at over 30 per cent. That may be key.
Normally votes are flown in by helicopter from the outlying islands, giving airport staff some welcome overtime if nothing else, but even that is missing this year for the TV cameras crews. It’s all coming by ferry and van, symptomatic of a flat election and which the resultant turnout may be key.
But then this is democracy, so who knows? With one of the earliest declarations, na h-Eileanan an Iar could be an indicator of national trends. Just no helicopters and dramas this time.
Stornoway Gazette’s Murray Macleod writes:
It’s been a low-key election and little wonder. The late-night count, the dramatic anticipation, all gone in the knowledge of another SNP victory and electoral apathy. Quite frankly there are important things to worry about.
Na h-Eileanan an Iar (the Outer Hebrides) is one of the smallest constituencies and traditionally returns one of the highest turnout. We’ve been told that for this election it has the biggest postal votes in Scotland (maybe, final figures pending), at over 30 per cent. That may be key.
Normally votes are flown in by helicopter from the outlying islands, giving airport staff some welcome overtime if nothing else, but even that is missing this year for the TV cameras crews. It’s all coming by ferry and van, symptomatic of a flat election and which the resultant turnout may be key.
But then this is democracy, so who knows? With one of the earliest declarations, na h-Eileanan an Iar could be an indicator of national trends. Just no helicopters and dramas this time.
Votes being counted for the Scottish Parliamentary Elections at Ingliston Highland Centre, Edinburgh.
Edinburgh Southern candidates confident as postal vote turnout high
Candidates in the closely-contested Holyrood seat of Edinburgh Southern have welcomed the high turnout of postal votes as counting continues.
The seat was won by Scottish Labour’s Daniel Johnson at the 2016 election, defeating then SNP incumbent Jim Eadie by a majority of 1,123 votes.
Edinburgh Southern was also the only constituency in Scotland to elect a Labour MP, Ian Murray, to Westminster at the 2019 general election.
The Holyrood seat is a key target for the SNP as it aims for an overall majority.
Across the six Edinburgh constituencies, the postal vote turnout was 89.2%, with a record 91,068 ballots returned, according to the council.
Mr Johnson said he is “feeling positive” as the initial postal votes started to be counted, while SNP challenger Catriona MacDonald said she feels “quite hopeful” given the turnout of her party’s supporters on Thursday.
She told the PA news agency: “In our strongest areas, people were really, really engaged and really keen to go out and vote, even despite the weather.
“We had people queuing outside the polling place in hail and rain, but I went round to pretty much every polling place and it was really positive.
“There have been a lot more postal votes than usual – it’s about 13,000 postal votes in our constituency.
“Given the very unusual circumstances of the election it’s probably not surprising, but it’s a really positive thing so no-one misses out.”