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Election 2015: SNP on course for Scottish landslide
- 4 minutes ago
- Election 2015 Scotland
The SNP has won its first seats as the party appears to be on course for a landslide general election victory in Scotland.
The party's 20-year-old candidate Mhairi Black has ousted Labour's Douglas Alexander in Paisley and Renfrewshire South.
The SNP also overturned a Labour majority of more than 12,000 to win Kilmarnock and Loudoun by 13,600 votes.
And it won Dunbartonshire West with a swing of 34.4% from Labour.
By 02:45, the SNP had won all 12 seats to have declared in Scotland - making it the party's most successful general election ever. Its previous best was in October 1974, when it won 11 seats.
An exit poll has predicted the SNP will win 58 of Scotland's 59 seats, while the Conservatives will be the largest party across the UK.
Ms Black, who becomes the UK's youngest MP, overturned former shadow foreign secretary Mr Alexander's majority of 16,600 to win by 5,684 votes - a massive swing of 27% from Labour to the SNP.
Alan Brown had earlier been elected as the new SNP MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun - which was the first seat in Scotland to declare - with 30,000 votes.
His tally was almost double that of Labour's Cathy Jamieson, who won the seat in 2010, but was heavily defeated this time round after returning 16,362 votes.
The SNP has also gained seats including Dunbartonshire West, Falkirk, Ochil and South Perthshire, Dundee West and Glenrothes from Labour, while Angus MacNeil held his Western Isles constituency for the party.
In Glenrothes, the swing from Labour to the SNP was 34.9% - thought to be the biggest ever in UK electoral history.
Elsewhere, Senior Liberal Democrat sources have admitted that former Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander will lose his seat, while Labour sources at counts across the party's former strongholds have said they too are braced for defeat at the hands of the SNP.
Scottish Labour's Tom Harris told BBC Scotland he was going to lose in Glasgow South, while the party's leader Jim Murphy is said to be under serious threat from the SNP in East Renfrewshire.
There have also been suggestions that Labour is on course to lose all seven of its seats in Glasgow, and that former SNP leader Alex Salmond will win in Gordon.
Senior Labour sources also say they have lost Edinburgh North East, Edinburgh East and Edinburgh South West.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has arrived at the Glasgow count at the Emirates Stadium, where she told reporters she believes it will prove a "very good night for the SNP", adding that she would like to "lock the Tories out of power".
The SNP won six seats at the 2010 election, but a UK-wide exit poll released as voting ended at 22:00 on Thursday suggested that number could increase to 58.
The SNP's previous best result in a general election was when it won 11 MPs in October 1974, with 30.4% of vote.
The exit poll also forecast that the Conservatives would be the largest partyacross the UK with 316 seats, while Labour would have 238.
- You can follow our live coverage as results are declared through the night.
- You can also find out the result in each Scottish constituency.
The poll was conducted by GfK, NOP and Ipsos MORI on behalf of the BBC, ITV News, and Sky News.
It interviewed 22,000 people in 141 polling locations in 133 constituencies.
The exit poll had the Liberal Democrats on 10 seats, Plaid Cymru 4, UKIP 2, Green 2 and others 19.
It suggested Labour's vote could drop by about 18% on average in Scottish constituencies, coupled with an increase of more than 30% in the SNP vote.
Minority government
If the exit poll is accurate, as it was in 2010, David Cameron could be on course to remain prime minister as the head of a minority government without the need for a coalition - although he might have to rely on the support of the DUP or the Lib Dems.
A final poll of polls compiled by the Press Association ahead of the vote had put the Tories on 276 seats, Labour on 271, Lib Dems on 28, SNP 48, UKIP three and Greens one.
Turnout across Scotland was expected to be high, with more than four million people registered to vote - about 94% of the adult population.
Several constituencies have already reported turnout in excess on 70%.
There were more than 5,000 polling places in Scotland with schools, village halls and community centres transformed for the day to allow people to cast their votes.
BBC Scotland is delivering extensive coverage of the election results across online, TV and radio.
It will report live from Scotland's 32 counting centres, and there will be analysis, background, reaction and debate as we find out the results from each of Scotland's constituencies.
And the results of the ballot will also appear on the side of the building, which sits on the banks of the River Clyde in Glasgow.
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