Labour loses five seats in Scotland
The Labour Party’s grip on Scotland has weakened, with five seats moving out of its control.
The Scottish National Party has returned six MPs to Westminster – an increase of two on 2001 – despite a falling share of the vote.
The party took two seats from Labour in Dundee East and Na h-Eileanan An Iar (Western Isles), as well as holding on to its existing seats in Moray, Banff and Buchan, Angus, and Perth and North Perthshire.
In addition to two seats taken by the SNP, Labour lost a further three seats in Scotland with the Lib Dems picking up East Dunbartonshire and Inverness, and the Conservatives winning in Dumfriesshire as well as in Clydesdale & Tweedale.
But in the clash of former MPs Russell Brown, Labour, and Peter Duncan, Conservative Shadow Scottish Secretary – who were contesting Dumfries & Galloway after the merger of their former constituencies – it was Labour’s Mr Brown who came out on top with a majority of 2,922.
Mr Duncan, who was the only Conservative MP in Scotland during the last Parliament said: “It is a personal disappointment, but we have shown that we can still win constituencies in the south of Scotland.”
SNP leader Alex Salmond, who held on to his Banff and Buchan seat, congratulated his party on its performance.
He said: “After tonight’s tremendous results, the SNP has made real progress in this election. We now have ‘Scotland’s Super Six’ representing Scotland at Westminster, a team which has taken seats from the Labour Party in Scotland at a general election for the first time since 1974.”
He added: “We also have a team of MPs who can make Scotland matter in Westminster, who can build on the success of the last Parliament and argue the case for a better future for this country and its people.”
Labour’s Scottish Secretary Alistair Darling, who comfortably held on to his Edinburgh South West constituency, said the results showed Scotland wanted a government that listened and learned from what people were saying.
The Scottish Green Party saw its share of the vote increase across the 19 seats it contested. Scottish Green co-convenor Robin Harper, MSP, said: “I’m terribly pleased with our performance – it’s better than we have ever done before. If this election had been a representative one, we would probably be looking at two Scottish Green MPs elected.”
But the Scottish Socialist Party saw its share of the national vote fall. “We expected a tough time, ” said convenor Colin Fox.
