In one of the most dramatic election nights Scotland has ever seen, Alex Salmond’s candidates swept to victory in seats they could never have imagined, rampaging through Glasgow and Lanarkshire while Labour leader Iain Gray hung on to his East Lothian seat by the skin of his teeth with a majority of just 151 votes.
And as Labour was being humiliated in its heartlands, LibDem candidates were losing their deposits all over the country.
Two of the earliest casualties of the night were in Labour’s Lanarkshire heartlands where big-hitters Andy Kerr and Tom McCabe were well beaten as voters swung behind the SNP.
In East Kilbride Linda Fabiani had a majority of 1949 over Mr Kerr, a minister in Jack McConnell’s government and the party’s finance spokesman in the last parliament. He had even been tipped as a successor to current leader Mr Gray.
Tom McCabe, a former Finance Minister, was beaten by Christina McKelvie in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by 2213 votes.
They were followed by more SNP victories in Clydesdale, where Aileen Campbell defeated Karen Gillon; and Airdrie and Shotts, where Alex Neil beat Karen Whitefield by even larger majorities.
Jamie Hepburn added to the SNP tally by beating Labour’s Cathie Craigie in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth.
Mr Neil said there was a “political tsunami sweeping Scotland” and a “huge change” in the country’s culture.
“One of the reasons for this victory is the important local issue of the future of Monkland’s A&E unit,” he said.
“Labour said there would be a question mark over the unit’s future if they won this constituency and the people of Airdrie and Shotts decided they were not going to take that risk.”
Even in Uddingston and Bellshill Labour’s Michael McMahon saw a notional majority of around 5500 slashed to just 714 to cling on ahead of the SNP.
Mr McMahon said: “On a night when others have fallen, they have stood by me and I will work hard to repay them as a member of the Scottish Parliament.”
The Lanarkshire results were followed by a crushing defeat for Stephen Curran in Glasgow Southside where SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon cruised to a 4349 majority.
Ms Sturgeon said the SNP’s wins were a victory for “positivity over negativity”.
She added: “I was quietly confident of winning the seat for the SNP. The scale of the majority exceeded all my expectations.”
There was worse to come for Labour in Glasgow Shettleston where former MP John Mason toppled Frank McAveety, while James Dornan, the SNP leader on Glasgow city council, beat former council leader Charlie Gordon in Glasgow Cathcart. As defeat followed defeat for Labour and the SNP victories mounted, SNP leader Alex Salmond was assured of a second term as First Minister and later today, when the list votes are counted, he could make history again by leading his party to an overall majority by winning 65 seats -- the first time that will have been achieved.
Early this morning Mr Salmond said he was “delighted” with the results.
He added: “It is clear from the indications we have had so far that it is likely the SNP has been bestowed trust by the people in a way that no party ever has before in a Scottish election. We’ll take that mandate and that trust forward. We will take it forward to increase the powers of our parliament.” He added: “Positive campaigns will always beat a negative campaign and I hope that’s a lesson Scottish politics will long remember.”
Immediately after his defeat, Mr McCabe admitted he “didn’t see it coming”.
Mr McCabe admitted Labour had to rethink its election strategy and take into account there was now a “different dynamic” between Holyrood and Westminster elections.
Winnie Ewing, the SNP winner of the famous Hamilton by-election in 1967, said it was a “wonderful result”.
“I am delighted and moved beyond words,” she said. “Our success in 1967 help move Scotland forward in these times, and I believe that Christina McKelvie’s success tonight ushers in a new era of hope, ambition and progress.”
As the recriminations began, Labour leader Iain Gray defended his early election campaign strategy of attacking the Tories at Westminster rather than the SNP at Holyrood. And despite the evidence of a major swing to the SNP, he also blamed the collapse of the LibDems for Labour’s defeat.
Staring at a heavy beating in Scotland, Labour’s UK deputy leader Harriet Harman said the SNP’s apparent success raised the prospect of a referendum on independence.
“I hope that the price won’t be paid of people being pushed into independence in Scotland when clearly that is not actually what they want.”
On a bad night for the LibDems, the only two early bright spots were victories for party leader Tavish Scott in Shetland and Liam MacArthur in Orkney.
There was also little good news for the Tories, whose high hopes of taking Eastwood fell flat with Labour’s Ken McIntosh taking a seat where the Tories’ Jackson Carlaw had a notional 3000 majority thanks to boundary changes.
Labour’s deputy leader Johann Lamont admitted Labour would have to re-think its policy of not putting constituency candidates on the regional lists. “We recognised that with the last boundary changes we would allow that, but it isn’t in the instincts of the party,” he said. “The view has been that we ought to choose one or other.”
The final make-up of the Parliament won’t be known until this afternoon. Fife, Argyle and Bute and Stirling and Highland Councils have yet to count their results and regional votes can only be finally calculated when those figures are known.
The Conservatives’ David McLetchie lost his Edinburgh Pentlands seat to the SNP’s Gordon MacDonald.
Voters were also taking part in the referendum on introducing the Alternative Voting system for electing MPs to Westminster. The outcome of that vote will be announced around 8pm.
