WHILE the Liberal Democrats only secured four Scottish seats at Westminster, the party still increased its share of the vote in all but two Scottish seats.

The party, which has been criticised as having suffered a spectacular blow at the election, managed to appeal to voters who were not willing to vote for the SNP as they did not want independence.

This statistic, according to experts, could provide vital clues on how the party, and others, can campaign their way to success for the Holyrood elections in 2021.

It also shows that constitutional issues, rather than individual personalities or policies, did still play a part in this general election.

Dr Malcolm Harvey, of the University of Aberdeen, said: "The EU question did have some salience in several seats this time around.

"You see that in the rise of the vote share for the Liberal Democrats. Their vote share went up in 57 of the 59 seats. it only went down in Jo Swinson’s seat, which she lost, and in Orkney and Shetland.

"In every other seat their vote share went up. What that tells you, I think, is that those voters who were pro-union but were also pro-EU, they didn’t want their vote to be seen as a pro-independence vote so they transferred to the Liberal Democrats.

"Because they were pro-EU they didn’t want to go to the Conservatives either. It shows signs of recovery for them."