SNP set for election humiliation leaving nationalists with 10 seats
The SNP is set for a major election humiliation in Scotland that could leave it with fewer seats than Nigel Farage‘s Reform UK, polls suggest.
John Swinney’s scandal-ravaged nationalists are expected to be left with just 10 seats, a fall of 80 per cent from the high of 48 the party achieved in 2019.
They would be left with fewer seats north of the border even than the Tories, who are facing a pummelling at the hands of Labour UK-wide. The Conservatives are projected to take 12 seats.
It comes after a dismal year for the SNP, which is at the centre of a financial scandal and rows over trans rights and its independence strategy.
Sir Keir Starmer‘s party’s success appears to have extended north of the border, with the SNP losing 38 seats compared with the 2019 election, many at the hands of Labour.
The first result in Scotland is expected to be Rutherglen, which could declare at 1am.
Speaking on ITV, former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said she believed the results of the exit poll would turn out to be ‘broadly right’.
‘This is not a good night for the SNP on these numbers,’ she said.
John Swinney’s scandal-ravaged nationalists are expected to be left with just 10 seats, a fall of 80 per cent from the high of 48 the party achieved in 2019.
Speaking on ITV, former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said she believed the results of the exit poll would turn out to be ‘broadly right’.
‘I think there will be a question about whether there was enough in the campaign to give out, effectively, a USP to the SNP in an election that was about getting the Tories out and replacing them with Labour.’
The first result in Scotland is expected to be Rutherglen, which could declare at 1am.
Thursday will be a ‘very difficult night for the SNP’ if the exit poll is correct, Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said.
Speaking to the BBC, Ms Forbes said: ‘We know that in this election, people were very much voting for change from this disastrous Conservative Government and if the exit poll is right and counting is just about to get under way, then I think we will see an end to the Conservative Government and people have voted in order to do that.’
The exit poll predictions signal voters had a ‘desperate need for change’, a Scottish Labour MSP has said.
Glasgow MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy said the exit poll was predicted a ‘strong’ result for Labour.
She said: ‘It was a strong exit poll. I think that the country has been saying for some time now that they’re fed up of the 14 years of Tory chaos.’
She added: ‘There’s really been a desperate need for change and we’ve ran a really strong, positive campaign and I’m so proud of it.’
Asked whether it signalled a poor night for the SNP, she said: ‘People in Scotland, like across the rest of the UK, absolutely want change.
‘Everybody I’ve spoken to on the door is fed up and they all want change. I think, and I hope, that our campaign has been strong enough and has given them that vision for the future that means they can put their trust in us again.’
