The SNP will be the “leading and largest party” in the new Scottish Parliament, Deputy First Minister John Swinney has declared – though he said it is still too early to say if the party will win an overall majority at Holyrood.
Mr Swinney, also the Education Secretary in the Scottish Government, comfortably held his Perthshire North seat, increasing his majority over the Tories.
His was among the first handful of seats to declare as votes were counted after polling day on Thursday.
The coronavirus pandemic meant that traditional overnight counting was impossible, with the results instead being announced over the course of Friday and Saturday.
Members of an anti-vaccine party made a “beeline” for Scotland’s Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf at the Glasgow election count – before members of other political parties joined the SNP to confront them.
Derek Jackson, a candidate for Glasgow Southside, arrived at the count with supporters wearing black suits, yellow stars and armbands.
They claimed their yellow stars were “sheriff’s badges” – though they had “unvax” written on them.
Mr Jackson, who is also known as Deek Jackson, is standing for the Liberal Party – a small group unconnected to the Liberal Democrats.
Police speak with members of the Liberal Party before they are removed from the Glasgow count (Jane Barlow/PA)
The SNP will be the “leading and largest party” in the new Scottish Parliament, Deputy First Minister John Swinney has declared – though he said it is still too early to say if the party will win an overall majority at Holyrood.
Mr Swinney, also the Education Secretary in the Scottish Government, comfortably held his Perthshire North seat, increasing his majority over the Tories.
His was among the first handful of seats to declare as votes were counted after polling day on Thursday.
The coronavirus pandemic meant that traditional overnight counting was impossible, with the results instead being announced over the course of Friday and Saturday.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has said she wants to hold a referendum on Scottish independence “when the time is right”, as she retained her Glasgow seat.
Giving an acceptance speech in Glasgow after she defeated Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar by 19,735 votes to 10,279, the First Minister said her party is set for a fourth term in power.
Earlier, she had played down the likelihood of an overall SNP majority at Holyrood, saying it has “always been a very, very long shot”.
After being re-elected to her seat, Ms Sturgeon said: “If that is indeed the outcome of this election, I pledge today to get back to work immediately to continue to steer the country through the crisis of Covid, to continue to lead this country into recovery from Covid.
Nicola Sturgeon has said voters showed that racists and fascists are “not welcome anywhere in Scotland” after two far-right candidates picked up less than 200 votes and one was ejected from the count.
Glasgow Southside independent candidate Jayda Fransen confronted the SNP leader and First Minister during the campaign on Thursday, accusing her of supporting “mass immigration” and “Marxism”.
But the former deputy leader of Britain First won just 46 votes in the poll for the Scottish Parliament.
Liberal Party candidate Derek Jackson, who arrived at the count with supporters wearing black suits, yellow stars and armbands, picked up 102 votes.
Nicola Sturgeon delivers her speech on stage after retaining her seat (Jane Barlow/PA)