Subscription Notification
We have noticed that there is an issue with your subscription billing details. Please update your billing details here
Please update your billing information
The subscription details associated with this account need to be updated. Please update your billing details here to continue enjoying your subscription.
Your subscription will end shortly
Please update your billing details here to continue enjoying your access to the most informative and considered journalism in the UK.
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 wearing yellow stars and armbands made a beeline for Scotland s Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf yesterday.
Mr Yousaf was asked questions about Pakistan, even though he was born in Scotland, when Derek Jackson and a group of his supporters surrounded him at an election count in Glasgow.
Mr Jackson, a candidate for Glasgow Southside, arrived at the election count with supporters dressed in the peculiar ensemble which has been associated with fascism.
The group also made a gesture that has been compared to the Nazi salute.
Members of other political parties joined the SNP to confront the group, when they claimed the yellow stars were sheriff s badges , even though the word unvax was clearly written on them.
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)
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.