Crushing blow for SNP as party plunges to shock number of seats in election exit poll
The exit poll released at 10pm has put Labour on a landslide victory.
Nicola Sturgeon has condemned the SNP’s general election campaign as she admitted the official exit poll painted a “grim” picture for her party.
The former First Minister made the comments after a general election exit poll suggested the SNP could plunge to just 10 seats after failing to fight off a Labour surge.
Ms Sturgeon said: “This is at the grimmer end of expectations for the SNP.”
She said it is a “seismic” result for Labour - who was on course for 410 seats - but criticised the campaign run by her close friend John Swinney.
Ms Sturgeon said: “There are clearly big issues in a result of this scale for the SNP. The SNP has been in government for 17 years, we are in government now at a time when austerity is really biting, the impact of Brexit is biting - of course there were always going to be real challenges in this election.”
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. Read our Privacy Policy
She added: “This is not a good night for the SNP on these numbers, and there will be a lot of questions that need to be asked as we come out of it.
“I think there will be a question about whether there was enough in the campaign to give effectively a USP to the SNP in an election that was about getting the Tories out and replacing them with Labour.”
She also said Scottish independence “wasn’t really put front and centre” of the SNP’s campaign.
Their offer centred around winning a majority of seats in Scotland and beginning talks on a new independence referendum with the incoming government, but both Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer rejected such an idea.
This election also fell during school summer holidays for much of Scotland and some voters reported not receiving their postal ballots in time.
Councils were distributing replacement voting packs until 5pm on Thursday but some voters still had difficulty casting their ballot.
It was also the first time photo ID had been required for a national election in Scotland.
The number of constituencies in Scotland has been reduced from 59 to 57 in this election due to boundary changes - affecting all but 10 seats north of the border.
Former first minister of Scotland Alex Salmond has said the 10 seats for the SNP predicted by the exit poll was not due to a lack of support for independence.
He said: “London commentators are crowing about seeing the back of the independence argument. But the slaughter of the SNP is not because (of) independence. How could it be? The SNP did not even campaign on it.
“In reality the support for independence is strong. It is the SNP who are weak. The independence case must now find new vehicles to move forward.”
Meanwhile the SNP campaign director Stewart Hosie described the prediction as “stark” but added that it was “just an exit poll”.
He said: “In the next few hours, we’ll see how accurate or otherwise it is."
Asked what such a result could mean for the SNP, Mr Hosie said he was not concerned.
He added: “In 2005, I think we were down to five or six MPs and we went on to win the Holyrood election in 2007.
“In 2010, I think we returned six and went on to win a majority in Holyrood in 2011.
“So I’m not worried about what this means for the SNP, but clearly if this result or something like it comes to pass, it tells us that the overriding motivation for almost everybody in this election was simply to get the Tories out and people appear to have decided that a vote for Labour is the way to do that.”
SNP leader John Swinney outlines his party's manifesto
It is “absolutely the case” people who support independence voted for Labour, the campaign chief said.
Mr Hosie said: “That motivation to get the Tories out was so overwhelming, everything else – Brexit, austerity, cost of living – was just pushed out of the way.”
The SNP must “listen to the voice of voters”, Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes has said.
But Ms Forbes cautioned against “dismissing” the number of people in Scotland who support independence.
She said: “We must listen to the voices of the voters, we are democrats, and that means to listen to the message that voters are sending.
“I would strongly caution anybody against dismissing the robust, resilient and significant number of people in this country that support independence and the next Labour government will have to contend with that, we’ll have to listen to Scottish voters because even over the last few months – which have been difficult – that support for independence has remained strong.”
