SNP's John Swinney blames election obliteration on Scottish independence failure

The SNP has been obliterated with its worst performance in a general election for more than a decade. John Swinney, the party's leader, blamed the losses on failing to “convince people of the urgency of independence”.

The Scottish First Minister said: “I have to accept that we failed to convince people of the urgency of independence in this election campaign. Therefore, we need to take the time to consider and to reflect on how we deliver our commitment to independence – which remains absolute.

“As somebody who has devoted their entire adult life to the winning of Scottish independence – not for an abstract reason, but because I believe it will transform the lives of our people for the better – we need to get that approach correct in the forthcoming period.

“I accept that we need to engage with, listen to and learn from the people of Scotland on how we take forward our arguments for independence.”

The SNP lost dozens of MPs in the election, dropping to just nine with one seat left to declare.

The party had initially targeted at least 29 seats in Scotland – enough for a majority – and then hoped to trigger negotiations with incoming prime minister Sir Keir Starmer on holding another independence referendum.

But Anas Sarwar’s Scottish Labour tore across the country’s central belt, mirroring the success of Labour UK-wide, sweeping the SNP out of Glasgow and Edinburgh.

A recount in the Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire seat will not restart until 10.30am today (SAT), delaying the final result of the General Election.

Mr Sarwar said he was “absolutely delighted” with his party’s performance as he thanked the people of Scotland for “putting their faith and trust in the Scottish Labour Party”.

He added: “I understand their desire for change, I know there’ll be a huge sigh of relief that we finally ended 14 years of total chaos and failure.”

He conceded it will “not be an easy road” for a Labour government but vowed the party will “get to work straight away”.

There were substantial swings from the SNP to Labour in a number of constituencies, as well as defeat for high-profile former MPs including Joanna Cherry KC and Kirsten Oswald.

Westminster leader Stephen Flynn held on to his Aberdeen South seat, but said his party needs to look inward to fix the issues.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: “What we need to focus on now as a party is how we get ourselves into winning shape in the next 18 months in the build-up to the Scottish Parliament election.

“That’s going to require a lot of effort from people and it’s probably going to require some people to open the curtain and look at some of their own skeletons and realise that we’ve not been doing things as well as we possibly could have been. Myself included in that regard.

“So it’s a time for reflection, it’s a time to listen, and hopefully a time to rebuild and come back better.”