Donald Trump congratulates John Swinney on 'Big Election Victory'

Donald Trump has congratulated John Swinney on his “Big Election Victory”.

The SNP has won a fifth victory in Scotland, but fell short of a majority.

But with the SNP once again the largest party at the Scottish Parliament, Swinney is set to be reappointed as First Minister.

Posting on his social media platform Truth Social, the US President said Swinney was a “good man”.

“Congratulations to John Swinney on winning his Re-Election for First Minister of Scotland,” he said.

“He is a good man, who worked very hard, along with the King and Queen of the United Kingdom, with respect to Tariff relief for Great Scottish Whiskey — and deserves this Big Electoral Victory!”

When all the results were declared – after more than 16 hours of counting – the SNP had 58 MSPs – seven short of a majority and down from the 64 the party won in 2021.

Reform UK, who only had one MSP before the election, were tied with Labour for second place, with 17 MSPs each – though this was down from the 22 seats Anas Sarwar’s party won five years ago.

The Scottish Greens, meanwhile, returned 15 MSPs, a record high.

The Tories returned 12 MSPs to the Scottish Parliament – down from 31 at the last election and their worst ever result at Holyrood – with the Scottish Liberal Democrats seeing their total increase to 10.

While Reform UK ended the campaign in joint second, all its MSPs were elected via the regional list system, with Scottish leader Lord Malcolm Offord voted in as an MSP for the West of Scotland after losing out in the Inverclyde constituency.