Final Scottish seat to declare election result after delayed recount

After a brutal election night for the SNP one seat remains in the balance in Scotland.

No final result in the UK General Election was declared on Friday after multiple recounts failed to verify the votes in a seat in the Highlands.

After an initial recount, there was a difference between the verified and counted votes in Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire.

They did a second recount and it still did not match. In fact, the gap was wider.

A further recount got under way at around 10.30am on Saturday and as of 4pm a verdict has not been declared.

Ahead of that though, the SNP’s Drew Hendry conceded the result which means the Liberal Democrats are now expected to win.

Politics

SNP candidate concedes final UK constituency as LibDems expected to win

Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire will be the final UK seat to declare a result following repeated issues at the count.

That would bring the Scottish LibDems to six seats north of the border, overtaking the Tories as Scotland’s third-largest party at Westminster.

The result, which won’t be officially declared by Highland Council until later on Saturday, means the SNP will retain just nine MPs, down from 48 in 2019.

SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland John Swinney said the party has “failed to convince” the people of Scotland on independence and faces a period of “soul searching”.

The party said a majority of seats would be a mandate for negotiations on holding another referendum.

“I have to accept that we failed to convince people of the urgency of independence in this election campaign,” he said.

“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.”

Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon said Scottish independence “wasn’t really put front and centre” of the SNP’s campaign – despite it being line one, page one of the manifesto.