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Read all the results of the Scottish elections as they come in – with key reactions as we get them…

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Final results from Scottish Parliament election

Labour failed to make headway in Holyrood, losing seats – but narrowly becoming the second largest party in the Scottish Parliament, tied with Reform UK.

Labour increased its number of constituency MSPs to three, but lost six regional MSPs.

18:02 Labour hold Dumbarton

Labour win their third seat in the Scottish Parliament elections, as Sky reports Labour holds onto Dumbarton.

16:55 Anas Sarwar loses in Glasgow Cathcart and Pollok to SNP

The Scottish Labour leader is top of the Glasgow list for Labour so should still be returned to Holyrood.

16:04 ‘Former cabinet minister Louise Haigh says the PM “cannot lead us into another election” if he does not deliver change.

Speaking to ITV, the Labour MP for Sheffield Heeley said: “But I think what is abundantly clear, is that unless the government delivers significant and urgent change, then the prime minister cannot lead us into another election.”

15:53 Scottish Labour take Edinburgh Southern from the SNP

Daniel Johnson has beaten Catriona MacDonald with a vote share of 45.9% – a gain of 10.4%.

15:15 Unison: ‘Labour face oblivion’

Unison General secretary Andrea Egan has said “Labour faces oblivion because it is not delivering for the vast majority of people.”

She added “What must change is not just the leader but the entire approach: only a Labour Government which always puts the interests of workers before the wealthy can succeed.”

15:00 Unite: ‘Labour will die if it doesn’t fundamentally change course’

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has warned that Labour will die if the party does not implement “fundamental, irreversable change”.

She said: “The writing is on the wall for this Labour government and it could be the beginning of the end for the party itself. The working class have been abandoned and have delivered their verdict.

“They have painted the ballot boxes of our towns and swathes of the Midlands and the North turquoise and even green. They have done so using the brush of decades of Labour failure.

“Labour ministers can loyally read out lists of their achievements, but no one is listening. If every one of those achievements were in stereo, they wouldn’t even touch the sides of the vision that is needed now.

“We are stuck in a rigged system where everyday people always, always pay.

“Only fundamental, irreversible change will stem the tide. If the party does not shift decisively towards the working class it is finished.

“It is change or die. Now or never.”

14:50 Three more MPs call for PM to go

Three more Labour MPs, Ian Lavery, Nadia Whittome and Apsana Begum, have called on the Prime Minister to resign or announce a timetable for departure.

14:45 Labour gain in Western Isles

Labour has gained the Western Isles constituency from the SNP, with a ten percent jump in vote share and a majority of just 154. However, the party has failed to make a breakthrough in Paisley, on the outskirts of Glasgow – where Labour’s vote share increased by less than one percent, with a ten-point gap with the SNP.

14:30 Stephen Flynn elected to Holyrood

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has been elected to the Scottish Parliament. He has said he will resign as MP for Aberdeen South to serve in Holyrood, triggering a by-election for his Commons constituency.

14:10 Sarwar concedes defeat

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has conceded defeat and said it has been a “disappointing result” for his party.

He said: “We made the case for change, the argument for change, but ultimately it’s an argument we lost.”

Sarwar hinted that he would not stand down as party leader: “My party is hurting today, and it’s my job to hold it together.”

14:07 National equivalent vote so far

Sky News has tallied up votes across the nation – and has Reform’s national equivalent vote share falling compared to the local elections last year. Their model has Reform on 27 percent, down from 31 percent. Labour is languishing in third on just 16 percent, up one percent from 2025.

14:05 Jackie Baillie ‘to lose Dumbarton to SNP’

Deputy Scottish Labour leader Jackie Baillie is reportedly in a battle for second place in her Dumbarton constituency, with the SNP expected to win. Reform candidate for Dumbarton David Smith told The Herald: “Looks like the SNP are taking it, then Labour then us – but I think it’s very close for second.”

14:00 Result so far for Labour

No results have been declared in areas that might have been expected to go to Labour – but currently Labour’s vote share is unchanged on the last election in 2021, sitting at 19.2 percent…

13:51 Sliver of good news…

A Labour source tells the Scottish Sun that Labour’s majority in Edinburgh Southern will increase amid disappointing expectations across the rest of the nation…

12:50 SNP confident of victory in Hamilton

Daily Record reporter Chris McCall reports that the SNP are confident of victory in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, a seat Labour gained in a by-election last year…

12:45 First declaration is hold for Liberal Democrats

The first result has been announced for the Orkney Islands – and it’s a safe Lib Dem hold.

Labour’s vote, which was already small here, has dropped by just over half a percent to 1.9 percent.

12:35 ‘Nobody should be launching a coup’

Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, who has previously called for Keir Starmer to go as leader, has said that the party needs a chance to have a thorough discussion about the results – and that now is not the time for a coup.

“Nobody should be launching a coup, we need to give party chance to have a thorough discussion about what has happened, why and what’s needed now but everything has to be on agenda.

“Keir will need to put party and country first in judging whether he is risking opening door to Farage.”

12:30 Scottish Labour performance in Glasgow ‘terrible’

Scottish Labour sources have told the BBC that the party’s performance in Glasgow “has been terrible”.

BBC correspondent Paris Gourtsoyannis said: “I spoke to one party figure who spoke with real disgust about what he said he saw from tallies outside polling stations in Glasgow Southside. He said Labour was tallying as many voters as Reform in those areas, letting the Greens through the middle.”

12:15 Blue Labour leader: ‘We have no answer for working class voters who’ve been left behind’

Dan Carden, Liverpool Walton MP and leader of the Blue Labour group in the Commons, has said Labour needs to think whether the party wants to represent working people at all in response to the local election results.

He said: “Labour is losing today because we are a party that won’t say Britain is broken – when it is, won’t challenge the rules of globalisation, and we are now a party defined only through tax, spend and welfare — and with no answer for working class voters who’ve been left behind.

“The question isn’t how to win them back. It’s whether Labour wants to represent them at all.”

12:10 ‘Next 24 hours crucial’

A Labour backbencher has told LabourList: “The next 24 hours will be crucial. Then we need to set out how we change people’s lives.”

12.00 ‘There was bad and then there’s this’

The Times reports grim mood music for Labour in Scotland, with a senior party source quoted as saying: “There was bad and then there’s this. Even the tight seats seem to be slipping.”

The newspaper also quotes an unnamed Labour MP, who criticises Douglas Alexander’s leadership of the campaign strategy.

11:57 ‘Entire governing project of Labour right has failed’

A soft left Labour source has been damning about the election results and told LabourList: “This is the logical conclusion of McSweeneyism- winter fuel, welfare, Mandelson. The entire governing project of the Labour right has failed.”

11.50 Edinburgh Southern only area looking positive for Labour – reports

Daily Record political editor Paul Hutcheon reports that he is not hearing any “positive vibes” about Labour’s performance other than in Edinburgh Southern, being defended by Daniel Johnson.

11:40 SNP: Majority ‘possible but improbable’

A senior SNP source has told the BBC that the prospect of them securing a majority in Holyrood is “possible but improbable”.

11:14 When are results expected?

The first result out of Scotland is expected at around midday, with Coatbridge and Chryston expected to be the first to announce its result.

10:50 Fabian Society: ‘Carrying on regardless is not an option’

Joe Dromey, general secretary of the Fabian Society, has described the election results so far as “devastating” for Labour – and said that “the scale of the losses show this is much more than mid-term blues”.

He said: “Carrying on regardless is not an option. We need to listen to the message the voters have sent, and to learn lessons.”

A statement on yesterday’s election results from Fabian Society General Secretary, @Joe_Dromey pic.twitter.com/wtTCCYaTOM

— The Fabian Society (@thefabians) May 8, 2026

10:45 ‘Labour run a campaign we’re really proud of’

Speaking to BBC Scotland, Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander, co-chair of the Scottish Labour election campaign, said the party had run “a campaign we’re really proud of”.

He said: “We feel that we closed strong and we saw a significant momentum towards the arguments we were advancing on the doorsteps in the last few days. We’ve been working hard to make this a Scottish election here in Scotland, about the government of Scotland.”

10:35 ‘People want change’, says Compass

Campaign group Compass has reacted to the election results so far, calling for “a different economy, a different approach to the cost of living and a different politics”.

Neal Lawson, director of the cross-party group, said: “The overnight message is the one the country’s been saying for months now: people want change.

“Labour’s massive falls are almost directly related to strong Green performances all over the country, paving the way for Reform wins. It lays bare the systemic issues of our voting system and the fragmentation of the new progressive bloc.

“But both sets of voters need the case made to them. Labour’s economic record is simply not good enough – a different economy, a different approach to the cost of living and a different politics is needed.”

10:10 TSSA: ‘We will work with other unions to oust Starmer’

General secretary of the Labour-affiliated TSSA Maryam Eslamdoust has repeated her calls for new leadership for the Labour Party – and said she would work with other trade unions to oust Keir Starmer.

She said: “Unions like the TSSA will not stand by in the wake of this electoral disaster and let Keir Starmer pave the way for a hard right government led by Nigel Farage.

“Joe Biden did exactly that in the US, and it’s clear from these results that we’re facing a similar catastrophe unless Labour changes leadership and direction. The TSSA will now seek to work with other unions to assert our political influence at all levels of the Labour Party to try to deliver that.

“At the last general election, the country didn’t vote simply to repaint the front bench red. People voted for meaningful change they could actually feel in their lives.

“That’s why Labour urgently needs a leadership election to allow members to pick a candidate who is much more responsive to the needs of working people and who can stop the very real danger of a far right government coming to power in this country.”

09:55 Reports of low turnout for Holyrood elections

The Herald reports that in some constituencies in Scotland some older voters have reported feeling so apathetic with politics that they have not bothered voting – which party that might hurt the most, we’ll have to wait and see…

09:40 Watch – Keir Starmer’s response to election results so far

These are tough results for Labour. There’s no sugarcoating it. We’ve lost brilliant Labour representatives who’ve stood up for their communities.

People are still frustrated. Their lives aren’t changing fast enough. We haven’t offered enough hope or optimism for the future.

I… pic.twitter.com/fX70cmFKpQ

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) May 8, 2026

09:00 Counting underway

Counting is underway for the Scottish Parliament elections, where Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar is seeking to stop the SNP from securing a third decade in power in Holyrood.

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