Advertisement

  1. National

SNP celebrate as Tories push Labour to third in Scotland polls

Nicola Sturgeon declared the SNP has "made history" by winning a third term in government at Holyrood but the party failed to reach a majority.

The Scottish Conservatives had their best ever result, securing 31 MSPs, while Labour suffered its worst result since devolution with 24 MSPs.

View all 18 updates ›

'This will be a seismic change in Scottish politics'

Scottish Secretary David Mundell has hailed a "seismic change" in politics politics north of the border after an election night which looks set to put the Conservatives as the official opposition.

David Mundell praised Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson Credit: PA

The Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale MP praised Scotland's Tory leader Ruth Davidson for pushing the party into second place ahead of Labour.

He said the results were "good for Scotland, good for the Scottish Parliament".

Ruth has demonstrated throughout this campaign that she is the one politician that can go toe-to-toe with Nicola Sturgeon, that she can stand up to demands for a second referendum.

She can also scrutinise the SNP and make sure they deliver on promises they have made on health, on education, and I think by doing that we will get better government and that will be good for everyone in Scotland. It will be a seismic change in Scottish politics that the Scottish Conservatives are the second party in the Scottish Parliament.

I was a candidate back in those first elections in 1999, it would have been incredible to think the Scottish Conservatives could have finished ahead of Labour and be the official opposition.

It demonstrates that Ruth has transformed our party in Scotland, taken it forward and given us, I hope, a very significant role in the next Scottish Parliament.

– David Mundell, Scottish Secretary
  1. Read more
  2. 18 updates
SNP celebrate as Tories push Labour to third in Scotland polls

More on this story