General Election 2024 LIVE: Sir Keir Starmer officially becomes Prime Minister as he meets King after Labour landslide
SIR Keir Starmer has officially become the new Prime Minister - after his Labour landslide forced Rishi Sunak out of Number 10 and devastated the SNP's independence hopes for Scotland.
Anas Sarwar’s party rode the Labour wave across the UK to more than 30 seats - helping Sir Keir secure a thumping victory over the Conservatives and Mr Sunak.
The Labour leader and soon-to-be-Prime Minister said: “We said we would turn the page and we have. Today we start the next chapter, begin the work of change, the mission of national renewal and start to rebuild our country.”
Mr Sarwar said he was "absolutely delighted" with his party's performance and 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."
And Mr Sarwar immediately pointed to the 2026 Holyrood election and said that would be the "second stage" of delivering change for Scotland.
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He added: "We also have got to ramp up our efforts to deliver the second stage of change that comes in 2026 where we can get a Scottish Labour government that can deliver the competence we need to deliver for working people here in Scotland."
SNP leader John Swinney however was forced to admit the SNP had suffered a “very poor” night - adding there would be “soul searching” ahead for the Nats.
He said: “It's a very poor result for the SNP tonight.
"There will have to be a lot of soul searching as a party as a consequence of these results that have come in tonight."
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Mr Swinney admitted that independence would be on the backburner for the Nats after their electoral humiliation.
He said: "I have to accept that we failed to convince people of the urgency of independence in this campaign.
"We need to take the time to consider and reflect on how we deliver our commitment to independence."
On a historic night in Scotland...
- Labour won a landslide victory making Sir Keir Starmer the next Prime Minister
- A red wave swamped Scotland as Labour saw a tsunami of victories
- A disastrous night for the SNP as they suffered a humiliating defeat
- Joanna Cherry lost her seat to Labour and blames Nicola Sturgeon for SNP massacre
- Big-name Nats ousted in Labour landslide
- Scottish Tory boss Douglas Ross was defeated by the SNP in Aberdeenshire
- Stephen Flynn re-elected but admits the Nats were “beat well”
- JK Rowling takes multiple swipes at Nats over election disaster
- Labour wipe out the SNP and have clean sweeps in Lanarkshire, Glasgow and Ayrshire.
Elsewhere, Reform UK had some election joy as Tory defector Lee Anderson won in Ashfield and Nigel Farage was elected in Clacton.
And Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, also won his seat as an independent in Islington North.
Keep up to date with the results
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DOUGLAS ROSS RACE SET TO BE 'INCREDIBLY TIGHT'
Douglas Ross's seat is thought to be incredibly tight.
The Tories think they've won but then so do the Nats, according to rumours in the hall.
LABOUR GAIN NORTH AYRSHIRE AND ARRAN
Labour take North Ayrshire and Arran from the Nats as Irene Campbell replaces Patricia Gibson as MP.
LABOUR GAIN MOTHERWELL, WISHAW AND CARLUKE
Labour's victory wave continues as they take yet ANOTHER seat from the SNP as they gain Motherwell, Wishaw and Carluke.
Former Airdrie and Shotts MP Pamela Nash has will return to Westminster.
LABOUR GAIN GLASGOW NORTH EAST
Labour has taken yet another seat from the SNP as they gain Glasgow North East.
SNP HOLD DUNDEE CENTRAL
Nats MP Chris Law has just held on to his Dundee Central seat with a massively reduced
majority of 675.
LABOUR GAIN RUTHERGLEN
Labour has taken Rutherglen from the SNP as a red wave continues to sweep Scotland in yet another defeat for the Nats.
SNP HOLD PERTH AND KINROSS-SHIRE
Nats supremo and former Runrig rocker Pete Wishart has held his Perth and Kinross seat for the SNP.
NEW EXIT POLL REDUCES NATS TO JUST 6 SEATS
The BBC and polling guru John Curtice have revised the exit poll which has the SNP winning just SIX seats.
Labour on 405 seats
Tories on 154
Lib Dems on 56
SNP on 6
Reform on 4It is a total reversal of the SNP's gains after the 2014 Scottish independence referendum when the Nats went from 6 to 56 overnight.
PUBLIC ARE 'SCUNNERED' BY SNP
Douglas Alexander said the Scottish public was "scunnered" by the SNP who have been in power "longer than the iPhone".
He said: "We will focus on the people's priorities. We have got a lot of work to get on with starting tomorrow.
"The plan is to deliver on the trust that people have put in Labour representatives.
"I think people are pretty scunnered with an SNP government that has been in power longer than the iPhone.
"We need to rebuild trust and we need to deliver and we need to get on with the job."
LABOUR GAIN HAMILTON AND CLYDE VALLEY
Labour has gained Hamilton and Clyde Valley from the SNP as their wave of victories continues across Scotland.
LABOUR GAIN PAISLEY AND RENFREWSHIRE NORTH
Labour has gained Paisley and Renfrewshire North from the SNP.
SNP HOLD ABERDEEN SOUTH AS STEPHEN FLYNN WINS
The SNP has held Aberdeen South with the party's Westminster chief Stephen Flynn keeping his seat.
LABOUR 'ON TRACK FOR SCOTTISH MAJORITY'
Anas Sarwar says Scottish Labour is on track for a "majority" of seats in Scotland.
'HUGS FROM MY KIDS HELPED ME WIN'
Re-elected Nat Kirsty Blackman told how hugs from her kids helped her win.
She saw off Labour to retake Aberdeen North with more than 1700 votes.
And after the victory, she told how cuddles from the youngsters played a huge part.
She said: "I would like to thank my favourite Aberdonians, my bairns. And my husband Luke.
"Without them, their support and without their bosies I couldn't have done this for the last few years.
"I expect to be getting plenty of bosies from them over the next five years."
Mrs Blackman vowed to speak up for the city.
And she pledged to help those who are struggling.
She said: "I will do everything that I can to make that burden easier."
LABOUR GAIN MIDLOTHIAN
Labour has gained Midlothian from the SNP.
FARAGE ELECTED
Nigel Farage has been elected as an MP for Reform UK.
A huge cheer goes up in Clacton Town Hall as Nigel Farage is elected as an MP for the first time.
He’s seen off the well-respected Giles Watling, who will now retire after seven years in Westminster.
The polls were right and Farage is over the line by 8,405 votes.
Nigel Farage (Ref) 21,225
Giles Watling (Con) 12,820
Tony Mack (Ind) 317
Jovan Owusu-Nepaul (Lab) 7,448JEREMY CORBYN WINS
Jeremy Corbyn has held onto his Islington North seat in an extraordinary coup for the leftwinger.
The former Labour leader was kicked out of the party under Sir Keir Starmer over his handling of the antisemitism crisis.
Under different circumstances, this would be a difficult blow for Sir Keir Starmer.
But the failure to keep the seat red is a drop in the ocean with exit polls predicting Labour will win 410 seats.
Jeremy Corbyn (IND) 24,120
Karen Harries (Con) 1,950
Sheridan Cates (Grn) 2,660
Praful Nargund (Lab) 16,873LABOUR GAIN EAST KILBRIDE AND STRATHAVEN
Labour has gained East Kilbride and Strathaven from the SNP.
IAIN DUNCAN SMITH KEEPS SEAT
The odds were stacked against former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith.
Despite seeing his majority eroded over successive elections, he has defied the odds and held on.
The Tory supremo has held the Chingford and Woodford Green seat since its creation in 1997.
LABOUR GAIN EAST RENFREWSHIRE
Labour has gained East Renfrewshire from the SNP.
It is a massive 8,000+ majority for Blair McDougall.
SNP HOLD ABERDEEN NORTH
The SNP has held Aberdeen North with Kirsty Blackman returned to Westminster as MP.
LABOUR GAIN LOTHIAN EAST
Labour has gained Lothian East from the Alba Party.
The SNP won the seat in 2019 but the MP defected to Alex Salmond's Alba Party.
But Alba was massively defeated by Labour, getting just 557 votes.
Former Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander has been elected as the MP.
LABOUR GAIN PAISLEY AND RENFREWSHIRE SOUTH
Labour has gained Paisley and Renfrewshire South from the SNP.
STURGEON SAYS STEPHEN FLYNN HAS WON SEAT BEFORE RESULT ANNOUNCED
Nicola Sturgeon appeared to blurt out that Stephen Flynn has won his seat before the result was announced.
She was on ITV when the camera cut to Farage in Clacton and Sturgeon was heard over the mic saying "Stephen's won" - then they cut back to her and she nervously backtracked to say she was told on the ground, 'reliably informed' but she hopes they are right.
KEIR STARMER HOLDS SEAT
Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour Party leader and the man set to be the next Prime Minister, has held his seat in Holborn and St Pancras.
![Sir Keir Starmer has held his seat](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 960 640"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Sir Keir Starmer has held his seatCredit: Getty
