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EXIT POLL
Labour on course for massive landslide SNP facing election slaughter in Scotland
Exit polls have made grim reading for the SNP
SCOTTISH Labour are set to become the biggest party in Scotland - ending years of failure at the ballot box.
The exit poll predicted Anas Sarwar’s party would comfortably eclipse the SNP into first place, reversing several huge defeats first suffered in 2015.
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The prediction forecast Scottish Labour to comfortably beat the SNP - with John Swinney down to only just breach double-figures and winning 10 seats across Scotland.
That is down 38 seats from their 2019 result when the Nats won 48 seats and Scottish Labour just one.
The race in Scotland was hard fought right up to polls closing, with Scottish Labour hoping for a major symbolic victory over the SNP after almost a decade of defeats.
Polling had put Mr Sarwar’s party around four points on average ahead of the SNP - but a last minute poll from Savanta suggested the SNP had inched ahead on the eve of election day.
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John Swinney used the campaign to push independence - promising winning 29 seats or more would give him the right to start negotiations on independence with Sir Keir Starmer.
The First Minister also issued apocalyptic warnings about £18billion of planned cuts he said would come if Labour won the General Election.
But Labour repeatedly urged voters to use the election to boot out the Tories in Westminster and deliver change for Scotland and the rest of the UK.
Scottish Labour approached the election surfing a wave of dissatisfaction with the SNP as the Nats’ approval ratings plummeted following the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon as party leader.
Most read in The Scottish Sun
Earlier today Scotland's political leaders finally cast their votes after seven weeks of hard campaigning across the country - as activists spent the day urging Scots to go to the polls.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar - whose party is widely predicted to become the largest party in Scotland - voted at Pollokshields Burgh Hall in Glasgow alongside his wife Furheen and son Aliyan.
Polling stations across the open as voters cast their ballots across Britain
After voting, Mr Sarwar hugged and shook hands with Labour candidate for Glasgow South West Zubir Ahmed, and shook hands with Labour activists as well as an SNP activist.
A woman with a sign reading “Starmer is a snake” approached the leader but later posed for pictures with the party chief.
Ahead of polling day the SNP hold 48 seats to the Scottish Tories’ six, the Lib Dems’ four, and Scottish Labour’s two.
However polls predict the Nats will drop behind Scottish Labour in a reversal of fortunes for both parties.
And the SNP faced an early blow as a dog was spotted relieving itself on a pro-SNP placard outside a polling station in Camserney.
SNP leader John Swinney visited his local polling station at Burrelton Village Hall in Perthshire, joined by his 13-year-old son Matthew.
The First Minister walked from his home to the polling station, greeting members of the media on the way in - and met the SNP’s candidate for the Angus and Perthshire Glens constituency, Dave Doogan.
Douglas Ross - the Scottish Tory leader who is set to quit the role after the election after facing a backlash for standing in the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East seat - voted in Fogwatt Hall, near Elgin.
The outgoing party chief was forced to commit to resign after he decided to run in the seat in place of the ill David Duguid - despite the unseated candidate insisting he was fit to stand.
Mr Ross held hands with his wife Krystle - who is a police officer - along with his sons James and Alistair as he went to vote.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton voted at Davidson’s Mains Parish Church in Edinburgh while co-leaders of the Scottish Greens, Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, cast their votes in Glasgow and Edinburgh respectively.
And despite Scots going to the polls in July for the first time since the end of the Second World War - voters were forced to battle the elements to reach pollings stations around the country.
They braved gale-force winds, torrential downpours, and even sleet as they battled the elements to cast their votes yesterday.
With polling stations open for 15 hours between 7am and 10pm - voters faced four seasons in one day to get to polling stations.
In towns and cities, those casting their votes took brollies as well as ID along with them as indiscriminate showers merged to create longer spells of rain and sleet.
In Glasgow, those venturing out were warned to expect lightning strikes, as well as the prospect of thunder.
And in Edinburgh gusts of more than 40mph blasted voters - peaking at 43mph in the middle of people’s lunch break at 1pm.
But sources said the blustery and damp weather had not put off voters - with a senior Scottish Labour figure saying their vote was “holding up as we’d expect” despite the need for a sturdy umbrella and waterproofs.
However, Scottish Labour appeared nervous in Glasgow where they had been tipped to potentially grab all six seats from the SNP as they sent an email to party members urging them to volunteer to help voters get to the polls.
And the party admitted their phone canvassing system had also suffered from slowdowns during the day amid rumours it was out of action for a couple of hours.
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Ex-First Minister Humza Yousaf was one of the unfortunate voters battled by the elements as he said activists in Glasgow had faced “rain, hail, sun or wind, we have had it all!”
He added: “It will take a lot more than some bad weather to stop Team SNP. Solid responses on the doors but we must not take anything for granted.”