Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
SNP soul searching begins after vote disaster
THE SNP’S result at the general election has been “very poor”, First Minister John Swinney said, adding his party will have to do a lot of “soul searching”.
The SNP leader said at the count in Perth: “It’s a very poor result for the SNP.
“There will have to be a lot of soul searching as a party as a consequence of these results that have come in.”
He added that the SNP has to be “better at governing on behalf of the people of Scotland”.
Mr Swinney said: “We need to make sure that we’re better at governing on behalf of the people of Scotland.
“We’ve got to listen carefully, we’ve got to listen attentively to what the public are saying to us in this election result and on a variety of other questions and topics around the country.”
The first minister added that it was a “difficult and damaging night” for his party, but that it was too early to conclude what had gone wrong.
Mr Swinney added, however, that the party had been “disunited” and had “been focusing a lot inwards and not outwards”.
“We’ve got to sort that – we’ve got to fix it,” he said.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar saw substantial swings to his party from the SNP, particularly across the Central Belt.
Among those winners was former minister Douglas Alexander, who will return to Westminster for the first time since losing his previous seat in 2015.
The former international development secretary won in Lothian East.
The BBC/ITV/SKY exit poll predicted a thumping majority for Labour across the UK, with the SNP dropping to just 10 seats, although it could end up being even worse.
Former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said: “This is not a good night for the SNP on these numbers.
“This is at the grimmer end of the expectations for the SNP.
“This is seismic for Labour. There’s no getting away from that, it’s a massive achievement for Keir Starmer.”
SNP campaign chief Stewart Hosie said he was not concerned by the collapse in the party’s vote.
“In 2005, I think we were down to five or six MPS and we went on to win the Holyrood election in 2007,” he said.
“In 2010, I think we returned six and went on to win a majority in Holyrood in 2011.
“So I’m not worried about what this means for the SNP.
“But clearly if this result or something like it comes to pass, it tells us that the overriding motivation for almost everybody in this election was simply to get the Tories out and people appear to have decided that a vote for Labour is the way to do that.”
The SNP’S campaign centred around calls for talks on another independence referendum if the party won a majority of seats at the election.
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said: “I would strongly caution anybody against dismissing the robust, resilient and significant number of people in this country that support independence and the next Labour government will have to contend with that, we’ll have to listen to Scottish voters because even over the last few months – which have been difficult – that support for independence has remained strong.”
But she added the party would need to “listen to the voices of voters” and “set out our agenda to regain and rebuild the trust of the voters across Scotland”, she said.
Former first minister and Alba Party leader Alex Salmond said the SNP’S potential collapse was “not because of independence”.
“How could it be? The SNP did not even campaign on it,” he said.
“In reality, the support for independence is strong. It is the SNP who are weak. The independence case must now find new vehicles to move forward.”
Earlier in the day, Mr Swinney voted at Burrelton Village Hall in Perthshire.
Accompanied 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.
Mr Sarwar cast his vote at Pollokshields Burgh Hall in Glasgow yesterday morning, accompanied by wife Furheen and son Aliyan.