Holyrood 2016: Nicola Sturgeon hails second Glasgow clean sweep

The SNP made a clean sweep of all the Glasgow constituencies - as the party did in last year's Westminster election - with Nicola Sturgeon comfortably returned as the MSP for Glasgow Southside.

The Glasgow count for the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections. Nicola Sturgeon won her seat, Glasgow South. Picture: John Devlin

The First Minister said: “I want to thank the people of this great city of Glasgow. If you had told me when I was a teenager, starting out in politics, that one day the SNP would win every constituency in the city of Glasgow, not just in one election but in two elections, I would scarcely have been able to believe it.”

She went on to thank “with great humility the people of Scotland for placing their trust in me and in the SNP”.

The Glasgow count for the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections. Nicola Sturgeon won her seat, Glasgow South. Picture: John Devlin

The First Minister said: “What is now beyond doubt is that the SNP has won a third consecutive Scottish Parliament election. That has never been done before in the history of the Scottish Parliament.

“We have tonight made history. It is a vote of confidence in the record of Government and it is a vote of trust in the SNP to lead our country forward. We in the SNP will always stand up for Scotland and tonight Scotland has stood with us.

“In closing tonight to make a pledge to every single person in our coutnry, to seek and to win a mandate as the First Minister of our country is a special and very precious thing. I pledge that over these next five years I will govern in the interests of everyone in Scotland of every person in Scotland and every community the length and breadth of our country.”