Nicola Sturgeon: '˜reckless Tory pursuit of hard Brexit must stop'

Nicola Sturgeon has attacked the 'chaos' caused by the Tory pursuit of a Brexit following the SNP's loss of 21 seats in the general election.

Nicola Sturgeon speaks at Bute House.

SNP plans for a second independence referendum suffered a major setback as the party saw dramatic losses in the General Election, with former first minister Alex Salmond and depute leader Angus Robertson amongst those ousted.

After making stunning gains in the 2015 election, Nicola Sturgeon’s party lost seats to the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

The First Minister said the UK had seen a “return to the dominant two-party system”.

She added that the Tories had caused “chaos” and attacked Theresa May’s party for their “arrogance” in calling a snap election.

The SNP leader said “the reckless Tory pursuit of a hard Brexit must be abandoned,” and urged MPs of all parties to back single market membership.

The nationalists lost 21 of the 56 constituencies it had won in 2015 and although the nationalists won the election in Scotland, the party saw both Mr Salmond and Angus Robertson, who had been depute leader and SNP leader at Westminster, lose out to the Tories.

More to follow.

Seat results in Scotland:

SNP 35 (-21)

Conservatives 13 (+12)

Labour 7 (+6)

Lib Dems 4 (+3)