Scottish Election results 2021 RECAP: Alex Salmond concedes Alba unlikely to win seats | SNP's Angus Robertson takes Edinburgh Central from Scottish Conservatives | Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney win constituencies | Labour's Jackie Baillie holds onto Dumbarton | Turnout surges | Interactive constituency map
Take a look back on the events as they happened throughout the day.
Scottish Election 2021 RECAP: Election results and updates from across Scotland
Key Events
- Angus Robertson takes Edinburgh Central from Tories
- Sturgeon plays down chances of SNP majority
- SNP take Ayr from Tories in tight race
- Salmond concedes Alba unlikely to win seats
- SNP gain East Lothian from Labour
Counting set to begin in Scottish constituencies
Counts in more than half of Scotland’s parliamentary constituencies are to begin later, as the country awaits the outcome of its strangest election since devolution.
Votes in some 46 of the 73 constituency seats will be counted from about 9am on Friday, with the first results expected from noon.
It is anticipated all 46 should be declared by Friday evening.
Then, from about 9am on Saturday, the remaining 27 constituency seats will be counted, after which the regional seats will be allocated.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a staggered tallying up of ballots for the 2021 Holyrood election, with all results expected to be declared by Saturday evening.
Voters turned away
On Thursday, two voters in Glasgow North West said they were temporarily turned away from a polling station because a ballot box was “too full”.
Nadeem Basharat, 37, said he and his partner Joanne Basharat, 34, went to Jordanhill Parish Church polling station at around 8.30pm and were told they could not cast their vote at the time.
He said he was told ballot box 52 was too full and he was told to “come back by 10pm”, by a steward who was “quite vague”.
He told the PA news agency: “We went home and waited and got there for about 9.30pm and managed to get in, ballot box 52 was still pretty full, like it had just been pushed down and not a new box.
“It looked like there were people there who didn’t manage to vote first time around.”
A spokesman for Glasgow’s returning officer said: “The sheer size of the regional paper meant some ballot boxes became full. We were able to deliver replacement boxes, but in this case some voters were asked to wait outside before voting.
“The presiding officer is confident that all voters who were asked to wait were ultimately able to vote.”
Scottish Election 2021: Sonic the hedgehog is turned into Nicola Sturgeon in parody video game
Scottish Election 2021: Sonic the hedgehog is turned into Nicola Sturgeon in parody video game
She has already hit popular culture through comedian Janey Godley’s parodies of her daily coronavirus briefings.
From 12pm: First results expected from the 46 Scottish parliamentary constituencies counting on Friday.
The constituencies are Aberdeen Central; Aberdeen Donside; Aberdeenshire East; Airdrie & Shotts; Angus North & Mearns; Argyll & Bute; Ayr; Banffshire & Buchan Coast; Caithness, Sutherland & Ross; Clydebank & Milngavie; Coatbridge & Chryston; Cowdenbeath; Cunninghame North; Cunninghame South; Dumbarton; Dundee City West; East Lothian; Eastwood; Edinburgh Central; Edinburgh Southern; Edinburgh Western; Ettrick, Roxburgh & Berwickshire; Falkirk East; Glasgow Anniesland; Glasgow Maryhill & Springburn; Glasgow Pollok; Glasgow Southside; Greenock & Inverclyde; Hamilton, Larkhall & Stonehouse; Inverness & Nairn; Kilmarnock & Irvine Valley; Kirkcaldy; Linlithgow; Midlothian North & Musselburgh; Moray; Motherwell & Wishaw; Na h-Eileanan an Iar; North East Fife; Orkney Islands; Paisley; Perthshire North; Renfrewshire North & West; Rutherglen; Shetland Islands; Stirling; and Strathkelvin & Bearsden.
Tories win Hartlepool by-election
- The Conservatives have won the Hartlepool by-election, taking the constituency for the first time since it was created almost 50 years ago, with Jill Mortimer defeating Labour candidate Dr Paul Williams by 6,940 votes.
A 30ft inflatable Boris Johnson erected outside Mill House Leisure Centre in Hartlepool, where the Conservatives have taken the seat from Labour
Scottish Parliament election 2021: what was voter turnout for 2016 election and what was the outcome?
This is how high voter turnout was for the Scottish Parliament election in 2016
Turnout was 55.8% at the last Holyrood election
Blow for Keir Starmer and Labour as Hartlepool elects Tory MP for first time in a generation
Blow for Keir Starmer and Labour as Hartlepool elects Tory MP for first time in a generation
Hopes of a Labour revival under Sir Keir Starmer have suffered a massive blow after the Conservative Party won the Hartlepool by-election – taking the constituency for the first time since it was created almost 50 years ago.