The SNP trounced Labour in the Dundee City East and West seats with massively increased majorities for Shona Robison and Joe FitzPatrick. They were just two of the successes on a spectacular night for the Nationalists, as Alex Salmond headed for a historic second term at Holyrood.
In the East, Ms Robison more than doubled her winning margin with the 16,541 votes she received, and Mr FitzPatrick more than trebled his majority with 14,089 votes.
Ms Robison thanked the people of Dundee East who had yet again put their faith and trust in the SNP.
“I am absolutely humbled by the majority I have tonight. It is an astonishing act of faith and I am proud so many people have voted SNP and voted for me,” she said. “The SNP is having a good night. It is an amazing night with some of the results that are coming through, and I think the main reason for that is that the SNP fought a positive campaign and gave people a reason to vote for the party.
“We have a strong positive vision of the future for Scotland, in contrast with the extremely negative campaign that others fought and a positive campaign wins it every time.”
She said great credit was due to leader Alex Salmond who led a team who had vision for and stood up for Scotland. Hailing her party’s remarkable success across the country, she added, “Tonight is a watershed in Scottish politics.”
Reflecting on her success, Ms Robison said some of the members of her campaign team had been working to increase the SNP’s presence in Dundee for more than 15 years.
From those “small acorns” the party had managed to build a level of respect and trust that had paid dividends at this election, but she was determined not to rest on her laurels.Bright future”Dundee has a bright future with the V&A and the prospect of renewable energy jobs and we need to make sure these are delivered. We need a can-do mentality.
“I am very excited about the next five years. I will be helping to continue the work that has been done to raise Dundee’s profile.”
Ms Robison added that she would be going to Edinburgh today to meet the other SNP MSPs and to “welcome Alex Salmond as re-elected First Minister”.
“Poll after poll showed how much people felt the SNP stood up for Scotland. That’s what we want to do in the next five years.”
Asked if she had ambitions to move up the ministerial ladder from her current job as public health minister, Ms Robison replied, “That decision rests with Alex Salmond as First Minister. I am certainly not counting any chickens.”
Ms Robison’s husband Stewart Hosie is MP for Dundee East. He said the party had run a “positive, ambitious campaign”.
Labour’s Mohammed Asif, a distant second in Dundee City East with 5862 votes, was brief in his words. He said it was a disappointing night but he thanked his supporters and said Labour would regroup and return to the fray.
Last in the seat was Lib Dem’s Allan Petrie, who lost his deposit with just 800 votes.
Mr FitzPatrick said his electoral victory was even better than when he won in 2007 with 10,955 votes and a majority of 1946. He said the majority of voters in Dundee City West responded to the positive message of the SNP.
There was a challenge ahead to take Scotland and Dundee forward, but the SNP with its MSPs in Holyrood and councillors in Dundee would be meeting that challenge.
Labour’s Richard McCready, who came 6405 votes behind in second place, praised his victor and said it was clearly a good night for the SNP.
He added, “The Labour Party will regroup and we will live to fight another day in Dundee and right across Scotland, and we will move forward.”‘Have had better nights’And he admitted, “I have had better nights.”
He felt he had fought a good campaign, focusing on jobs, but it had clearly not been a good night for Labour across the country and the collapse of the Liberal Democrat vote had been a factor in that.
He said there had been a perception that the Labour campaign nationally had not done well, although he did question how much that was media-inspired. But he accepted that the party would need to look at the policies it had put forward.
Mr McCready was asked about the possible implications of the swing to the SNP for the next city council elections. The SNP are now the ruling party after a long period of Labour dominance.
He said that one of the major SNP policies was a council tax freeze and he did not believe that could be delivered without impacting on council services.
Nationally, early results showed huge swings to the Nationalists, with former Labour cabinet minister Andy Kerr losing the East Kilbride seat in a shock result.
He was Mr Kerr had been tipped to replace Iain Gray as Labour leader in the event of an SNP victory.
Mr Gray, fighting the East Lothian constituency, only scraped to victory by 151 votes.
The SNP’s deputy leader, Nicola Sturgeon, described the early results as “stunning”.
Some areas of Scotland including Fife are not starting to count votes until this morning, meaning the exact national picture will not be known until this afternoon.
Check back here throughout the day for more results and reaction.