Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email
Nicola Sturgeon has been filmed celebrating wildly as she learned an SNP candidate had beaten Jo Swinson in the general election.
Scotland ‘s first minister can be seen letting out a lengthy cheer and shaking her fists in jubilation live on Sky News as the results in East Dunbartonshire were announced.
The Liberal Democrat leader – who was forced to climb down from her initial assertions that she could become prime minister – lost her seat by just 149 ballots, receiving 19,523 votes in comparison to 27-year-old Amy Callaghan’s 19,672.
It came after the 10pm exit poll, commissioned by the BBC, ITV and Sky News, suggested the SNP were on course for a result in the vein of 2015’s historic victory amid a disappointing night for Lib Dems across the UK.
The survey of voters at polling stations suggested Ms Sturgeon’s party is on course to win 55 of Scotland’s 59 seats, with Labour and the Conservatives set to lose nearly all of their seats north of the border.
Show all 36 1 /36Election night 2019: In Pictures Election night 2019: In Pictures First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, takes a selfie with some her newly elected MP's at the Glasgow count
Getty
Election night 2019: In Pictures Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures after speaking
AP
Election night 2019: In Pictures A police officer breaks up a fight while Hayes and Harlington MP John McDonnell speaks
Getty Images
Election night 2019: In Pictures Liberal Democrat candidate Luciana Berger reacts as she loses the Finchley & Golders Green constituency in north London
PA
Election night 2019: In Pictures DUP MP for Upper Bann Carla Lockhart with her son Charlie at Meadowbank Sports Arena as counting begins
PA
Election night 2019: In Pictures Labour's John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor speaks after winning his constituency seat following the count declaration at Brunel University in Uxbridge, London
AP
Election night 2019: In Pictures Liberal Democrats candidate for Edinburgh West, Christine Jardine retains her seat at the Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh
PA
Election night 2019: In Pictures
PA
Election night 2019: In Pictures
AP
Election night 2019: In Pictures
PA
Election night 2019: In Pictures
AFP via Getty Images
Election night 2019: In Pictures
AFP via Getty Images
Election night 2019: In Pictures DUP leader Arlene Foster watches on as Sinn Fein candidate John Finucane is declared the winner of the north Belfast seat over DUP candidate Nigel Dodds in the Belfast count centre at the Titanic Exhibition centre on December 13, 2019 in Belfast, United Kingdom. The current Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the first UK winter election for nearly a century in an attempt to gain a working majority to break the parliamentary deadlock over Brexit. The election results from across the country are being counted and an overall result is expected in the early hours of Friday morning.
Getty Images
Election night 2019: In Pictures Ballots in a tray labelled Jo Swinson, Liberal Democrats candidate for East Dunbartonshire, are seen at a counting centre for Britain's general election in Bishopbriggs, Britain
REUTERS
Election night 2019: In Pictures Sinn Fein's John Finucane, the winning candidate in the Belfast North seat, with Party Vice President Michelle O'Neill and President Mary Lou McDonald, celebrates at the count centre, Titanic Quarter, Belfast, Northern Ireland
REUTERS
Election night 2019: In Pictures Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon smiles as she arrives at the SEC Centre in Glasgow for the declaration in her constituency in the 2019 general election, Friday Dec. 13, 2019. An exit poll in Britain's election projects that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party likely will win a majority of seats in Parliament. That outcome would allow Johnson to fulfil his plan to take the U.K. out of the European Union next month.
AP
Election night 2019: In Pictures Conservative Party MP Dominic Raab being congratulated by Baron Badger after being re-elected to serve the constituency of Esher and Walton at Sandown Park Racecourse in Surrey at the 2019 General Election.
PA
Election night 2019: In Pictures Conservative Party parliamentary candidate Jacob Rees-Mogg makes his way to the stage at the Sports Training Village, University of Bath, on December 13, 2019 in Bath, England. The current Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the first UK winter election for nearly a century in an attempt to gain a working majority to break the parliamentary deadlock over Brexit. The election results from across the country are being counted overnight and an overall result is expected in the early hours of Friday morning.
Getty Images
Election night 2019: In Pictures Britain's Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson speaks on stage after losing her seat at the East Dunbartonshire count centre in Bishopbriggs, north of Glasgow, on December 13, 2019 after votes were counted as part of the UK general election.
AFP via Getty Images
Election night 2019: In Pictures Bobby Smith, a political and fathers' rights activist and founder and leader of the 'Give Me Back Elmo' party, left, and Independent candidate Count Binface stand either side of Britain's Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Boris Johnson wait for the Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency count declaration at Brunel University in Uxbridge, London, Friday
AP
Election night 2019: In Pictures Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, with wife Laura Alvarez, talks to workers as he arrives for the count at Sobell Leisure Centre for the Islington North and South constituencies for the 2019 General Election.
PA
Election night 2019: In Pictures Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, visits the vote count in his Islington North constituency on December 12, 2019 in London, England. Corbyn, who has held the Islington North seat since 1983, is expected to step down as leader if his party is dealt a decisive defeat by the Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The Prime Minister called the first UK winter election for nearly a century in an attempt to gain a working majority to break the parliamentary deadlock over Brexit. The election results from across the country are being counted overnight and an overall result is expected in the early hours of Friday morning.
Getty Images
Election night 2019: In Pictures Labour Party candidate Sharon Hodgson speaks after is announced as the winner for the constituency of Washington and Sunderland West at a counting centre for Britain's general election in Sunderland, Britain
REUTERS
Election night 2019: In Pictures Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn arriving for the count at Sobell Leisure Centre for the Islington North and South constituencies for the 2019 General Election.
PA
Election night 2019: In Pictures Labour candidate for Walthamstow Stella Creasy carries her baby daughter as she speaks after winning in Britain's general election in Waltham Forest Town Hall, Walthamstow, Britain
REUTERS
Election night 2019: In Pictures The first ballot boxes for Belfast North are brought into the count centre in Belfast on December 12, 2019 to be counted for the UK general election. - Prime Minister Boris Johnson was on course for a decisive majority, exit polls indicated after voting closed in Britain's general election on Thursday, paving the way for Brexit
AFP via Getty Images
Election night 2019: In Pictures Independent, Count Binface poses for a photograph as he waits for the results in the count centre in Uxbridge, where Britain's Prime Minister and Conservative leader Boris Johnson hopes to hold his seat, in west London, on December 12, 2019. - Prime Minister Boris Johnson was on course for a decisive majority, exit polls indicated after voting closed in Britain's general election on Thursday, paving the way for Brexit.
AFP via Getty Images
Election night 2019: In Pictures Ballot boxes are emptied during the count at Northumbria University's Sports Central in Newcastle for the 2019 General Election
PA
Election night 2019: In Pictures Ballots are tallied at a counting centre for Britain's general election in Brighton, Britain
REUTERS
Election night 2019: In Pictures Ballots arrive at a counting centre for Britain's general election in Esher, Britain
REUTERS
Election night 2019: In Pictures General Election 2019 - Election count at Meadowbank Sports Arena, Magherafelt for Newry & Armagh, South Antrim, North Antrim, Upper Bann, East Londonderry, Foyle, Lagan Valley and Mid Ulster.
Election night 2019: In Pictures A woman wears a rosette with the name of independent candidate Joe Bousfield on it as ballots are tallied at a counting centre for Britain's general election in Hartlepool, Britain
REUTERS
Election night 2019: In Pictures An exit poll from Thursday's election is projected onto Broadcasting House in London, Britain, December
Jeff Overs/BBC via REUTERS
Election night 2019: In Pictures The broadcaster's exit poll results projected on the outside of the BBC building in London shows Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party predicted to win 368 seats and a majority (L) and Jeremy Corbyn's opposition Labour Party to win 191 seats, as the ballots begin to be counted in the general election on December 12, 2019
AFP via Getty Images
Election night 2019: In Pictures Ballot boxes are opened at Meadowbank Sports Arena in Magherafelt, Co Londonderry, as counting begins 2019 General Election.
PA
Election night 2019: In Pictures Votes are counted at the Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh, for the UK Parliamentary General Election count
PA
Ms Sturgeon claimed the national result provided “a renewed, refreshed, strengthened mandate” for a second Scottish independence referendum in 2020.
“There has been a strong endorsement in this election of Scotland having a choice over our future, not having to put up with a Conservative government that we didn’t vote for and not having to accept life as a nation outside the European Union,” Ms Sturgeon said.
This chart, created for The Independent by the statistics agency Statista, shows 2019's SNP expansion (Statista) “So that independence referendum that was very much at the heart of the SNP’s campaign, there is a renewed, refreshed, strengthened mandate for that.
“Just as I reluctantly accept that Boris Johnson now has a mandate to take England out of the EU, he must accept that we have a mandate to offer a choice of an alternative future.”
The Liberal Democrats had increased their vote share in every seat in Scotland announced at the time of writing, except for Ms Swinson’s, and had won seven of the 13 seats forecast in the exit poll.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies