How Reform voters helped the SNP escape an even bigger defeat

The Scottish Conservatives outperformed the UK party and showed we are capable of taking the fight to the SNP. We increased our majorities in Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, and West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, respectively, where dedicated incumbent MPs John Lamont and Andrew Bowie pulled off impressive wins.

I’m delighted too that Harriet Cross prevailed in the extremely marginal, new seat of Gordon and Buchan. She will be a great addition to the Scottish Conservative ranks at Westminster. David Mundell, for many years the only Conservative MP in Scotland, was returned in Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, where he is the definition of a tireless constituency representative. In neighbouring Dumfries and Galloway, former journalist John Cooper held off the SNP in another tight contest, and will be a great champion for the constituency where he grew up.

Letting SNP in through back door

There’s no doubt that the Reform vote, while not as high as in England, was a factor in Scotland’s results. It cost us victory in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East. The Reform vote there was the highest in Scotland. Douglas Ross lost this seat by just 900 votes, while Reform polled over 5,000. This constituency was one of the biggest-Brexit backing areas of Scotland which undoubtedly contributed to Reform’s performance.

That is why we lost this seat – and it shows we were right to warn, in the run-up to polling day, that voting Reform risked letting the SNP sneak in through the back door. That’s exactly what happened here, and I’m gutted for Douglas. It was the same dynamic in the adjoining constituency of Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey, where we came within 1,000 votes of unseating the SNP, while the Reform candidate bagged almost 3,500 votes.

A political earthquake sees SNP buried under Labour landslide

Despite our seat tally holding up well – and almost increasing – the drop in our vote share in Scotland was concerning. However, it’s clear that in seats where we weren’t seen as the main challengers to the SNP, our vote was squeezed by tactical voting designed to ensure the nationalists were beaten.

Humiliation for Swinney

That was the main story of the election north of the Border: the collapse of the SNP. Their rout was a humiliation for John Swinney, who chose to ignore the people’s priorities and instead make SNP independence page one, line one of their manifesto.

Scots have had enough of the nationalists’ relentless efforts to break up the UK. They want the SNP to focus on fixing our ailing public services and growing the economy. They made that abundantly clear at the ballot box on Thursday.

The SNP didn’t want to talk about these issues because their record on them is so dire – our NHS and schools are in crisis, despite the nationalists making Scotland the highest taxed part of the UK. I hope the penny will drop with this result – and that the SNP finally park their independence obsession. But I’m not holding my breath.

Craig Hoy, chairman of the Scottish Conservatives