Alex Salmond will head Scotland's first ever majority government after the Scottish National Party swept to a stunning victory in the Holyrood elections, opening the door to a referendum on independence.
Ed Miliband had said Labour's fightback against the coalition would start in Scotland, but his party actually lost seats to the SNP in traditional strongholds such as Glasgow.
Labour's leader in Scotland, Iain Gray, only scraped back into the Parliament himself with just 151 votes. He blamed the surge in support for the SNP on the "astonishing and complete collapse of the Liberal Democrat vote".
Gray has announced he will step down as leader in the Autumn after a poor result that saw several leading Labour figures including Andy Kerr, Tom McCabe and Karen Gillon all lose their seats.
Speaking as the extent of Labour's collapse became clear Gray said: "These are very bad losses and my heart goes out to colleagues who have lost their seats."
SNP leader Alex Salmond hailed a "stunning victory" for his party and said Scotland had now "outgrown the Labour Party".
Speaking after winning his Aberdeenshire East seat he said: "A positive campaign will always trump a negative one, because at the end of the day, even when times are tough people want something to go and vote for, something to believe in.
"They aren't going to be motivated by Labour's ridiculous scaremongering against Scottish independence."
Scotland highlights
* Collapse in the Lib Dem vote, with suggestions that votes have gone to the SNP, rather than Labour.
* The SNP made big gains in Labour's traditional heartland of Glasgow, winning Anniesland, Cathcart, Kelvin, Shettleston and Southside, as well as two seats on the Glasgow list.
* In Glasgow Anniesland, Labour's Bill Butler loses to SNP’s Bill Kidd - after a recount, only seven votes were in it.
* Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray has been re-elected as an MSP of East Lothian with a narrow majority of just 151.
* The Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie has won his seat on the Glasgow regional list.
* Labour fought off a challenge from Conservative Jackson Carlaw to see Ken Macintosh win the Eastwood seat.
* Labour's Malcolm Chisholm also held on to his Edinburgh Northern and Leith seat by a slim majority.
* Former MSP, now MP, Cathy Jamieson's seat in Carrick, Cumnock & Doon Valley has been won by the SNP
* In Edinburgh Central, active Labour MSP Sarah Boyack has lost her seat to SNP’s Marco Biagi.
* Lib Dem MSP Mike Pringle has lost his Edinburgh Southern seat to the SNP.
* In Paisely, George Adam increases the SNP share of the vote by almost 13 per cent to take what had been a Labour seat for former Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander.
* SNP Minister Fiona Hyslop has taken the Labour constituency seat from Mary Mulligan in Linlithgow.
* Former Labour MP George Galloway failed to muster enough support on the Glasgow list.
* Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott held on to Shetland with a reduced share, but his party was beaten in areas where it had previously enjoyed a comfortable majority.
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.