The Greens win big in Nicola Sturgeon’s former seat

The Scottish Greens have won its second ever constituency seat in the Scottish Parliament, securing Nicola Sturgeon’s former seat, Glasgow Southside.

Holly Bruce defeated SNP candidate and minister for equalities, Kaukab Stewart, by over 3,000 votes.  

Bruce achieved 14,048 votes, representing 36.5 per cent of the overall votes cast, while Stewart received 10,947.

Labour’s Rashid Hussain earned 7,300 votes, followed by Reform’s Gordon Miller with just over 3,000.

There were suggestions that there could be Green victories in Scotland’s two largest cities as counting began this morning. Within a matter of hours, returning officers in Edinburgh and Glasgow declared wins for the party in Glasgow Southside and Edinburgh Central.  

There was also a suggestion that Iris Duane could win in Glasgow Kelvin and Maryhill this morning. However, the SNP managed to fend off that challenge.

The SNP’s Bob Doris, who has been a constituency MSP in Glasgow since 2016, emerged the winner by more than 2,000 votes.  

The defeat here means that Patrick Harvie’s chances of return to Holyrood through the regional list have increased. This would have been more difficult if the party had won two constituencies in the Glasgow region.

In what has been a bad day for Anas Sarwar and his party, the Labour leader lost in Glasgow Cathcart and Pollok to the SNP’s Zen Ghani.

Ghani, a Glasgow councillor, was elected with 14,270 votes to Sarwar’s 9,107.  

This result is not a shock and reflects recent polling. Sarwar is expected to be elected through the regional list, where he is ranked first.

Two high-profile former SNP MPs, Alison Thewliss and David Linden, will be heading to Edinburgh next week after they won in Glasgow constituencies.

In Glasgow Baillieston and Shettleston, former SNP MP David Linden defeated Thomas Kerr, a high-profile councillor in Reform UK’s Scotland group.

Linden achieved 12,075 votes, while Kerr received 6,972 – over 1,000 more than veteran Labour MSP Pauline McNeill.

Alison Thewliss won with a huge mandate in Glasgow Central, achieving almost 10,000 more votes than Labour’s Vonnie Sandlan in second place.

Colm Merrick won Glasgow Anniesland for the SNP – a seat that was as safe as any in Glasgow – which was formerly held by Bill Kidd, who had a huge majority before stepping down.

Merrick, who is a councillor in East Renfrewshire, achieved 44.7 per cent of the vote, defeating Labour’s Eunis Jassemi by 4,659.

More follows.