SNP on track for third term as Tories appear poised for second place

The SNP is on track for another stunning election night success, as Labour lost seats at Holyrood to both the nationalists and the Scottish Conservatives.

Tory deputy leader Jackson Carlaw seized the Eastwood constituency on the outskirts of Glasgow from Labour's Ken Macintosh, who had held the seat since the Scottish Parliament was created in 1999.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell said: Just a few years ago people said it was impossible for the Conservatives to take Eastwood back from Labour, and here tonight we've done it. Well done Jackson.''

Mr Mundell, who is the sole Tory MP north of the border, added that it would be a seismic change in Scottish politics'' if his party comes second at Holyrood.

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson predicted her party might be in for a very good night indeed''.

As she arrived at the Edinburgh count, she spoke to our reporter:

Labour also lost Rutherglen and the Greenock and Inverclyde seats, which the party had held for the past 17 years, to the SNP.

The result in Rutherglen, which was the second of the night to be declared, saw Clare Haughey elected as the new MSP for the area, polling 15,222 votes, comfortably ahead of Labour's James Kelly on 11,479.

In Greenock and Inverclyde, Stuart McMillan won the seat for the SNP with 17,032 votes, easily beating Labour's Siobhan McCready on 8,802 in second place.

The SNP also saw several Scottish Government ministers, including Health Secretary Shona Robison, Justice Secretary Michael Matheson, Children's Minister Aileen Campbell, Schools Minister Alasdair Allan and Infrastructure Secretary Keith Brown, comfortably re-elected.

Nicola Sturgeon arrived to huge cheers at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow and told us that she was expecting the SNP to win:

The results come a year after Scottish Labour suffered a punishing defeat in the Westminster election, losing all but one of its MPs to Nicola Sturgeon's party.

Kezia Dugdale's Scottish Labour now faces the possibility of coming third to the Scottish Conservatives - an outcome which would be its worst ever Holyrood result.

The Liberal Democrats held on to both the Shetland and Orkney constituencies, with both Tavish Scott and Liam McArthur re-elected in their respective seats.

There had been speculation that fall-out from the Alistair Carmichael Nikileaks'' scandal could impact on support for the party in the islands.

Campaigners mounted a legal challenge to his result in the 2015 general election, after he lied over the leaking of a memo which falsely claimed Nicola Sturgeon had told the French ambassador she would prefer Conservative leader David Cameron to the then Labour leader Ed Miliband as prime minister.

• Electionlive