Youngest Scottish MP Ever Unseats Labour's Douglas Alexander

Labour's general election campaign chief Douglas Alexander has lost his seat to the SNP.

Twenty year old student Mhairi Black unseated the shadow foreign secretary in Paisley and Renfrewshire South, winning 23,548 votes with a massive 27% swing.

Mr Alexander, who had held the seat since 1997 and had a majority of more than 16,000, picked up 17,864 votes.

He described it as a very difficult night'' for Labour.

In a short speech after the result was declared, Mr Alexander said the opportunity to serve the people of Paisley and Renfrewshire had been a heavy but joyful'' responsibility.

He added: I will always be grateful for having had that opportunity to serve.

I could not be more proud of the campaign that we have fought.''

He conceded it had been a very difficult'' night for Labour, saying the Scottish people had chosen not to put their faith in his party.

Ms Black said she hoped her rival would have a future in politics after he had recovered from today's defeat.

She told supporters at the count: The people of Scotland are speaking and it's time for their voice to be heard at Westminster.

I make this promise...that is exactly what I plan to do.''

Mr Alexander would have been likely to take on one of the great offices of state as Foreign Secretary, taking Mr Miliband's message around the globe and into the European Union.

The battle to protect his seat saw high-profile interventions, including Gordon Brown, who promised voters he would be a leading Scot in a Labour government''.

Ms Black said her success is down to a change in political participation.

She said: I think it's truly because people have awakened to the fact this Westminster establishment has not been serving them and the Labour party in Scotland has not been serving them, and they must've felt that Douglas Alexander wasn't serving them.

She spoke to our reporter Collette McGonigle after her victory: