Labour crushed in Scotland as SNP secures victory and Tories come second in Holyrood elections

Scottish Labour faces more electoral misery after taking heavy losses in the Holyrood elections, while the Scottish National Party (SNP) secured a third consecutive victory. Kezia Dugdale's party also lost ground to the Scottish Conservatives, who are set to become the second largest party in the Scottish Parliament.

The results come a year after Labour were reduced to just one MP, Ian Murray, north of the border at the 2015 general election. SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, who retained her Glasgow Southside seat, said: "We have tonight made history. It is a vote of confidence in the record in government of the SNP and it is a vote of trust in the SNP to lead our country forward.

The First Minister of Scotland added: "We, in the SNP, will always stand up for Scotland and tonight Scotland has stood with us."

Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, provided one of the surprises of the night by taking the Edinburgh Central from the SNP.

"There are people right across Scotland who are sending the SNP a message – the voices and the decision we made as a country will not be ignored," Davidson declared. The Scottish Tory leader secured more than 30% of the vote, up from a fourth place and 15% in 2011.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats also made an unexpected gain at the election. The party's leader, Willie Rennie, took the Fife North East seat from the SNP. The nationalists could fall short of a majority (65) in Holyrood, with the Scottish Conservatives securing 25 (+12) seats and Scottish Labour winning 20 (-12) seats at the time of reporting.

The local election results in England and Wales also spelled bad news for Labour. Jeremy Corbyn's party had lost tens of seats and control of at least one council at the time of reporting.