Former first minister of Scotland Alex Salmond has said that the huge swing to the Scottish National Party in the general election is part of an 'electoral tsunami' that is taking place across Scotland.

"We're seeing an electoral tsunami on a gigantic scale and that is a tide flowing with the Scottish National Party," Salmond told ITN.

An initial exit poll predicted the SNP would win all but one of Scotland's 59 seats in Parliament and with some huge swings to the party they have already taken three major casualties in Labour's Jim Murphy and Douglas Alexander and Liberal Democrat Jo Swinson.

With polls suggesting the Conservatives will be just 10 seats short of a majority in Parliament, Salmond added that without a single seat, the Tories would lack legitimacy north of the border.

"It certainly leaves David Cameron with no legitimacy in Scotland whatsoever," he said.

"Nicola Sturgeon made a very important point earlier this week that political legitimacy matters in terms of a government of the UK having a reach across these islands. And a government that doesn't have it, then they have severe problems with legitimacy," he added.

Election 2015
Election 2015 Alex Salmond