First Holyrood result sees Liberal Democrats hold Orkney

The Liberal Democrats have held the Orkney constituency – the first to declare in the Scottish Parliament election.

Liam McArthur will return to Holyrood to represent the safe seat after claiming 7,238 votes.

The SNP was in second place with 3,369 votes, followed by the Scottish Conservatives on 699 and Scottish Labour on 290.

A total of 11,621 votes were cast, 65.4% of the electorate.

Minutes later, the SNP held Aberdeen Donside, with councillor Jackie Dunbar taking the seat previously filled by Mark McDonald – who resigned from the party after allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women.

Ms Dunbar won 18,514 votes, defeating the Scottish Conservative candidate on 9,488, with Labour taking 5,505 votes and the Lib Dems 2,162.

Turnout was also up by more than seven percentage points in the Aberdeen constituency, at 57.8%.

The SNP went on to hold the Western Isles seat, with sitting MSP Alasdair Allan returned for Nicola Sturgeon’s party, polling 7,454 votes.

It also held the Clydebank and Milngavie seat, with newcomer Marie McNair elected to replace Gil Paterson, who stepped down from Holyrood. Ms McNair was successful after securing 17,787 votes.

At the Glasgow count, Scotland’s Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said members of an anti-vaccine party made a “beeline” for him due to his skin colour.

Derek Jackson, standing for the Liberal Party in Glasgow Southside, arrived at the count with supporters wearing black suits and yellow stars with “unvax” written on them, and claimed to be satirising “fascist SNP hate laws”.

After they approached Mr Yousaf, members of other political parties joined the SNP to confront them.

Speaking to reporters after the incident, Mr Yousaf said: “What I’m always struck by is voices of good always outweigh the voices of hatred.”