Douglas Ross faces life as Holyrood backbencher after Westminster bid backfires

The outgoing leader of the Scottish Tories saw his Westminster bid backfire last night on what party insiders insisted was an otherwise “respectable” night north of the border.

Douglas Ross, who announced he was to quit as Scottish leader mid-campaign amid a backlash to him standing for Westminster, was defeated by the SNP in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East.

It followed him ousting David Duguid, a former minister who was sick in hospital with a serious spinal illness, to run in the seat despite previously promising to quit the Commons to focus on Holyrood.

Across Scotland, the Tory vote share almost halved, to just 12.9 per cent. However, the party won five seats, only one fewer than in 2019, bucking the trend of far deeper losses across the UK.

David Mundell, the former Scottish secretary, managed to increase his majority in Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale to more than 4,000.

Harriet Cross, the Tory candidate, also defeated the SNP in Gordon and Buchan, with Conservatives taking another seat in the north east and two others in the Borders.

However, Mr Ross now faces life as a Holyrood backbencher, after his attempt to ditch the Scottish Parliament and return to Westminster was thwarted.

He blamed a large Reform vote for his defeat, with 5,562 voters backing Nigel Farage’s party. Mr Ross lost to the SNP’s Seamus Logan by just 942 votes.

“We had the largest Reform vote anywhere in Scotland,” Mr Ross said. “For the last four weeks, I’ve warned that voting Reform would see the SNP win here.

“They got almost 15 per cent of the vote and people here now have an SNP MP who will agitate for independence.”

However, senior Tory sources insisted the party had delivered a result in Scotland that was “very respectable in the circumstances”.

Before polls closed, there were internal fears that as few as two Scottish Tory MPs would be returned.

“Harriet was a big win,” a source said. “We’ve defied expectations, bucked the UK trend and outperformed the UK party.”

In the coming days, attention is likely to turn to the race to replace Mr Ross as Scottish Tory leader, with several MSPs believed to be weighing up leadership bids.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Lib Dems increased their tally of Scottish MPs to five, with a sixth expected to be added on Saturday.

A recount was ordered in Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire, the area once represented by Charles Kennedy, for technical reasons.

However, the Lib Dems are believed to have a comfortable lead and Drew Hendry, the SNP candidate, is not expected to attend the recount as he had already planned a trip to London with his family.

Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Scottish Lib Dem leader, said his party had contributed to a resurgence across the UK.

“The Liberal Democrats have made a huge leap forward and are back as a major force in British politics,” he said.

“Across the UK our wins make this the best result since our party was founded, demolishing the blue wall and toppling huge chunks of the acid yellow wall of the SNP.

“There are far more liberals than nationalists on the benches of the House of Commons today.”