Tories Eliminated In Scotland

Some of the safest Conservative strongholds fell and all three Cabinet ministers lost their seats.

By the morning, it was clear that the Tories had lost all their ten sitting MPs.

Labour emerged as the victor with 56 seats, with the Liberal Democrats taking nine and the Scottish National Party taking six.

An early Tory casualty was the Scottish Secretary Michael Forsyth. He crashed to a spectacular defeat in Stirling, where he was defending a wafer-thin 703 majority.

He was beaten by Labour's Anne McGuire, who secured a majority of 6,411.

Another Cabinet minister, the President of the Board of Trade, Ian Lang, was ousted by the SNP candidate in Galloway.

The loss of his Commons seat is an huge setback for Ian Lang who had been tipped as a successor to John Major as leader of the Tory Party.

The Foreign Minister, Malcolm Rifkind, suffered a similar fate. He was beaten into second place by Labour's Linda Clark, who secured a majority of 4,862.

Ms Clark hailed her victory as "an historic occasion - democracy in action is an awesome thing".

The pattern was repeated throughout Scotland. Phil Gallie was beaten by Labour in Ayr, Paul Cullen fell to Labour in what was expected to be the Tories' safest seat in Eastwood, Struan Stevenson was beaten in Dumfries and Scottish Office Minister Raymond Robertson was defeated by Anne Begg in Aberdeen South.

Mr Forsyth reflected in a BBC interview that the only way for the Tories was up with the caveat: "I would hope."

"We regroup, we don't reach any snap judgments, we reflect on the messages that the voters were putting to us, we get our act together again and get on with the job of opposing Labour," he said.

Salmond: Pleased

Jackson Carlaw, vice chairman of the Scottish Conservative Party, said Michael Forsyth's defeat was "a big political scalp for Labour, Scotland has lost a formidible politician, his voice being lost is a great tragedy".

The Scottish National Party Leader Alex Salmond held on comfortably in Banff and Buchan with a majority of 12,845.

His party is celebrating a 50% increase in their number of parliamentary seats - from four to six.

Their two new MPs, John Swinney and Alasdair Morgan, won in their target seats of North Tayside and Galloway and Upper Nithsdale, at the expense of Tories.

"Scotland is now a Tory-free zone," said Mr Salmond.

The party has staked a claim to be the official opposition party in Scotland after the Tories lost all their seats North of the Border.

Mr Salmond admitted it would be a tussle with the Liberal Democrats but pointed out that SNP had won 22% of the votes in Scotland, although the Liberals had more seats.

"Obviously we have a substantial claim in having got 22% of the vote and as devoted admirers of proportional representation as indeed the Liberals are, I am sure they can understand the moral force of that argument," he said.

"The important point is that the New Labour government must be placed under effective scrutiny of its Scottish business and its Scottish legislative programme," said Mr Salmond.

Seat of a future parliament

Labour were savouring their success in Scotland. "The size of Labour's victory gives us a vote of confidence unprecedented in my political life," said Labour's Chief Whip Donald Dewar.

He said victory for Labour had come because of its positive policies and its commitment to a Scottish Parliament.

Key Labour frontbenchers standing in Scotland had little trouble in winning their seats.

The Shadow Chancellor Gordon Brown comfortably held Dunfermline East, with an 18,751 majority, while the Shadow Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, was returned with an improved majority of 11,747.

The Shadow Scottish Secretary George Robertson said: "I think the Scottish Tory Party will now have to - what's left of it - reassess its whole appeal since its decisive rejection."