Labour said today it had secured “spectacular” general election results in Scotland.
The party regained the two seats it had lost in byelections, and saw increased majorities in a number of seats.
Meanwhile the Tories, SNP and Liberal Democrats failed to make breakthroughs in key target seats.
International Development Secretary and Labour’s election campaign co-ordinator Douglas Alexander told BBC Scotland: “It’s too early to try and call this election but what is already clear is the SNP are moving backwards, the Conservatives are going nowhere in Scotland.
“We’ve some spectacular results across Scotland," he said. "Right across Scotland, people have come home to Labour. We’ve never taken Scotland for granted, we’ve worked for every vote this evening and we’ve enjoyed success as a consequence of a great deal of hard work.”
Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy said the Conservative Party across Scotland is "going nowhere and in many senses the SNP are going backwards”.
Labour’s Holyrood leader Iain Gray hailed his party’s success in recapturing Glasgow East - a seat they lost to the SNP’s John Mason in a 2008 by-election. Margaret Curran, already an MSP in the Scottish Parliament, is now the new MP for the area after she polled 19,797 - well ahead of Mr Mason, who came in second on 7,957.
“When the SNP won the by-election in 2008, the SNP claimed the result was a political earthquake that was off the Richter scale," Mr Gray said. “This time round, the SNP’s campaign didn’t even register.”
Labour also won Dunfermline and West Fife - a seat the Lib Dems had snatched in 2006. But this time Thomas Docherty defeated Willie Rennie, who had won the byelection there. Mr Murphy fought off a Tory challenge to retain his East Renfrewshire constituency for Labour.
Gordon Brown won his Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency with 29,559 - giving him an increased majority of 23,009 over the SNP.
In his speech at the count, he said: “The outcome of this country’s vote is not yet known. But my duty to the country, coming out of this election, is to play my part in Britain having a strong, stable and principled government, able to lead Britain into sustained economic recovery.”
PA