How 'extraordinary' chaos at a Scottish count delayed the final UK election result

Two recounts were required in Dingwall to confirm the result for the redrawn seat of Inverness, Skye, and West Ross-Shire, with the final declaration of the UK election eventually coming at 5.50pm on Saturday, more than 42 hours after the first MP was returned in Sunderland on Thursday night.

Returning officer Derek Brown said a “discrepancy” had been identified between the verified votes total and the number of counted votes, resulting in the first recount.

After that, Mr Brown advised that he was still “unable to declare a result” on Friday, telling candidates to come back at 10:30am on Saturday for another try.

Drew Hendry, the incumbent SNP MP for part of the seat, gave up waiting and conceded defeat to Liberal Democrat Angus MacDonald before the second recount had started.

The victory came despite the revelation during the campaign that the Lib Dem Highland councillor had donated a five-figure sum to the Conservatives in 2019. Mr Hendry, who did not attend the count on Saturday due to an “unmovable prior commitment”, described the second recount as an “extraordinary situation that couldn't have been predicted”.

He added: “It has been an absolute joy to serve the people of Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey for the past nine years. I am obviously disappointed not to be continuing that representation under the new Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire boundary and wish the new MP every success in his new role.”

The new constituency was created following a merger of Mr Hendry’s former seat and the neighbouring one of Ross, Skye and Lochaber, which had been held by former SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, and before him, former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy.

On social media, the Lib Dems claimed victory on Saturday while the second recount continued, as a kilt-clad Mr MacDonald patrolled the count at the Highland Football Academy, next to Ross County FC’s Victoria Park stadium in Dingwall.

Current Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said on X: “I’m missing our dear friends Paddy (Ashdown) and Charles especially today.

“They would have loved these results – especially seeing the Liberal Democrats winning back their old seats in Somerset and the Highlands!”

When the result was finally announced, Mr MacDonald had won the seat with 18,159 votes, ahead of Mr Hendry, who received 15,999.

The new MP said: “Of course many who know me will know that Charles Kennedy was a complete inspiration. I’m very proud to step into his large boots. I promise not to serve for 33 years.”

The result put the Scottish Liberal Democrats on six seats and 72 across the UK, while the SNP fall to nine from a previous 48.

Labour won 37 seats in Scotland, and the Scottish Tories won five.

While the delay in Dingwall was far from ideal, there was significantly less at stake than the last time there was a problem at an election count in the Highlands.

In 2007, the eyes of Scotland fell on Inverness Leisure Centre as the nation awaited the regional list results which would reveal Holyrood’s final seven MSPs that year.

News from the Highlands and Islands was poised to determine the entire election result, with Labour and the SNP locked in the tightest of battles

Late in the afternoon, rumours began to circulate that Labour had squeezed through, with Alex Salmond’s dream of becoming First Minister all but over.

Returning officer Arthur McCourt had taken the candidates to a corner of the leisure centre before the official announcement, telling them that four Labour MSPs had been elected on the list, alongside two Tories and one Green.

Celebrations erupted, with Christine Conniff, who was fourth on the Labour list, punching the air.

But there were mixed emotions for Green MSP Eleanor Scott, who was heading back to Holyrood at the expense of her partner, Rob Gibson of the SNP, who had missed out.

The drama was not over, however, after the SNP’s David Thompson quickly challenged the result, suspecting an error.

Mr McCourt disappeared to carry our a recalculation, at which point he realised only three Labour MSPs had been elected, alongside two from the SNP and two Conservative.

It meant that the SNP had won a Holyrood election for the first time, and that Labour’s dominance of Scottish politics was at an end.

Among the new SNP MSPs was Mr Gibson, but as it turned out his partner, Ms Scott, had not been elected in the end.

Mr McCourt later explained that data in one column of the spreadsheet had not been included in the calculation.

At Westminster elections, meanwhile, a predecessor of the Inverness seat hit the headlines in 1992 when it was the closest four-way result in a contest for the UK Parliament since 1918.

Lib Dem Russell Johnston won in Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber with 13,258 votes, followed by Labour’s David Stewart with 12,800, the SNP’s Fergus Ewing with 12,562 and Conservative John Scott with 11,517.

The result was delayed because a helicopter containing votes from the island of Eigg and west coast hamlets was grounded after hitting a branch of a tree at Inverie, Knoydart, one of the most remote parts of the UK mainland.

The boxes had to be put on Mallaig lifeboat, which was in Knoydart to pick up a patient with appendicitis, before the police transported them to Inverness High School.