Andrew Baxter has won the Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency seat for the Lib Dems, narrowly beating the SNP’s Eilidh Munro by almost 1,000 votes.
The Constituency and Regional Returning Officer for Highlands and Islands, Derek Brown, declared the results for the Scottish Parliament constituency of Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch as follows:
Andrew Baxter (Liberal Democrat) - 15,223
Helen Crawford (Conservative) - 2,731
Laùra Hänsler (Alliance to Liberate Scotland) - 506
Isla McCay (Labour) - 1,751
Eilidh Munro (Scottish National Party) - 14,273
Jon Whitton (Reform UK) - 4,669
The turnout for the Skye, Lochaber, and Badenoch constituency was 57.77%.
The seat was previously held by the former Deputy First Minister and SNP MSP Kate Forbes, who stood down at this election.
Earlier during today’s count, a local Lib Dem MP said he was less confident today of a double win for his party in the Highlands.
Inverness, Skye and West-Ross-shire MP Angus MacDonald (LD) told the Local Democracy Service: "In Caithness and Sutherland, the Lib Dems are miles ahead and are going to win.
"The other two are much closer than any of us could have thought.
"So it is basically between the Lib Dems and SNP.
"I thought the Lib Dems would win Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch. Now I’m unsure.
"And Inverness and Nairn, we didn’t know, we have no idea. So that is where we are. It’s all to play for.
"It is an extraordinarily close race. But there’s nobody in it apart from the SNP and Lib Dems."
Yes! I would like to be sent emails from West Coast Today
I understand that my personal information will not be shared with any third parties, and will only be used to provide me with useful targeted articles as indicated.
I'm also aware that I can un-subscribe at any point either from each email notification or on My Account screen.