SNP figures react to 'stark' results of General Election exit poll

The Ipsos survey - carried out on behalf of the BBC, ITV and Sky and overseen by John Curtice - has predicted that Keir Starmer will enter Downing Street with a huge Labour majority of 410 MPs.

Meanwhile, the SNP are predicted to lose seats across Scotland, falling three seats behind Nigel Farage’s Reform Party.

However, polling expert John Curtice has issued a "health warning" for the Scottish predictions given the smaller number of sampling points north of the Border.

Despite this Stewart Hosie (below), the SNP’s campaign director at the Glasgow election count, told The National the results of the poll were “stark”.

(Image: PA)

“It's a rather stark poll, clearly it is only an exit poll. When the votes are all counted we'll begin to know what the real numbers are in a couple of hours,” he said.

“The one thing I would say is, whether that ends up being accurate or not, the pollsters were predicting at the start of the election that the SNP were forecast to win between two to five seats.

“We have had a fantastic ground campaign in almost every constituency in the country. And my heart will go out to any SNP MPs and colleagues who lose their seats.

READ MORE: Live General Election updates: Exit poll predicts results of vote count

“But let's wait until the real votes are counted before we start making predictions about the SNPs demise.”

Hosie added that the driving motivation for voters was to “get the Tories out”.

“That message has really superseded everything else - austerity, Brexit, cost of living - people’s motivation was simply to get the Tories out.”

Meanwhile, SNP candidate for Edinburgh North and Leith Deidre Brock (below) raised questions about the results of the exit poll, which suggest the Conservatives are going to gain seats from the SNP in Scotland.

“The idea that there will be six further Tory seats [in Scotland], making 12 in total, seems a little far-fetched to me, especially looking at some of the seats that are supposed to be taken from the SNP,” she told The National.

“But clearly, Starmer has won a huge majority across the UK and it’s going to be a considerable number of Labour Party members in that parliament, which is going to be very interesting because there are a lot of differing opinions.

“I know he’s managed to get rid of most of the lefties in that party, but there are still many people who are very much on the left and how Starmer is going to be able to quiet that sort of friction in his ranks is going to be interesting to see.”

READ MORE: Exit poll: Why it's not the worst-case scenario for independence supporters

Turning to Scotland, Brock said she had “never seen an election like it” when it came to Labour’s campaign.

“They have spent so much money up here, it is extraordinary,” she said.

“My own constituency was one of the target seats, and it has been carpet-bombed with letters, both from the candidate but also from Starmer, from Rachel Reeves, from Anas Sarwar.

“I’ve never seen an election like it. I’ve never seen that amount of money spent on the amount of election literature that was coming through the door from the Labour Party.

“This promise of change has been made so heavily to the people of Scotland. I just wonder how much change we’re really going to see, and then how quickly things might fall away.

Brock said her campaign team has “worked really hard”.

“We actually have fought a very good campaign,” she said.

“But there are times when there’s just this wave that overtakes a voting population, and in the face of that sometimes there’s not much to be done.”