YES activists up and down the country have suffered a night of defeat, as the SNP lost 39 seats and Alba failed to return either of its two previous MPs to Westminster.

There’s one question at the front of everyone’s minds: What’s next for the independence movement?

We’ve been hearing from grassroots campaigners about what it was like on election night, and where the movement goes from here.

The general mood

Cameron Greer, convener of the north east branch of the Young Scots for Independence (YSI) – the SNP’s youth wing – said: “Obviously it’s been a rough night for the SNP. We’ve lost a lot of incredible people like Alison Thewliss and Tommy Sheppard.

“The rise of Reform is terrifying, and we need to combat that immediately to prevent them from gaining a foothold in Scotland.

“Now we need to keep the heid and begin the campaign for 2026.

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“Labour will show themselves up and expose that the problem Scotland has isn’t the colour of party in Westminster, but Westminster itself.”

It was a successful night for the Scottish Greens, who received their highest number of votes in Scotland after standing a record number of candidates.

One party campaigner told me there’s “a lot to build on” for the party after the result, particularly in Glasgow where Green candidates across all six constituencies came third.

“We’re doing our own thing, and it shows,” they said.

On the ground

I spoke to a Yes activist in Stephen Flynn’s campaign team, who said the feeling on the ground was “mixed”.

Flynn was one of nine SNP MPs elected overnight, after the exit poll released once the polls had closed predicted he was going to lose his seat.

(Image: PA)

“It was bittersweet for us here, given the context of everything nationally and the work that we all put in over the campaign, it was a mixed bag,” they said.

“When the exit poll came through I panicked, it really didn’t feel like the campaign we’d had here.”

Meanwhile, another SNP activist working in Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey for Graham Leadbitter (below, left) – who beat the Conservatives by 1001 votes – told me: “We were optimistic as we had been active since February, we have an amazing organiser, committed activists, and a great candidate in Leadbitter and we were getting a good reception on the doorstep,” they said.

(Image: PA)

“It was unbelievable when the exit poll declared these seats to be Conservative, that conflicted with everything we had heard on the doorsteps.

“At the count, my samples of the ballot boxes were positive for the SNP but as the count continued the piles of ballots from SNP and Conservative looked too close to call.

READ MORE: What it was like inside the Edinburgh count as the SNP were wiped out

“We were beginning to doubt ourselves. In the early hours the mood was fairly low, the exit poll seemed to be going the way they had said, with the SNP losing seats.

“Eventually when the declaration came, we were overjoyed, it was like snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, a complete turnaround.”

Things were less positive in Dumfries and Galloway, where Conservative John Cooper narrowly beat the SNP’s Tracey Little by less than 1000 votes.

“The votes Labour took from the SNP candidates means both constituencies are still stuck with Tory candidates,” one campaigner told me.

“Getting the Tory out wasn't our objective per se - getting an indy-supporting MP in was and Labour has done their bit to stop that happening.

“Having said that, the unionist candidates all fought the Westminster election on what are devolved/local issues, in particular our NHS, implying that they'd somehow (from Westminster) fix what they perceived as being problems here with those competencies.

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“It suggests, if we didn't know it already, that we should all be concentrating on those issues and making sure we get as much positive messages across as possible - and refuting any lies/distortions coming from the unionist parties.

“It's well past time that more folk see Westminster for what it is – a colonial government seat – and developed a strategy to get shot of it at the earliest opportunity.

They added: “The next Holyrood election must be a very clear vote to do just that.”

What's next for indy?

We’ve been hearing from Believe in Scotland (BiS) and All Under One Banner (AUOB), the two biggest campaign groups behind national indy demonstrations.

Both groups have called on Yes supporters from all parties to show their support at marches, with BiS founder Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp calling for a “civic movement” to now take over the fight for indy from the SNP.

“Independence is bigger than any party,” MacIntyre-Kemp (below) told The National, adding that just because the SNP has suffered, it doesn’t mean the wider independence movement has too.

So where do we go from here? Well, hearing from grassroots campaigners, it’s clear that something needs to change.

“Everyone with a Labour MP has to lobby them to act in Scotland’s interests, if they don’t, protest and try to get the media to take notice,” one Yes supporter said on Twitter/X.

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Another wrote: “A complete gut out at the top of the SNP and all independence parties working together as Scotland United. Something the SNP have so far refused to do.”

“Other avenues must be explored now, the SNP and establishment norms are a dead end,” another said.

They continued: “Apart from 2014, was the SNP really going to deliver freedom for Scotland?

“We just keep moving forward, keep building. Keep the faith for Scotland.”

Ending on a message of hope, one National reader wrote: “The tide might be going out but each time it comes in it comes further up the beach.”