Voters in Aberdeen have delivered a resounding No to Scottish independence.
Better Together secured 84,098 votes in the Granite City against the 59,390 cast for Yes.
Campaigners for separation had hoped to get close to 50% in the city, but it became clear early in the night that they were facing a heavy defeat.
Within minutes, nationalists conceded in defeat in Alex Salmond’s Aberdeenshire constituency.
SNP MSP Stewart Stevenson said: “At the end of the day, you always prefer to win but we always knew the size of the mountain we had to climb in Aberdeenshire.
“The challenge now bluntly in Aberdeenshire and elsewhere is for those who’ve won the referendum to deliver on the promises that they made to the people of Scotland.
“I think that’s actually a very substantial challenge indeed for the No side. They’ve set themselves an ambitious target for moving forward with new powers for Scotland.
“In Aberdeenshire we’ve always seen it as a tough call, and if Aberdeenshire shows us what’s happening nationally, and I don’t know what the result is going to be, it delivers the challenge to our opponents. That’s the bottom line.”
The Aberdeenshire result is expected within the hour