Count staff at Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh, sort postal votes for the General Election.
Labour’s predicted surge has come “despite the best efforts” of the Scottish party, an Edinburgh SNP candidate has claimed.
Tommy Shepherd, who won Edinburgh East in 2015, said the apparent shift had come as a result of young independence supporters backing Jeremy Corbyn.
Tonight he is defending a large 9,106 majority.
He said: “If this is true or even close to it then that means that the SNP must be losing seats to Labour- despite the best efforts of Scottish Labour.
“If it’s true then it is a crushing defeat for the Conservatives who seem to have snapped defeat from the jaws of victory.
“The headline here though if the poll is accurate is that the SNP are victorious in this election taking the most seats and most votes.”
The exit poll predicts 22 losses for the SNP, bringing them to 34 seats, Labour rise to 266 and the Conservatives are short of a majority on 314.
A Labour activist said: “This clearly shows that our shift to the left has paid off and the SNP’s appalling record in office has been exposed.”
A Liberal Democrat source said: “Exit polls can be wrong, I would still predict the Tories to take a majority.”
A Conservative activist said: “We will wait and see.”
General Election 2017: Exit poll reaction from Edinburgh
