IT’S just gone 10pm at the Edinburgh count, and the first postal ballots have been poured ceremoniously out onto the tables.
Over the next six hours, 825 staff will be working tirelessly throughout the night to get the five seats in Edinburgh declared.
It’s a mammoth task, and I’m told staff will use more than 10,000 elastic bands and 43,000 post-it notes throughout the night.
There’s a definite buzz in the hall as the first ballots start to treacle in, but the main celebrations are coming from Labour.
A huge swathe of cheers erupted from the teams huddled around a TV – but only the ones dressed in red.
That can only mean one thing; The exit poll is out, and the SNP are predicted to win just 10 seats.
Labour activists – whilst obviously joyous – are also in disbelief at the sheer number of seats they’re predicted to win in Scotland.
Meanwhile, the mood in the SNP camp is low and dejected, with many activists’ first thoughts with the staff who would soon be without jobs.
The first stage of grief is denial. I’m hearing the same line repeated from counters, candidates and party officials alike: Can the exit poll really be trusted? Surely the Tories won’t take seats from the SNP?
“It seems a bit far-fetched to me,” SNP candidate for Edinburgh North and Leith, Deidre Brock, told me.
“We’ll just have to wait and see what happens,” a party official said as they type furiously away on their phone, presumably liaising with concerned staff up and down the country.
This denial turns into acceptance as the night develops. As Professor John Curtice revised the SNP’s prediction to just 6 seats, the SNP pretty much accepted defeat here in Edinburgh.
“We’re f***ed,” one party official says.
“It is what it is. It’s democracy, isn’t it? The people have spoken,” Tommy Sheppard tells me before the results are declared.
The tears have also started – I'm seeing Joanna Cherry and Brock looking understandably devastated, thanking their campaign teams for the work they’ve put in over the last six weeks.
The journalists are soon drawn away from these scenes, however, as Ian Murray arrives at the count to applause and cheers from Labour activists.
“Now back to work,” Murray jokes, after spending time greeting the other Edinburgh candidates and posing for celebratory pictures.
It’s now around 4am, and we’re all starting to flag. One journalist starts handing out Tunnocks caramel wafers, and we’re beginning to rely on filter coffee to get us through the rest of the night.
We don’t have long to wait, as the first result is soon declared. Christine Jardine unsurprisingly holds Edinburgh West for the LibDems, much to the delight of Alex Cole-Hamilton, who was seen continuously pacing up and down the hall in the early hours of the morning.
The results keep rolling in after this point, and Murray easily holds Edinburgh South, although he’s met with heckles from pro-Palestine activists over his position on Gaza.
This was the moment Ian Murray's acceptance speech was interrupted by a pro-Palestine protester, who accused the Labour MP of having 'blood on his hands' over Gaza pic.twitter.com/9sHdd4hUsx
— The National (@ScotNational) July 5, 2024
Then we see the first SNP defeat of the night, as Labour’s Tracy Gilbert wins Edinburgh North and Leith.
“I do hope that you do not read this decision in any sort of way that we’re going to give up on the cause of independence for Scotland,” Brock says directly to the Labour candidates who win across Scotland.
“We will keep fighting.”
The next SNP casualty is Cherry, one of the party’s biggest names in Westminster, who loses her seat to Labour’s Scott Arthur.
Speaking to the press it’s clear that she’s angry, and she urges the party to address the concerns raised by voters, starting with the way the SNP have governed in Holyrood.
The final shock comes as Sheppard also loses his seat, to Labour’s Chris Murray. The journalists around me don’t seem to think too much of him, however; I heard one of them call him “boring”, and we were all too busy listening to Cherry to pay attention to his victory speech.
And just like that it’s over, and all the defeated candidates start to slump out of the building. The political landscape in Edinburgh – and across Scotland – now looks very different.
Tensions are starting to rise already, with SNP figures pointing the blame in various directions, saying the party is out of touch with voters, that people were voting simply to get the Tories out, and that Labour spent so much money on their Scottish campaign that the SNP never stood a chance.
Although the mood at the end of the night is depressing and bleak for many, there’s one small victory; Douglas Ross loses his seat, and the media room erupts into cheers.
