Carmichael regains isles seat

Alistair Carmichael has been re-elected as MP for Orkney and Shetland.

The Liberal Democrat candidate earned 11,392 votes, beating the SNP’s Robert Leslie into second.

Mr Leslie earned 3,585 votes, with the gap between the pair over three times as much as it was in 2019.

The Green’s Alex Armitage was third with 2,046 votes.

Reform UK’s Robert Smith was next, with 1,586 votes, narrowly beating Scottish Labour’s Conor Savage.

On a historic night for the Labour party, Mr Savage finished fifth with 1,493 votes.

The Conservative Party’s Shane Painter earned 586 votes.

There were 20,794 votes cast, with 106 ballots rejected.

Mr Carmichael said after his re-election that Labour’s general election victory was “an opportunity to reset our political discourse”.

“This is a moment surely when we have to put these divisions behind us,” he said.

He thanked the people of Orkney and Shetland for re-electing him for a seventh time, adding: “I promise I will not let them down.”