Salmond hails 'historic' European election win

The SNP has won the largest share of the European election vote in Scotland for the first time, beating Labour into second place.

The SNP took 29.1% of the vote - a 10% increase - ahead of Labour's 20.8%. The Tories took 16.8% and the Lib Dems 11.5%.

The result means the SNP and Labour have returned two MEPs each, with one each for the Tories and Lib Dems.

SNP leader Alex Salmond hailed the result as "historic".

Labour was bracing itself for a bad result across the UK, as pressure continues on Gordon Brown's leadership.

Notable results in Scotland saw the SNP taking first place in Edinburgh with the Tories second, Labour third and the Lib Dems fourth.

Mr Salmond said the SNP had won in 22 of the 32 declared local authority areas.

Mr Salmond said the SNP margin of victory in the European elections was much greater than in the 2007 Holyrood elections.

He said: "This is a historic result for the SNP - up 10 points from the last European election - and the first time we have ever won a UK-wide election in Scotland, with a much greater margin of victory than even the Holyrood win two years ago.

"In the contest between two governments - the SNP in Scotland, and Labour at Westminster - the people of Scotland have delivered a massive vote of confidence in the SNP Government, and a massive rejection of Labour."