It's a win for the Conservatives Paul Masterton - and a resounding one at that!

Paul Masterton’s campaign for election was said to be lacklustre by some, however, despite that criticism he managed to sway voters in sufficient numbers to see him taking over Kirsten Oswald’s SNP Westminster seat.

There was some concern during the evening as numbers of votes cast and counted ebbed and flowed, but it didn’t take long before it was very clear that the Conservatives were picking up more support on the back of those who say they are fed up with the nats continual Indyref2 campaigning.

Paul spoke exclusively to The Extra this morning commenting: “I am delighted and honoured to be elected to represent the people of East Renfrewshire.

“This contest clearly shows that East Renfrewshire says ‘No’ to an IndyRef2.

“East Renfrewshire Conservatives have now won a majority at Westminster, Holyrood and at Council level. I hope that the SNP and Labour Councillors who blocked the Conservative Council majority from office reflect on this.”

Overall in Scotland, the SNP has lost some ground from the last landslide election where they took 56 seats from a possible 59. Now Nicola Sturgeon has admitted it’s been a ‘disappointing’ night and that she will now take time to consider what it means for an Indyref2 mandate.

In 2015 the SNP’s Kirsten Oswald had 23,013 votes and 40.69 per cent of the share, with Labour’s Jim Murphy being unseated with only 19,295 votes and 34 per cent of the vote. The Tory’s David Montgomery won 12,465 votes and 22.0 per cent of the turnout, while the Liberal Democrats gained 1069 votes and 1.9 per cent with UKIP coming in last with 888 votes and 1.6 per cent of the votes cast.

This time round we saw Paul Masterton taking 21,496 of the available votes, Blair McDougall 14,346, Aileen Morton 1,112 and Kirsten Oswald 16,784 giving the Tory candidate a whopping 7,150 majority.

The total votes cast was 53,805 with 67 spoiled ballot papers and a 76.8 per cent turnout.