Scottish Labour’s Blair McDougall has been declared as East Renfrewshire’s new MP on a night when the party made dramatic gains in Scotland.

Mr McDougall, who was the head strategist for the Better Together campaign during the 2014 independence referendum, won 21,935 votes as he ousted the SNP’s Kirsten Oswald from the seat.

(Image: Supplied)

Ms Oswald came second with 13,514 votes, while Sandesh Gulhane of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party came third with 8,494.

In the previous election, held in December 2019, Ms Oswald had bounced back from defeat in 2017 to reclaim her place as East Renfrewshire’s MP with 44.9% of the vote.

Last night’s result, however, proved a massive turnaround for Labour who only won 12.4% of the vote in 2019.

Speaking on social media following his win, Mr McDougall said: “Cannot express my gratitude to the people of East Ren.

“I won’t let you down.

“If you’re a constituent and need help before my office is up and running, please email me Blair@eastrenlabour.com.”

A total of 74,626 headed to polling stations in East Renfrewshire yesterday, with turnout out totalling 67.5%.

A total of 141 ballot papers were rejected.

The full results in East Renfrewshire were as follows:

Blair McDougall - Scottish Labour Party - 21,935

Kirsten Oswald - Scottish National Party (SNP) - 13,514

Sandesh Gulhane - Scottish Conservative and Unionist - 8,494

Matt Alexander - Reform UK - 2,360

Karen Sharkey - Scottish Greens - 1,510

Alan Grant - Scottish Liberal Democrats - 1,150

Maria Reid - Scottish Family Party: Pro-Family, Pro-Marriage, Pro-Life - 487

Allan Steele - The Liberal Party - 481

Colette Walker - Independence for Scotland Party - 296