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Daily Record
Daily Record
Politics
Stuart Hodge

Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson '95% likely' to lose her seat with SNP set to gain East Dunbartonshire

The first seismic election shock in Scotland looks set to be a defeat for Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson - with the exit poll predicting she is 95% likely to lose her seat.

The East Dunbartonshire MP became Liberal Democrats leader in July and she could be one of the casualties of the predicted SNP surge with Amy Callaghan now tipped to take the seat.

Callaghan was quoted in the build-up to the election saying that unseating the Lib Dem leader would be "monumental" but it now is on the cards although polling expert John Curtice says the exit poll in Scotland could be skewed due to the smaller sample size.

Swinson ran the SNP's John Nicolson close in the SNP landslide of 2015 and then took the seat with a majority of over 5,000 seats in 2017.

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson speaking with with Andrew Neil during a BBC interview (PA)

A Lib Dem agent said: ''It's too early to say. It's too early to know anything. We'll need to get more data."

Another added: ''It's going to be a long night.''

It also looks like it's going be a poor night for Swinson's party across the UK as it looks likely to win only 13 seats.

Nicola Sturgeon on the campaign trail with Amy Callaghan (Getty Images)

The SNP, by contrast, are expected to increase their number of seats from 35 to 55 on what looks to be a potentially hugely successful night Nicola Sturgeon 's party.

Sturgeon said that while the exit poll "suggests a good night" for the SNP, she added that "what it indicates UK wide though is grim" with exit polls suggesting a massive Tory majority.

The result for Dunbartonshire East is set to be declared around 2.40am, with a massive turnout of 80 per cent.

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