General Election 2024 final result delayed after count in Highlands restarts

There will be no final result in the UK General Election on Friday because of a count in the Highlands restarting on Saturday morning.

There will be no result for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-Shire today.

A second recount did not match and showed a wider gap between the verified and counted votes.

A recount will now take place on Saturday at 10.30am.

SNP's Drew Hendry will need to wait to find out if he has managed to hold onto his seat.

Lib Dems candidate Angus MacDonald is the main rival for constituency.

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes, who represents a Highlands constituency at Holyrood said: "Huge respect to the candidates, activists and staff at the count in Dingwall.

"We’ve been there 10pm until 10am, and back tomorrow!"

The full picture will not be clear in Scotland until then.

It comes after a landslide victory for Keir Starmer who will be the UK's new Labour prime minister after a Conservative rout saw former premier Liz Truss and a dozen serving Cabinet members lose their seats.

At a victory rally in London, Sir Keir said the country can now “get its future back”.

He told jubilant activists “We did it”, adding: “Change begins now.”

Keep up with our General Election LIVE BLOG here.

It marks a spectacular turnaround since 2019, when Boris Johnson won an 80-seat Conservative majority and Labour suffered its worst result since 1935.

Sir Keir said: “Four-and-a-half years of work changing the party, this is what it is for – a changed Labour Party ready to serve our country, ready to restore Britain to the service of working people.

“And, across our country, people will be waking up to the news, relief that a weight has been lifted, a burden finally removed from the shoulders of this great nation.

“And now we can look forward, walk into the morning, the sunlight of hope, pale at first but getting stronger through the day, shining once again, on a country with the opportunity after 14 years to get its future back.”

The Labour leader’s speech at the Tate Modern art gallery came shortly after Mr Sunak publicly conceded defeat.

Outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he took responsibility for the electoral mauling inflicted on his party as it suffered its worst ever result.

To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here