The Labour Party no longer represents any Holyrood or Westminster parliamentary constituency in the Highlands and Islands following the SNP's dramatic capture of the Western Isles yesterday.

For the first time since 1931, the islanders voted for a parliamentary representative who didn't come from their own shores. Alasdair Allan, from Selkirk, a former Church of Scotland press officer, turned Alasdair Morrison's 720 majority to a 687-vote advantage for his and the SNP's cause following one of the mostly keenly fought election battles in the land.

It was a two-horse race, with SNP and Labour sharing 88.2% of the vote. It is not yet clear whether it was the national swing to the SNP that cost Mr Morrison his seat or his support for the giant wind farm in the north of Lewis which former MP Calum Macdonald identified as the reason for Labour losing the Westminster seat at the General Election.

What was clear was that the tabloid revelations about the SNP MP Angus MacNeil did not greatly affect Mr Allan's fortunes.

Far more unexpectedly, the SNP yesterday also prised Argyll and Bute from the Liberal Democrats, with Jim Mather securing an 815 majority over George Lyon, former Deputy Minister for Finance, Public Service Reform and Parliamentary Business, who had a majority of 4196 in 2003 over the Tory with Mr Mather in third place.

The first seat in the Highlands and Islands to declare in the early hours of yesterday morning was Shetland, which seemed to have mastered the new electoral system better than its mainland counterparts.

The islands' sitting MSP, Liberal Democrat Tavish Scott, also gave a masterclass in near Soviet political domination. The former Transport Minister increased his share of the vote to a quite extraordinary 66.7%, which gave him 6531 out of the 9795 votes cast and a majority of 4909 in this four-cornered fight. There was even a 12.0% swing from the second placed SNP to Liberal Democrat in a comparatively healthy 57.3% turnout.

In Orkney, which has shared with Shetland a 50-year tradition of Liberal and LibDem representation, the party's grip was not quite so tight but still impressive. Liam McArthur, Jim Wallace's successor in the seat, marginally increased his share of the vote to 47.5% and enjoyed a majority of 2476. But there was a swing of 2% to the SNP's John Mowat, who came in second with 1632, replacing the Tories in the runner-up spot by just five votes.

Across the Pentland Firth, the LibDems continued to hold sway in Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, giving the lie to election-time rumours that Jamie Stone was in trouble. In fact, the man from near Tain increased both his share of the vote to more than 40% and his majority from 2092 in 2003 to 2323.

Meanwhile, John Farquhar Munro, his party colleague in the neighbouring seat of Ross, Skye and Inverness West,was seen to be as safe as houses, having secured one of the biggest majorities in rural Scotland of 6848 in 2003.

In the event, it was nearly halved to 3486, which is still healthy in such a sparsely populated seat.

After the count, Mr Munro, who will be 73 later this year, announced this would be his last election. This must have been good news for the SNP's David Thompson, who increased his vote from 5647 in 2003 to 10,015.

But the Liberal Democrats did not have it all their own way in the Highlands. The SNP's Fergus Ewing made Inverness East Nairn and Lochaber his own, the seat which covers much of the country for so long repre- sented by Liberal stalwart Sir Russell Johnston.

The SNP's transport spokes-man, first elected in 1999, has been consolidating his hold on the seat over the past eight years and increased his majority again from 1046 in 2003 to 5471.

The Liberal Democrats' Craig Harrow pushed Labour into third place. The Labour candidate was Linda Stewart, whose husband David was formerly Labour MP for the seat and was yesterday elected to Holyrood on the regional list.

The SNP was also easily returned in Moray, which was formerly held by Mr Ewing's late wife, Margaret. Her successor Richard Lochhead took 15,045 votes (49.7%) a major-ity of 7924 over the Tories' Mary Scanlon.

But Ms Scanlon will return to Holyrood coming second on the regional list which was topped by the former Labour Education Minister Peter Peacock. Labour's Rhoda Grant came third. The SNP's Rob Gibson, who was second in the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross seat, came fourth, followed by the Tories' Jamie McGrigor in fifth place, David Stewart for Labour in sixth and David Thompson for the SNP in seventh.

12:01am Saturday 5th May 2007

By DAVID ROSS, Highland Correspondent

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