DOUGLAS Chapman made it a hat-trick of General Election victories before pledging to putting his "heart and soul" into making sure he was the last Dunfermline and West Fife MP to be sent to Westminster.

The SNP candidate clawed back his substantial share of the votes – a total of 10,699 more than Labour's Cara Hilton – after the previous election in 2017 had seen him claim victory but had his majority slashed to just 844.

Thursday's General Election saw a turn out of 69.95 per per cent with 23,727 votes for Mr Chapman, 13,028 for Mrs Hilton, 11,207 for Conservative Moira Benny, 4,262 for Rebecca Bell from the Liberal Democrats and 1,258 for Green Party candidate Mags Hall.

Mr Chapman thanked his team for "bringing home" his hat trick of election victories.

"It is the third election that we have had in as many years and the SNP has won all three" he said.

"I also would like to thank my family for their love and support. Without them, I simply could not be efficient in this job. I would like to say from tomorrow, scrutiny of the UK Government will continue."

He added: "This, of course, is my third win in less than five years. I had planned to be an MP for one term only. Thanks to constituents for putting their faith in me. It is a huge privilege and an honour to serve the constituency that I love, however, I want to be the last ever MP of any party to be sent to Westminster from our constituency.

"I will put my heart and soul to make that a reality. We will win a Referendum on Independence. It is time for Scotland. The result tonight, not just in this constituency but across Scotland as a whole, tells a story. It is time to win our country back.

"I would like to thank all the activists for being out in all weathers. I am sure some of you are disappointed with the results but the effort that has gone into it from all parties is something to admire. Social democracy is alive and well in West Fife."

Before the count, declaration, Mr Chapman had played down the the prospect of him increasing his majority.

He told the Times: “It was 844 last time round but if it was 845 I would be more than happy,” he said. “The campaign plan was working towards an increased majority. Hopefully we can deliver on that."

He said he had been reassured that Scottish voters had shown they were not keen on the Boris Johnson and his party.

He said: “I am of a generation that remembers Margaret Thatcher and 18 years of Thatcherism and the more people saw of Boris Johnson, especially in Scotland, the more they are concerned.

“If someone was more reasonable in their approach and being approachable to the media and general public, I think that could have been a different result in Scotland. In Dunfermline and West Fife, they do not want Boris Johnson to be Prime Minister.”

Labour candidate Cara Hilton, who lost out to the SNP for the second election in a row, was disappointed to have lost out.

"Congratulations to Douglas Chapman," she said. "Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard. Thank you to my team who have worked day in day out in all weather conditions over the last five weeks to try and deliver a better future for Scotland and the UK.

"Sadly it was not to be this time and I am disappointed to wake up to another five years of Boris Johnson.

"I am sad for the children who are going to grow up in poverty thanks to his policies. All I can say is thank you to everyone and anyone who voted for me."