Elections: Coalition loses big to Labour

Public anger at the Con-Dem coalition's cuts in Westminster appeared to have scuppered their Scottish wings' prospects, with declared councils showing a major shift towards the SNP and Labour.

The results began with a bang as Orkney Islands - the first to report - saw independent candidates seize all 21 seats, with voters in the Shetland Islands following suit shortly after.

In the capital, Lib Dem Edinburgh City Council leader Jenny Dawe had lost her seat along with six of her Lib Dem allies.

In Stirling the SNP scored a narrow victory with two new seats, putting them ahead of Labour's seven. But while Tories clung to their four seats, the SNP's wins coupled with Stirling's first Green councillor wiped the Lib Dems entirely off the map.

And in Dundee a Con-Dem rout likewise loomed. With 22 of 29 seats declared, just a single Lib Dem candidate had been named - and no Tories at all.

South Ayrshire remained the only Tory-controlled council - by a single vote, with 10 seats to the SNP and Labour's nine each.

Counting in the key battleground of Glasgow showed Labour poised for victory.

Local SNP candidates had hoped to wrest control from an increasingly shaky alliance of Lib Dems and Labour - but at the time of writing Labour ran well ahead with 21 seats to the SNP's 16.

Meanwhile Glasgow's Scottish Greens held four seats, while the Lib Dems, Tories and Glasgow First held one seat each.