THE Conservatives have held on to the Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale seat at Westminster - though it's one of few crumbs of comfort following a dismal General Election for the party.

David Mundell has been the MP for the seat, which includes the Upper Nithsdale communities of Sanquhar, Kirkconnel and Kelloholm, since it was created in 2005.

Opinion polls had predicted Mr Mundell would win a sixth term in office as the area's MP - and he duly lived up to those expectations.

The Conservative candidate secured 14,999 votes, with the SNP's Kim Marshall finishing just ahead of Labour's Daniel Coleman with 10,757 votes to 10,140.

READ MORE: General Election 2024 results in Ayrshire as it happened

However, in line with national trends, the Conservatives' share of the local vote fell sharply compared to the last election in 2019, with Mr Mundell's vote share dropping by 12.6 per cent.

Labour, again in line with the national trend, saw its vote share rise significantly, by 14.6 per cent, but it wasn't enough to unseat Mr Mundell.

The SNP's vote share also fell, again in line with the national election result, in this case by 13.6 per cent.

Reform UK candidate David Kirkwood finished fourth with an 8.6 per cent vote share, while Drummond Begg (Liberal Democrat), Dominic Ashmole (Green) and Gareth Kirk (Scottish Family Party) all lost their deposits.

Neighbouring Ayrshire saw all four seats swing from SNP to Labour, with Lillian Jones (Kilmarnock and Loudoun), Alan Gemmell (Central Ayrshire), Elaine Stewart (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) and Irene Campbell (North Ayrshire & Arran) completing the local picture.

The Conservatives have four Scottish seats - the others, also predominantly rural, are Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, and Gordon and Buchan - while Labour have 37, the SNP nine and the Liberal Democrats five, with two results still to come as this article was published shortly after 10am on Friday.