KENNETH Gibson has hailed the ‘amazing’ turnout by locals after he was re-elected as the MSP for Cunninghame North.

The SNP candidate secured around half of the vote in the constituency ballot, beating out Labour’s Katy Clark, Conservative Jamie Greene and Ruby Kirkwood from the Liberal Democrats.

Following his victory, Mr Gibson says the country is at a pivotal point in time - and shared his ambitions of an independence referendum in the near future.

He said: “I would like to thank everyone who has worked so hard, not only on a very long day, but in manning polling stations and ensuring that this election was held in good humour.

“I think it’s amazing that so many people turned out for this very important ballot.

"I would also like to thank my wife Patricia Gibson MP who has been a sterling support throughout this campaign.

“I would like to thank all the SNP activists, members and voters who have helped to turn me to the privileged position that I have once again been elected to.

“Scotland is at a very important crossroads, I believe that Scotland’s future should be chosen by the people who live and work here, and it will be interesting to see how things develop over the next few months.

“Certainly, my ambition is to see an independence referendum and an independent Scotland once we are passed through the pandemic.”

Ms Clark and Mr Greene were elected to parliament in the West of Scotland regional list, with Labour’s Neil Bibby and Ross Greer from the Scottish Greens also re-elected.

The regional list ballot also returned Russell Findlay and Pam Gosal of the Conservatives, and Paul O’Kane of Labour.

The Scottish National Party received 42 per cent of the vote in the West of Scotland list ballot, however did not return any MSPs due to their success in constituency votes.