Tommy Sheppard has lost his seat in Edinburgh East & Musselburgh after Labour's Chris Murray received a majority of around 3,700 votes.
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00:00My thanks to you and your staff, Paul. You'll be pleased to know at least that our correspondence
00:11about the Portobello toilets is now at an end. Thanks also to a number of people in
00:17this room, to my wonderful partner Kate, who has been with me over the last nine years
00:22of doing this job, to my campaign manager, Mark Ibiagi, and agent, Jane Denham, and the
00:29fantastic team of activists that have helped this campaign. My thanks also to the people
00:39of East Edinburgh, who have given me the honour and privilege of serving them in Parliament
00:44over the last nine years. It has been the best job of my life, and one of the most wonderful
00:51experiences of my life. And now, as it falls to my successor to take that over, let me
00:57offer him my warmest congratulations, and reassure him that myself and my staff will
01:04be at his disposal to make sure that there is a smooth transition over the coming weeks
01:10ahead. Politics is a game of ups and downs, of good and bad, and tonight, this night belongs
01:22to the Labour Party, and I congratulate them for that. It has been a very bad night for
01:29our party, for the SNP, and there are two main reasons for that. One is that a large
01:35number of people in my constituency and throughout the country offered their vote to the Labour
01:40Party because they were so sick and tired of the Conservative government they were prepared
01:46to do anything to get rid of it. The second reason why many people who voted for me in
01:52the past didn't vote for me this time or stayed at home is because they are concerned
01:58at what my own party has been doing in recent years, and there are many, many factors involved
02:05here, some of which are contradictory. I want to say to them, we get it. We understand that
02:12for some people we have lost your trust and your confidence, and we are determined to
02:18listen and to restore it. So believe me, my friends, this is not the end of the journey.
02:23It is a setback. We will be back. Thank you.