The leaders of the Scottish political parties have made their way to the polling stations to cast their votes in the General Election.
The ballots opened on Thursday morning in the first UK-wide vote since 2019 and it’s widely expected that Labour will take victory and form the next government.
Keir Starmer will then take over at 10 Downing Street if the results go as expected when they are confirmed in the early hours of Friday morning, with the polls opened from 7am to 10pm across the UK.
There’s still a lot to be decided in Scotland, though, with it expected to be a battle between the SNP and Labour for the seats north of the border.
The SNP won 48 seats in 2019 while Labour had just a single MP as the Tories took six and the Liberal Democrats picked up four.
Scottish Labour, under Anas Sarwar, have enjoyed a resurgence in the last couple of years with the Tories in turmoil and it’s expected that they will do much better this time around.
Mr Sarwar cast his vote at Pollokshields Burgh Hall in Glasgow on Thursday morning and was accompanied by his wife Furheen and son Aliyan. He also met with Labour candidate for Glasgow South West Zubir Ahmed and shook hands with activists from his own party as well as the SNP.
READ MORE: General election LIVE: Country goes to the polls
There was one protestor though, with a woman holding a sign that said ‘Starmer is a snake’.
Scotland’s First Minister and SNP leader John Swinney also cast his vote and was with his son Matthew when he made his way to the Burrelton Village Hall in Perthshire.
One of the more intriguing contests comes in the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East seat, which sees Douglas Ross contesting it. The outgoing Scottish Tory leader left many upset when he decided to stand in place of the popular former MP David Duguid, who was barred from standing by his party due to ill health.
There’s no Labour candidate there either with Andy Brown being suspended and stripped of support because of reports of controversial social media posts which he denies.
Mr Ross cast his vote at Fogwatt Hall, near Elgin in Moray while Scottish Green leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater were in Glasgow and Edinburgh respectively.
Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton also cast his vote at a polling place in the capital.
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