Nicola Sturgeon has said the election results may take independence “off the immediate agenda” for the incoming government, but it would be “foolish” to think the issue has gone away.

The former first minister was speaking after the BC/ITV/Sky exit poll predicted her party would crash to just 10 seats at Westminster.

Speaking on ITV, the SNP MSP said: “A lot of the people – if not the majority of people – who in this election have shifted from the SNP to Labour, they still believe in independence, they haven’t shifted their opinion on independence.

“So it might take the issue off of the immediate agenda for Keir Starmer, but it would be – I think – foolish to suggest that the independence question has gone away.”

Speaking earlier on the show minutes after the exit poll, Ms Sturgeon said the election is “not a good night for the SNP”.

The BBC/ITV/Sky survey was published as polls closed at 10pm, predicting a 170 seat majority for Labour across the UK.

Speaking on ITV, the ex-SNP leader reacted minutes after the exit poll suggested the massive loss to her party.

“This is not a good night for the SNP on these numbers,” she said.

“I think there will be a question about whether there was enough in the campaign to give out, effectively, a USP to the SNP in an election that was about getting the Tories out and replacing them with Labour.”

She added: “This is at the grimmer end of the expectations for the SNP if the exit poll is right and, from what I’ve said earlier on, I expect it will be.

“This is seismic for Labour. There’s no getting away from that, it’s a massive achievement for Keir Starmer.

“I think it will be interesting as the night progresses to see the extent this is driven by the Tory collapse as opposed to a Labour surge.”

Meanwhile, Kate Forbes said the SNP must "listen to the voice of the voters" in Scotland after tonight's exit fall predicted the party would crash to just 10 seats.

The Deputy First Minister was speaking from the count in Inverness following the grim forecast for her party which would mean a loss of 38 seats from its 2019 general election result if accurate.

But she said such a result should not be interpreted as a drop in support for independence.
“We will set out our agenda to regain and rebuild the trust of the voters across Scotland," she said.

“We must listen to the voices of the voters, we are democrats, and that means to listen to the message that voters are sending.

“I would strongly caution anybody against dismissing the robust, resilient and significant number of people in this country that support independence and the next Labour government will have to contend with that, we’ll have to listen to Scottish voters because even over the last few months – which have been difficult – that support for independence has remained strong.”

Former SNP MP Stewart Hosie, the party's election campaign director, told journalists10 seats was better than some polls had forecast early in the campaign.

"At the start of the campaign there were polls suggesting the SNP would end up with two, three, four, five seats. So we started off from a very very difficult position and I think we clawed some of that gap bac," he said.

The first result in Scotland is expected to be Rutherglen, which could declare at 1am.