[joeysteele]

It's a great result for Alex Salmond and the SNP,had I lived in Scotland I would have voted SNP this time.

However, the SNP are on 45% of the vote because the Lib Dem vote was decimated,all of those votes went to the SNP.
In the Scottish parliament elections it made sense to back the SNP, Labour are not in Govt in Westminster so the SNP will be more formidable for Cameron to have to deal with.

In a General election however, those Lib Dem votes which don't return to the Lib Dems, are more likely to switch to Labour for a Westminster election. Labour's vote stayed the same as it was in 2007,only the Lib Dem votes were wiped away,they were the losers and the casualties in Scotland, they had been the unofficial supporters for the minority SNP govt from 2003,they are left now with few seats, a massive loss of votes and no influence whatsoever now.

Personally for me, Annabel Goldie fought a great campaign but the Conservatives are without meaning in Scotland still.
For an alternative now to the SNP in Scotland, when the time comes for that,there is only one acceptable to most Scots and that is Labour so we are premature in writing them off there, Iain Gray was a poor leader and Alex Salmond is a brilliant one.

Thanks to the Lib Dems vote imploding the SNP have got the bigger prize, but Labour lost not a single 1% in their vote from 2007.Plenty there still to build on.