British election: voters show Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson the door

Jo Swinson has indic­ated she may quit as leader of the Liberal Democrats after losing her seat during a grim night for her party.

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson after losing her East Dumbartonshire constituency. Picture: AP

Jo Swinson has indic­ated she may quit as leader of the Liberal Democrats after losing her seat during a grim night for her party.

Amy Callaghan, a 27-year-old SNP candidate, claimed East Dunbartonshire by 149 votes five months after Ms Swinson became her party’s first female leader.

The result crystalised a poor election result for the Lib Dems, with the party predicted to win 13 seats, an increase of one on the 2017 return, despite Ms Swinson, 39, declaring at the start of the campaign that she was a genuine candidate to become prime ­minister.

She said for millions of people around the country, the election results would bring “dread and dismay”.

“Some will be celebrating the wave of nationalism that is sweeping on both sides of the border,” she said.

Her defeat echoed Nick Clegg’s loss in 2015 after the then party leader had served for five years as deputy prime minister.

This is the second time that Ms Swinson has lost her seat, after she too paid the price for serving as a minister in the coalition government during the same election bloodbath as Mr Clegg. It saw the Lib Dems reduced to a group of eight in the Commons.

She fought back in the 2017 election, regaining her seat from the SNP’s John Nicolson, who switched to fight a different seat this time.

The Lib Dems are on course for their third-worst performance in their 31-year modern history.

the times