MARTYN MCLAUGHLIN, KEVIN SCHOFIELD and GILLIAN BELL

Jack McConnell was last night returned as MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw - but with a reduced majority.

Mr McConnell polled 12,574 votes, 5938 ahead of the SNP candidate, Marion Fellows.

In the 2003 election, Mr McConnell's majority was 9259.

His share of the vote fell by 6% and there was a 6.9% swing to the SNP. If that trend were replicated across the country, it would see the Nationalists enjoying considerable gains.

Given the excellent weather and the close nature of the election campaign, turnout was a disappointing 48.5%, down from 49.03% in 2003.

The result was the first one to be announced, coming in at around 12.35am.

Mr McConnell said the election had been "the most hotly contested" in Scotland in recent years.

He added: "Whatever the result, I am sure the people of Scotland will be relieved that it is over, one way or another.

"We've won the debate, it remains to be seen tonight whether we've won the votes in individual constituencies.

"As the night unfolds, I trust and I hope that more Labour members will be re-elected across the country and indeed elected for the first time."

A total of 970 ballot papers were registered as spoiled', around 3.7% of the total votes cast.

The high numbers of disregarded votes was being viewed as an early indication that the use of electronic counting could see the total number of spoiled ballot papers increase on previous years.

The Lanarkshire constituency was traditionally a place where Labour's votes were weighed, not counted. In 2003, Mr McConnell took 13,739 votes.

But in the run-up to this election, the area has been the source of fierce political debate, particularly regarding A&E closures. Mr McConnell, like Andy Kerr, is seen by many as responsible for the controversial restructuring of the region's accident and emergency services. The fate of Monklands Hospital's casualty unit may have been the main source of ire, but feeling still ran strong throughout Lanarkshire, despite the fact accident and emergency units will be retained at Wishaw General, at the constituency's heart.

Furthermore, along with an apparent national disaffection for Labour, the Scottish party leader's may have brought regional damage upon himself to contribute to the reduced minority. Recent comments regarding the aesthetic appeal - or lack of it - in Motherwell represented a stern attack on his own constituency.

Though he was referring to haphazard town planning, the words used - "dirty" and "untidy" - may have harmed the pride of those he was relying on to further his eight years as the local MSP.

The squeeze of his majority is in stark contrast to the heights Mr McConnell reached in gaining the seat. He waged a fierce battle with BIll Tynan, later the MP for Hamilton South, for Labour's nomination, winning by just two votes.

In 1998, a year before the first elections to Holyrood, he found himself embroiled in a fierce and acrimonious duel for the safe Labour seat in Lanarkshire with Bill Tynan, a local union official, later the MP for Hamilton South.

The man who three-and-a-half years later would become Scotland's third First Minister, won by just two votes Marion Fellows, the SNP candidate, was never considered a Nationalist heavyweight. But the college lecturer and previous secretary of the community council in Bellshill could emerge satisfied with her 6636 votes considering the SNP polled more than 2000 fewer four years ago.

The LibDems made a gain in the vote in Wishaw, with 1570 votes compared with 1069 in 2003. The Tories, however, suffered a slip, with 1990 votes compared with 2542 four years ago.

Motherwell has had a Labour MP for more than half a century. The local authority has been solidly Labour since its creation in the 1990s, as was the old Motherwell District Council.