THE SNP have taken East Lothian from Labour in the first seat to change hands in the election.

Paul McLennan beat Labour's Martin Whitfield when the result was declared this afternoon.

Labour had been fighting hard to hold the seat - one of just three constituencies it won in the 2016 election.

The National:

The party took the seat with a majority of 1179 over Labour, which has held the constituency since the start of devolution. 

The SNP secured 17,968 votes to Labour's 16,789.

Labour sources had declared the constituency battle "close" ahead of the declaration. 

Whitfield was the party's candidate after former Scottish Labour Iain Gray, who had held the seat since 2007, decided to stand down ahead of the election.

READ MORE: LIVE: Scottish elections: All the news as seats are declared

SNP minister Aileen Campbell said: "I am very pleased to see the SNP get the breakthrough there. I am particularly pleased for Paul McLennan ... it's a really good result for him and for the party and bodes well for the rest of the counts coming through."

Responding to the result Labour's Mark Griffen said: "It is a disappointing result when you lose a seat. But the Labour vote has held up remarkably well from 2016, even when you have an incumbent with the profile of Iain Gray standing down.

"It is certainly an improvement on where we thought we might have been a year ago...it is one Anas Sarwar and the Labour party will be looking to build on."