It was branded the “meh” election, but it produced some unprecedented results.

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By this time next week, all 129 MSPs elected on Thursday will have been sworn in at Holyrood, will have an office, will have elected a new Presiding Officer, and will be looking at the five-year term ahead and wondering what it will bring.

But what did the election itself bring for Scots?

For one, a fifth consecutive SNP government. The polls said all along that would be the outcome, the only question was just how large the SNP group would be. Ultimately, John Swinney’s party won 58 MSPs, and all but one are constituency representatives. It’s not quite the “landslide” the party claims - given they are down six MSPs and their vote share is also down, by 9.5 per cent in the constituency vote and 13.1 per cent in the regional list - but for a party which was facing returning just 35 MSPs when John Swinney took over as leader, this has been a remarkable result.

That in itself is unprecedented. But what it’s not is the overall majority that he said would be needed to ask Westminster for the powers to hold a second independence referendum.

Let’s not pretend, though, that means the constitution is parked for five years. Far from it. Already, John Swinney is shifting position, pointing to the “biggest pro-independence majority” in Holyrood, as with the Scottish Greens, there are now 73 MSPs who favour an independent Scotland. Mind you, that’s only one more than after the last election.

His problem, though, is he was clear throughout the campaign that an outright SNP majority was needed. He has not achieved that. Any PM in Downing Street can therefore brush off his Section 30 request, though it was always highly unlikely Keir Starmer, or........

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