Socialist Tommy Sheridan loses Scottish seat

LONDON (Reuters) - Socialist Tommy Sheridan lost his seat in the Scottish Parliament on Friday to the Scottish National Party.

The Solidarity leader lost out in the vote for the Glasgow region, which saw four SNP members elected to the Scottish parliament, including the first Asian MSP, Bashir Ahmad.

"It wasn't enough and that's just life," said Sheridan, who was applauded by a large band of supporters as the result was announced.

"It's very disappointing," he told reporters. "There's no sour grapes: we fought a hard campaign, we had eight months in existence and we've certainly scored the largest Socialist vote in Glasgow."

Sheridan, who formed his left wing party after splitting with the Scottish Socialists, won a high-profile libel victory over the News of the World last year after it printed allegations about his sex life.

The charismatic politician said he would now turn to building up the profile of the Solidarity party, with a view to making a return to Holyrood at the next election.

Sheridan's former Scottish Socialist Party colleague Rosie Kane also lost her seat, wiping out any far left representation for the city in the Scottish parliament.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats, Tories and Greens each won one seat in the Glasgow region.