The SNP has won a crucial marginal with a candidate it suspended during the campaign over alleged antisemitism.

Neale Hanvey was suspended on November 29 over an article that depicted George Soros as a puppeteer and posting a message that, he said "drew parallels between the treatment of Palestinians and the unconscionable treatment of Jews in Europe during WW2”, in “direct contravention of the IHRA definition of antisemitism”.

He won Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath with a majority of 1,243, defeating Labour's Shadow Scottish Secretary Lesley Laird. He will sit as an independent.

In a statement after he was suspended, Mr Hanvey said he had circulated an article in 2016 from Russian state news agency Sputnik about George Soros, illustrated with an image showing him holding puppets of world leaders.

After his suspension, Mr Hanvey said: “I am genuinely and deeply sorry. However upsetting this is for me, I fully support the decision of the National Secretary to suspend me.

“The First Minister has called for leadership on this issue and she is absolutely right to take a zero tolerance approach.”