Scotland's First Minister says the United Kingdom's election results show that Scottish voters should be given another referendum on whether to remain with or leave the union it helped create in 1707.

Key points: Scotland created the United Kingdom with England and Wales in 1707

Scotland created the United Kingdom with England and Wales in 1707 First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland did not want to leave the EU

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland did not want to leave the EU Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson has lost her seat to a Scottish nationalist

The pro-Scottish independence Scottish National Party (SNP) has taken 48 of 59 Scottish seats in the UK parliament's House of Commons, representing a gain of 12 seats compared to the 2017 general election.

Speaking in reference to early preliminary exit polls suggesting an SNP landslide, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon declared the election result another "mandate" for independence.

Scotland was given an independence referendum in 2014, where about 55 per cent of Scottish voters chose to remain within the UK.

But by 2016, a majority of voters in England and Wales voted to take the UK out of the European Union — a decision that a majority of voters in Northern Ireland and Scotland voted against.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 2 minutes 6 seconds 2 m 6 s Nicola Sturgeon told SNP conference delegates in October that a second referendum must happen in 2020.

In the years since, calls for a second bid at independence have grown louder as some independence advocates — including Ms Sturgeon — say Scotland did not vote to remain in the UK only to be pulled out of the EU.

During a press conference in October this year, Ms Sturgeon said she would ask the UK Government for formal consent for another independence referendum if her party won a majority of seats for Scotland in parliament.

At the time, Ms Sturgeon said Brexit was a "disaster" and her party would never back leaving the EU.

Scotland made an almost unanimous decision to remain in the EU for the 2016 referendum. ( Supplied: BBC )

"A no-deal Brexit is unthinkable," she said during her speech.

"And for the Scottish Tories in particular to back such an outcome is simply unforgivable."

It appears Ms Sturgeon is presented with another opportunity to revive an independence bid.

She told the BBC early on Friday that despite Boris Johnson's incoming parliamentary majority, he has "no right" to take Scotland out of the European Union.

"We don't want a Boris Johnson Conservative government. We don't want to leave the EU," she said.

While she acknowledged that not everyone who voted for the SNP explicitly wanted independence, Ms Sturgeon said Scotland voted to "have a choice" over its future and did not want to to "put up with a Conservative government [Scotland] didn't vote for".

"Boris Johnson may have a mandate to take England out of the European Union, he emphatically does not have a mandate to take Scotland out of the European Union."

SNP claims scalp of Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson had only been leader since July and has now lost her seat. ( AP via PA: Jane Barlow )

In the centuries since its creation, the United Kingdom has grown and contracted but, over the past decade, the unity of the 312-year-old union has looked shaky as the desire for Scottish independence has grown.

This has correlated with the rise of the SNP, which was once considered a fringe party, in national and local elections.

Over the past few election cycles, the party has leapt from the fringe and become a major Scottish political force.

At this election, the SNP claimed a high-profile political scalp with the defeat of the pro-EU Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson by just 149 votes.

Ms Swinson, who held the Glasgow seat of East Dunbartonshire from 2005-2015 and then regained it in 2017, lost by just 149 votes. She had only been party leader since July.

The Liberal Democrats had hoped to win over pro-EU voters by pledging to overturn Brexit, but an exit poll predicted they would gain just one seat in parliament compared to the last general election in 2017.

"Some will be celebrating the wave of nationalism that is sweeping on both sides of the border," Ms Swinson said.

"These are very significant results for the future of our country.

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Northern Ireland delivers nationalist majority in first

Sinn Fein's John Finucane (centre) took the seat of a senior pro-unionist MP who previously held it for 18 years. ( AP via PA: Liam McBurney )

Northern Ireland's British loyalist Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has been dealt a significant blow as voters tipped the electoral balance to Irish nationalist parties for the first time ever.

The DUP, who were previously kingmakers under the prime-ministership of Theresa May, had been a strong pro-Brexit voice for the territory in parliament, despite Northern Ireland itself voting in the majority to remain in the EU at the 2016 Brexit referendum.

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This year, voters have turfed out two DUP MPs and its Westminster parliamentary leader, Nigel Dodds, who previously held the seat of North Belfast for 18 years.

Nationalists said the result paved the way towards a vote on whether there should be a united Ireland.

"We are heading towards a border poll, I can't give you a definitive date, but we need to do the spade work now and prepare ourselves," Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said.

"We need to, in an orderly fashion, structure the conversation about a new Ireland and constitutional change.

"I don't think unionism should be alarmed or frightened, this is a huge opportunity for everybody who lives on this island."

Historically, Sinn Fein MPs have refused to take their seats in Westminster as they refuse to swear allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II.

ABC/wires