Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland | Andy Buchanan/Getty Images | Andy Buchanan/Getty Images Nationalist battering takes Scottish independence off the table SNP lost 21 seats as Labour and the Tories made comebacks.

GLASGOW, Scotland — A bad night for Conservatives is normally a good one for Scottish nationalism — not so this time.

The Scottish National Party suffered its worst election in over a decade Thursday, losing 21 seats and more than a quarter of its vote share. The result pushes the prospect of a second referendum on independence from the U.K. — central to the party's mission — off the political map.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was “disappointed” as a number of high-profile SNP MPs lost their seats, including former party leader Alex Salmond and Westminster leader Angus Robertson.

The main beneficiaries on a brutal night for the SNP were the Scottish Conservatives, who took 13 seats, up 12 on 2015. Labour fared unexpectedly well, adding half a dozen seats to the single seat held in Edinburgh South. The Liberal Democrats also had a good night, going from one seat to four.

The main beneficiaries on a brutal night for the SNP were the Scottish Conservatives, who took 13 seats, up 12 on 2015.

The SNP went into the general election on the back on a record-breaking performance in 2015, when the party won all but three of Scotland’s 59 seats. This time around the party still emerged as comfortably the largest in Scotland, with 35 seats, but with a vote share cut by 13 points, to 37 percent. The Conservatives climbed 14 points to 29 percent and Labour were up four to 27 percent.

The scale of the losses leaves major gaps in the SNP’s Westminster frontbench — and raises serious questions about Sturgeon's strategy to push for a a second independence referendum of the back of last year's Brexit vote.

Time to reflect

In the wake of the result, Sturgeon said she needed time to “reflect” before deciding on whether to push for a second vote on leaving the UK.

“Undoubtedly the issue of an independence referendum was a factor in this election result,” Sturgeon said, adding that Brexit was a factor, too.

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said that the prospect of a second referendum was “dead” after a "historic" night in which party recorded its best general election performance since 1983. After decades in which the Tories were widely overshadowed by the toxic legacy of Margaret Thatcher in Scotland, the Conservatives won a series of high profile victories, most notably in north-east Scotland, long an SNP stronghold.

In Moray, SNP deputy leader Angus Robertson saw his majority of more than 9,000 overturned, with Tory Douglas Ross taking a seat held by the nationalists for the past 30 years. In nearby Gordon, the Conservatives took former first minster Alex Salmond’s seat. “The SNP have lost many fine parliamentarians this evening and that's a grievous blow to the SNP,” the former party leader said.

Among the biggest surprises on the night was the success of Scottish Labour. Once the dominant party in Scotland, Labour had been expected to struggle as pro-independence Labour supporters left for the SNP and pro-union voters moved to the Tories. But the party won a series of surprising victories, including in a number of seats that had voted to leave the U.K. in the 2014 independence referendum.

In Edinburgh South Ian Murray — Scotland's only Labour MP in the last parliament — increased his majority to more than 15,000. Scottish voters had "hammered the final nail into the independence coffin," he said.

Adam Tomkins, Conservative member of the devolved Scottish parliament for Glasgow, told POLITICO that the general election result represented “a good night for the union. There’s no chance of a second independence referendum.”

Independence on the ballot

The general election in Scotland was dominated by the prospect of a vote on independence. Sturgeon had called for the power to hold another referendum when the terms of the U.K.’s Brexit deal are known. But polls suggest most Scots believe it is too soon for another plebiscite.

Conservatives, in particular, profited by their public perception as the strongest defenders of the union. The party even recently began using its official title — the Conservative and Unionist party — on publicity material.

Nevertheless, independence was not the only reason why the SNP suffered its first significant electoral setback in a decade. After 10 years in power in Edinburgh, the nationalists found themselves increasingly called upon to defend their record on issues such as education and the state of the National Health Service in Scotland.

Famed for the prowess of its election machine, this time around the SNP struggled to articulate an effective message. The party’s slogan — “Stronger for Scotland” — rehashed the 2015 campaign. Sturgeon, once seen as such an asset to the nationalist cause, has become an increasingly divisive figure with polls showing falling personal approval ratings. So far, the party’s overtly pro-EU stance has failed to cut through with many, despite a majority of Scots voting to remain in the European Union.

Conservatives, in particular, profited by their public perception as the strongest defenders of the union.

How seriously this election has damaged the case for a second independence referendum remains to be seen. A central plank of the nationalist cause has been that Scotland is routinely ruled by Conservative governments in London with minimal Scottish support. The evidence for this "democratic deficit" looks much weaker in light of the Tories’ performance north of the border.

Yet, Scotland’s constitutional question is unlikely to fade away. Support for leaving the U.K. remains around the 45 percent who voted Yes in 2015. Some leftwing pro-independence supporters returned to pro-union Labour under Jeremy Corbyn, said Simon Pia, former Scottish Labour press officer

“Labour in Scotland got a real boost from Corbyn's manifesto. People's attitude to Labour changed,” said Pia. “They've won back Yes voters.”

The SNP's future and of its dream of an independent Scotland will depend on whether the party can coax these voters back.