THE General Election held just a few weeks ago saw another seismic shift in the Scottish political landscape.

Voters sent a strong and clear message to Nicola Sturgeon and the Nationalists that they were fed up with her obsession with independence.

The SNP's vote share plummeted and they lost 21 seats. In contrast, the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party took thirteen seats, which was our best result since 1983, and 62 per cent of Scots voted for Unionist parties.

Locally, Luke Graham built on our party's recent successes in the recent local government elections to replace Tasmina Ahmed-Sheik as the local Member of Parliament.

As part of the Ochil and South Perthshire constituency, Clackmannanshire is now represented by its first Conservative MP since 1931.

I look forward to working with Luke, my fellow Conservative Mid Scotland and Fife MSPs and our five-strong Clackmannanshire Council group to deliver for the people of the Wee County.

Now that the general election has concluded, our attention must turn to the biggest political issue of the moment: That of the negotiations over the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union.

In that election, 85 per cent of the electorate voted for parties that are committed to respecting and delivering on the result of last year's referendum.

Last week, the secretary of state for leaving the European Union, David Davis, met with his European counterpart to begin the process.

The UK Government is committed to getting the best possible deal for Britain for our future relationship with Europe, which is based primarily on free trade rather than federal political union.

The government has also pledged that Britain will leave the single market, customs union and no longer be under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. A deal that did not deliver on these three areas would fail to respect the referendum result.

Despite what many who opposed leaving the EU might suggest, Brexit does mean that Britain will become more inward looking.

In fact, quite the contrary is the case. We shall continue to meet the UN's target of spending 0.7 per cent on international aid, we shall continue to play an active and key role in the NATO alliance, and we shall break down barriers to forge new, mutually beneficial free-trade agreements with other nations. In sum, we shall continue to be a good global citizen.

This open approach to Brexit has brought people together from opposing sides of the referendum debate: Both the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, and Ruth Davidson have spoken of the need for Britain to remain open and outward looking as we exit the European political bloc.

We must continue to attract the best and the brightest students and employees from around the globe and we should recognise their immense contribution to our economy.

I am very much optimistic about the future of both Scotland and the United Kingdom as we embark on this journey.

Now that the recent general election has confirmed the lack of support for a second referendum on independence, our four nations can pull together to ensure that we get the possible outcome for our future relationship with Europe.