“The voters of Glasgow East must be listened to by the Labour Government. If the Prime Minister fails to heed this shockwave, the days of all Scottish Labour MPs are numbered,” he said.

“The SNP will be demanding action on fuel duty, jobs and food prices. We will be campaigning with increased vigour across all constituencies for Scotland to have an oil fund from our share of Scottish oil revenues to pay for major investment projects in Scotland.”

Dundee East MSP Shona Robison said, “The sheer scale of this victory is an earthquake off the Richter scale.”

Dundee West MSP Joe FitzPatrick hailed an “astonishing victory”. He added, “On a swing of this magnitude, almost no Labour seat in Scotland is safe. But this result is more than just a protest at Labour’s increasingly out-of-touch administration, it is a positive endorsement of Alex Salmond’s SNP Government.”

Councillor Ken Guild, leader of the SNP group on Dundee City Council, said “The result marks a sea change in Scottish politics. It has to be due to a large extent to the SNP administration at Holyrood.

“In terms of the council, I have always said we are one by-election away from forming the administration and this result only strengthens that opinion.”

The city’s sole remaining Labour MP, Dundee West’s Jim McGovern, said he believed the result was a protest vote rather than a sign people were clamouring for independence.

The MP, who would lose his seat if the Glasgow swing was repeated at the next election, said, “It is typical mid-term blues. There is no hunger for the break-up of the UK and the SNP even tried to stress that. I don’t think it puts Gordon Brown’s position in any jeopardy and he is definitely the best person to lead the country through the current economic problems.”

Councillor Rod Wallace, leader of the City Council’s Conservative group, said, “The SNP is still in an extended honeymoon period and I don’t think they have been truly tested yet.

“I expect a lot of Glasgow East voters wanted to use this exercise as a backlash against Gordon Brown’s Government.”

Liberal Democrat group leader Councillor Fraser Macpherson said, “Gordon Brown is not cutting the mustard. Every Labour MP in Scotland must be concerned now about their position and in Dundee West they must be seriously wondering if they are going to hold the seat.”

Independent councillor Ian Borthwick said people had lost confidence in the Government, but he did not believe the result showed there was any appetite for independence.