That put them ahead of Labour and closed the gap to the SNP - who had a bad night, losing 21 seats including their Westminster leader Angus Robertson and former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond.
But her opponents say that Sturgeon will have no choice but to drop the referendum demand, at least for the foreseeable future.
"We had a very clear message in this campaign and there wouldn't have been so many SNP losses tonight if Nicola Sturgeon hadn't tried to force through an unwanted second independence referendum in March", she said. Much had changed since the last one in 2014, when British government officials helped to persuade Scottish voters to remain part of the United Kingdom by promising them that it was the only way to stay in the European Union.
But sources close to the Scottish Tory leader believe this is only the beginning of Davidson asserting herself on the United Kingdom stage, and May must acknowledge Davidson's group is bigger than the 10 DUP MPs the prime minister hopes to rely on to cling to power. But she has just been told and if we get another short-term election-which could come-she will lose more seats'.
The SNP lost seats to the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats in the election - with other high-profile casualties including John Nicolson, Mike Weir and Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh.
"In any terms, that means the SNP, by winning more votes and more seats, have won this election in Scotland".
"I'm not going to rush to hasty judgements or decisions but clearly there is thinking for me to do about the SNP result", she said.
The Conservatives went all out to use the election as a platform for its anti-referendum stance, even to the point of printing placards to protest the SNP's manifesto launch.
Biagi, a former local government minister, said the party needed to "show the same sort of governing energy and acumen that built the party's support between 2007 and 2011". We have to wait and see how things shake out. I've always said the SNP would want to be part of a progressive alternative to a Tory government.
Apple Updates iMac Lineup with Big Graphics Boost and Display Upgrade
One minor yet significant update is also the signature Apple keyboard which now comes with a number pad (!) for the Excel junkies. The 21.5-inch model delivers up to three times faster performance and the 27-inch model is up to 50 percent faster.
Scotland's Finance and Constitution Secretary Derek Mackay, who directed the SNP's election campaign, told the same programme: "The First Minister has said that she'll reflect on the result but the fact that another Tory government that Scotland has not elected will rule over us with policies that Scotland just doesn't support I think has been another lesson on why Scotland should have a choice".
"This, they said, was the issue raised on the doorsteps of Scotland more often than all other issues combined".
The separatist Scottish National Party (SNP) nevertheless remains Scotland's biggest party despite some punishing losses, including former first minister Alex Salmond as well as the party's current deputy leader Angus Robertson.
The sentiment was also noted by CNN's Nic Robertson.
The SNP suffered on Thursday what its leader described as a disaster.
"I can only put that down to how he felt in the run up to the election, what he was hearing on the doorsteps wasn't so pleasing to the ears".
"Perhaps this is one area where Theresa May delivered", he said.
"Folk might remember I fought a leadership election on the other side of that particular argument", she added.
The general election result might delay the implementation of the decision previous year calling for Britain to leave the European Union, but it could also affect the odds of another vote that was expected to still be ahead: a new referendum on whether Scotland should remain part of the United Kingdom.
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