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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Yohannes Lowe (now); Andrew Sparrow, Martin Belam, Léonie Chao-Fong and Helen Sullivan (earlier)

Rachel Reeves becomes UK’s first female chancellor; former Tory chair says party faces ‘oblivion’ – as it happened

Sir Keir Starmer

Closing summary

  • Keir Starmer’s Labour party won 412 seats to the Tories’ 121 in the general election, while the Liberal Democrats were on a record 71, the Scottish National party (SNP) on nine, Reform UK on five and the Greens on four. After 649 of 650 results had been declared, the turnout figure stood at 59.8%, a sharp decline from an overall turnout of 67.3% at the last election in 2019. A recount in the Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire seat will not restart until 10.30am on Saturday, delaying the final result of the general election. But the Liberal Democrats are poised to win the seat.

  • Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, and Penny Mordaunt, the Commons leader, were among the most high-profile cabinet ministers unseated by opposition candidates. Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, Lucy Frazer, the culture secretary, and Michelle Donelan, the science secretary, were also ousted. Former prime minister Liz Truss lost her seat in South West Norfolk. The Conservatives lost every seat they had held in Wales.

  • Following the disastrous set of results for the Tories, former Conservative party chairman Eric Pickles warned that the party could face “oblivion” at the next general election. He said there are now no “safe seats”.

  • Keir Starmer, the UK’s new prime minister, quickly started to assemble his new cabinet. Rachel Reeves was confirmed as Britain’s first female chancellor; Angela Rayner is Starmer’s deputy prime minister and retained the levelling up, housing and communities brief, while Yvette Cooper is home secretary and David Lammy was appointed as the foreign secretary.

  • Starmer has already spoken with the US president, Joe Biden. The White House said the two leaders reaffirmed the UK-US “special relationship” in a phone call and said Biden looks forward to meeting the Labour party leader at the Nato summit in Washington next week.

  • Rishi Sunak, the former prime minister, used his final speech in Downing Street to apologise to the British people and the Conservative party. Sunak confirmed he was standing down as Conservative leader but would stay in place while his replacement was elected. The Guardian has been told that prospective Conservative party leadership candidates are preparing for a speedy contest to appoint a successor to Sunak by the autumn in an effort to challenge the rise of Reform. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK party’s leader, said his priority is to now target Labour votes.

  • Scottish first minister and SNP party leader John Swinney described the party’s election results, the SNP’s worst since 2010, as “very damaging” and tough.

  • Ireland’s premier, Simon Harris, said the election of a Labour government in the UK can herald a “great reset” in Anglo-Irish relations.

  • Sinn Féin has become Northern Ireland’s largest party in Westminster after voters turned against the Democratic Unionist party (DUP). The DUP lost three of its eight Westminster seats in Thursday’s election, including the North Antrim stronghold held by Ian Paisley and before that his late father since 1970.

Thank you for reading and all your comments today. This blog is closing now but you can read all of our politics coverage here.

Updated

Shortly after 3.30am on Friday, as Nigel Farage was finally elected to Westminster at the eighth time of asking, the Reform UK leader stood to deliver a speech that was fully intended to interrupt Labour’s euphoric celebrations elsewhere.

Having played a large part in the implosion of Conservative support, Reform would now be targeting Labour voters, the new member for Clacton said. “We’re coming for Labour – be in no doubt about that.”

Vowing to build a “mass national movement” that could mount a “proper” general election challenge in 2029, Farage said: “This is just the first step of something that is going to stun all of you.”

This result was remarkable enough. Though the shocking initial exit poll prediction of 13 seats for the populist hard-right party did not, in the end, come to pass, its final tally of five seats still represents a big advance. Founded only in 2018 as the Brexit party, it had never previously won a Westminster seat at any election.

And if that headline figure remains small, it conceals a much more significant breadth of support in a wide range of seats, Conservative and Labour, right across the country. Nationally, Reform won more than 4m votes, over 600,000 more than the Liberal Democrats who returned 71 MPs thanks in part to their sophisticated ground campaign and targeted tactical voting. The Green party won four parliamentary seats on under 2m votes, less than half the tally of Reform.

Inevitably, Farage told a press conference in Westminster on Friday that Reform would be lobbying to abolish first past the post, an electoral system that he said was “not fit for purpose – and we will campaign with anyone and everyone to change this electoral system”.

Drilling into the constituency results reveals the scale of the potential threat Reform could pose in future. The party came second in no fewer than 103 seats, of which 93 were claimed by Labour.

You can read the full story by my colleagues, Esther Addley and Ben Quinn, here:

Julian Borger is the Guardian’s world affairs editor based in Washington

A senior administration official was just asked about whether there is a bilateral meeting arranged between Joe Biden and Keir Starmer during the Nato summit in Washington next week.

The official said:

The president had a very constructive and productive call with prime minister Starmer earlier today, in which they talked about the importance of the special relationship.

They talked about our cooperation on Ukraine around the world, including on upholding the gains of the Belfast Good Friday agreement. So a very good, productive conversation there.

I fully expect that the leaders will interact at some point during the summit, but I don’t have anything to announce for you today.

Tories could face 'oblivion' next general election, former Conservative party chairman warns

Eric Pickles, a former MP for Brentwood and Ongar who was secretary of state for communities and local government between 2010 and 2015, has given advice on what the Conservatives should do next.

The former Conservative party chairman said the Tories should not assume things are at their worst as the party – which has 121 seats – could face “oblivion” at the next general election. Pickles said there is now “no safe seats” as Tory MPs were defeated by Reform candidates – to their right – and Liberal Democrats to their left. He also said Reform, led by Nigel Farage, was not responsible for the Conservative’s losses.

Pickles said the party should not rush picking the next leader and should create the conditions in which the “best person” emerges. He implied this person should be a more moderate MP who could unit the different wings of the increasingly split Conservative party.

Rishi Sunak, the former prime minister, said early today that he would resign as Tory leader. But he said he would not do so until formal arrangements for a successor had taken place.

Updated

The health secretary, Wes Streeting, has said junior doctors in England will restart negotiations with the government next week.

In a statement, Streeting said:

I have just spoken over the phone with the BMA (British Medical Association) junior doctors committee, and I can announce that talks to end their industrial action will begin next week.

We promised during the campaign that we would begin negotiations as a matter of urgency, and that is what we are doing.

Health leaders have urged the government to resolve the long-running dispute as a “priority” after it emerged that tens of thousands of appointments were postponed as a result of the latest strike.

Medics in training across the NHS went on strike for five full days from 27 June. NHS England said 61,989 appointments, procedures and operations were postponed as a result of the latest round of industrial action by junior doctors. The latest walkout was the 11th strike by junior doctors in 20 months.

Junior doctors have been pursuing a 35% pay rise to act as “full pay restoration” for the 26.2% fall in the value of their incomes they have seen since 2008-09.

Streeting has said previously he would not meet the 35%, saying that if he gave in to the demand then “any trade union worth their salt” would come back the following year with the same request.

He has said there is “space for a discussion” on pay, as well as negotiations on how to improve working conditions for medics in training.

Updated

SNP leader John Swinney has spoken with Keir Starmer this evening.

Speaking after the telephone call, a Scottish government spokesperson said:

The first minister spoke with the prime minister by telephone this evening and congratulated him on his appointment.

He committed to working collaboratively and cooperatively with the UK government on areas of mutual interest.

The first minister has outlined his priorities in government and believes there are many ways in which the two governments can work together to deliver progress on them for the benefit of people in Scotland.

Labour won 35.7% of the vote in Scotland, several points more than in the UK as a whole, and gained 36 seats, a result that shocked the SNP leadership and surprised Labour’s strategists (you can read more about the results in Scotland here).

Swinney – who took over as SNP leader eight weeks ago – has implied that his devolved government in Edinburgh would now need to rebuild its relationship with the UK government by making common cause with Starmer.

It was no surprise that Bridget Phillipson, the MP for Houghton and Sunderland South, who has been the Labour party’s education lead since 2021, was appointed by Keir Starmer to the position of education secretary in his new cabinet today.

Teacher recruitment, retention and pay, improving childcare provision (Labour pledged to open 3,000 new nurseries, and offer free breakfast clubs in every primary school), overhauling the Ofsted grading system, school deficits, getting to grips with high levels of pupil absence, tackling the widening attainment gap and reducing soaring child poverty levels are some of the issues Phillipson is presented with. Labour has been criticised for not being bold enough in its proposals. You can read more about the party’s education policies in this excellent ‘Life under Labour’ analysis piece by the Guardian’s education correspondent, Sally Weale.

After being appointed by Starmer on Friday, Phillipson said:

Opportunity should be for all – not just a lucky few. That’s why education is at the heart of the change this new government will make and will be at the forefront of national life.

Education is key to improving children’s life chances. Lives are shaped by opportunity but too many people of all ages, in too many parts of this great country, simply don’t have the opportunities to succeed – this government will make sure they do.

We’ll break down those barriers to opportunity through supporting children to get the best start in life, high and rising school standards for all and skills training to support growth, so that everyone can achieve and thrive.

Government can’t do this alone. From day one we will reset the relationship between government, families and our education workforce; our dedicated teachers and school staff, early years staff, university and college professionals and social workers. Education will be at the heart of our national story, and it’s our workforces who are at the heart of education.

Updated

Keir Starmer’s cabinet will have the highest number of state-educated and female ministers in history, as Rachel Reeves became the first female chancellor ever, although ethnic representation has fallen.

A record 89 minority ethnic MPs were elected to parliament overall, according to research by the thinktank British Future, but David Lammy, the foreign secretary, will be the only black cabinet minister in Starmer’s government.

The first Labour cabinet in 14 years will also only have two ministers of Asian descent – Shabana Mahmood, one of the UK’s first Muslim female MPs, and Lisa Nandy.

Only two ministers in Starmer’s cabinet went to private school – Louise Haigh, who attended Sheffield High School, and Anneliese Dodds, who went to Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen.

You can read the full story by my colleagues, Aletha Adu and Michael Goodier, here:

We reported earlier (see post at 19.47) that Ireland’s premier Simon Harris said the election of a Labour government in the UK could herald a “great reset” in Anglo-Irish relations.

Northern Ireland first minister Michelle O’Neill has now said she raised the need to “reset” British-Irish relations and with the executive when she spoke to Starmer on Friday evening.

The Sinn Féin vice-president also raised health funding, the redevelopment of Casement Park and the controversial Legacy Act (that offers conditional immunity to soldiers and paramilitaries involved in the Troubles), the PA news agency reports.

“I urged the prime minister to follow through on his commitments to bin the Tories’ shameful Legacy Act which has failed victims and survivors,” O’Neill said.

“I will continue to press the British government on the things that matter most people, delivering for public services and all our communities as we engage in the days ahead.”

Sinn Féin leader, Mary Lou McDonald, meanwhile, said that she hopes “this new horizon is grasped by the Labour party”, adding “there’s a lot to be repaired”.

Two more cabinet appointments in Keir Starmer’s new government:

  • Timpson chief executive, James Timpson, who was recently appointed the HRH Prince of Wales ambassador for responsible business in the North West, has been appointed minister of state for prisons, parole and probation within the MoJ.

  • The UK’s former chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, has been appointed science minister in the department for science, innovation and technology.

Updated

Lib Dems to win UK's final seat after SNP admit defeat

Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor

The Liberal Democrats are poised to pick up an additional Westminster seat after the Scottish National party’s candidate conceded defeat in a closely-fought contest in the Highlands.

The seat of Inverness, Skye and Ross-shire – the last constituency in the UK to declare, was to be decided on Saturday after being subjected to a technical recount after discrepancies in voting tallies, which is due to start at 10.30am.

But the SNP candidate Drew Hendry, who had been defending the seat against a strong Liberal Democrat attack headed by its candidate Angus Macdonald, has written to his supporters stating that he expects to lose on Saturday.

That will deepen a humiliating election result for the SNP, leaving it on nine seats, but boost the Lib Dems at Westminster by taking their overall tally to 72. This will leave the Scottish Liberal Democrats on six seats – its strongest Westminster result in decades.

The pro-independence National newspaper said Hendry, a former Highlands council leader who first won its predecessor seat in the SNP landslide of 2015, had confirmed he knew the Lib Dems would win.

In a letter to supporters, he said:

Friends, thank you for all your incredible work over these past few months – you have been brilliant.

It has been a difficult result for our SNP family, including here in our constituency. While there is still to be a recount tomorrow, it is a technical recount due to an admin error on the verification process.

Unfortunately, it will not change the result which will see the Lib Dems take this seat.

Over the coming days and weeks, I will share my personal thanks to everyone involved in the campaign but for now, a simple thank you to each and everyone of you for your support over these years.

Updated

The White House has released a statement saying the US president, Joe Biden, has spoken with Keir Starmer, the UK’s prime minister, reaffirming the “special relationship” between the UK and the US.

“They reiterated their continued support for Ukraine as it fights Russia’s unrelenting aggression,” the statement read.

“They affirmed their shared commitment to protecting the gains of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and working with the leaders of Northern Ireland to create and sustain economic growth and opportunities.

“The President looks forward to welcoming prime minister Starmer to the Washington summit next week to celebrate Nato’s 75th anniversary.”

In his first overseas diplomatic trip as the UK’s prime minister, Starmer is due to attend the Nato leaders’ summit – which starts on Tuesday – alongside his foreign and defence secretaries (David Lammy and John Healey). He will meet other western leaders and reaffirm the UK’s support for Ukraine. The Telegraph reports that Starmer is likely to miss the first day of the summit because he has to attend a swearing-in ceremony for new MPs in the House of Commons.

Updated

How world's press reacted to Keir Starmer's history election victory

Starmer’s victory led many international headlines on Friday morning. The New York Times offered a straight appraisal of the results, “Labour party wins UK election in a landslide”, but noted both Starmer’s “remarkable turnaround” of his party and the fact that Nigel Farage, “a supporter of Donald Trump and a driving force behind Brexit”, had won a seat.

Germany’s Die Welt offered a pithy precis – “Tories experience ‘massacre’, Labour have clear victory; ‘Mr. Brexit’ returns” – while France’s Le Monde said Labour’s “historic victory” was evidence of “the thorough reconstruction of the British political landscape”.

In Spain, where the far-right Vox is the third biggest party in parliament, La Vanguardia noted the strong showing by Farage’s Reform UK party: “Labour storms it while the far right makes spectacular gains in the UK.”

And, in an introduction to its Friday podcast, the online Spanish newspaper ElDiario was blunt in its appraisal of the state of the UK – and of Starmer’s Tory predecessors: “A country where nothing works like it used to, a historical power now full of cracks, a society that has fallen victim to its own decisions has voted for change after 14 years of Conservative rule, and for a progressive leader from a humble background without eccentricities.”

Time for a 'great reset' in Anglo-Irish relations, Ireland's taoiseach says after Labour landslide

Ireland’s premier, Simon Harris, has said the election of a Labour government in the UK can herald a “great reset” in Anglo-Irish relations.

The taoiseach said he looks forward to working closely with Sir Keir Starmer as he acknowledged his “comprehensive victory” in the general election.

“I want to congratulate him and his family, his staff and his candidates, and as taoiseach I look forward to working together as close neighbours and as friends,” he said.

“The relationship between Ireland and the United Kingdom is deeply consequential for all people across these islands and the relationship between an Irish taoiseach and a British prime minister is vital.”

The relationship between London and Dublin has been under severe strain in recent years. The turbulence caused by Brexit and the Conservative government’s controversial laws to deal with the legacy of the Troubles were areas of major tension.

Harris hinted at Dublin’s belief that successive Conservative governments had undermined the Good Friday agreement, a legacy of former Labour leader Tony Blair’s premiership. “In the Labour party manifesto the language towards Ireland was language of partnership and as co-guarantors of our shared peace. This morning from Dublin I want to send a message to London that I will match Keir Starmer’s commitment and energy to our peace process and to our future potential in so many areas.”

There is widespread support in Belfast and Dublin for Labour’s plan to scrap the Legacy Act that offers conditional immunity to soldiers and paramilitaries involved in the Troubles.

Updated

Wes Streeting says the 'NHS is broken' and won't be fixed overnight

Wes Streeting has given his first statement as the new health secretary, warning that the NHS is “broken” and that “patients are being failed on a daily basis”.

Streeting said that the service is “going through the biggest crisis in its history” and it cannot be fixed overnight.

In a statement, he said:

When we said during the election campaign, that the NHS was going through the biggest crisis in its history, we meant it.

When we said that patients are being failed on a daily basis, it wasn’t political rhetoric, but the daily reality faced by millions.

Previous governments have not been willing to admit these simple facts. But in order to cure an illness, you must first diagnose it.

This government will be honest about the challenges facing our country, and serious about tackling them.

From today, the policy of this department is that the NHS is broken. That is the experience of patients who are not receiving the care they deserve, and of the staff working in the NHS who can see that – despite giving their best – this is not good enough.

Streeting added:

This government has received a mandate from millions of voters for change and reform of the NHS, so it can be there for us when we need it once again. It will take time – we never pretended that the NHS could be fixed overnight.

And it will take a team effort. It will be the mission of my department, every member of this government, and the 1.4 million people who work in the NHS, to turn our health service around.

We have done this before. When we were last in office, we worked hand in hand with NHS staff to deliver the shortest waits and highest patient satisfaction in history. We did it before, and together, we will do it again. That work starts today.

Streeting’s department faces numerous challenges ahead: strikes; NHS funding predicted to fall £38bn short by the end of the parliament; and almost 10 million people on waiting lists. Strikes will be the main focus of his attention in the short-term though.

After Labour’s election victory, Keir Starmer went to Buckingham Palace to meet with King Charles. The king had to formally ask Starmer to form a new government before he could be appointed as the new prime minister.

It is the first time video of the meeting has been publicly released on the same day the prime minister was elected:

Some more of Labour’s new cabinet:

  • Darren Jones, who was reelected as the MP for Bristol North West, has been appointed as chief secretary to the Treasury

  • Barrister Richard Hermer KC has been appointed attorney general. He has just been given a life peerage to take the role as attorney general.

  • Alan Campbell, who represents Tynemouth as an MP, has been appointed to the position of chief whip.

Updated

Turnout at UK general election on track to be lowest for more than 20 years

Turnout at the general election is on track to be the lowest for more than 20 years, the PA news agency reports.

After 649 of 650 results had been declared, the turnout figure stood at 59.8%, a sharp decline from an overall turnout of 67.3% at the last election in 2019.

It is also the worst turnout at a general election since 2001, when the figure slumped to 59.4%: the lowest since before the second world war.

The highest turnout at a general election since the war was 83.9% in 1950, according to figures compiled by the House of Commons Library.

The final turnout figure for the 2024 election will be confirmed on Saturday morning, when the last result is due to be declared, for the seat of Inverness, Skye & West Ross-shire.

Factors that could’ve influenced the relatively low turnout figure yesterday?

  • Stricter voter ID rules.

  • The constant talk of a large Labour majority or “supermajority” (as popularised by Grant Shapps, the now former defence secretary) may have left some voters feeling there was no point of going to the polling booth.

  • Wider fatigue with politics and distrust of politicians.

Tory leadership candidates are preparing for quick contest to replace Sunak - sources

Prospective Conservative party leadership candidates are preparing for a speedy contest to appoint a successor to Rishi Sunak by the autumn in an effort to challenge the rise of Reform.

Potential contenders among the heavily depleted Tory ranks have already started organising their campaigns ahead of an expedited process to install a new leader, after the party crashed to its worst election result in history.

Senior party figures are concerned that a drawn-out leadership contest would benefit Nigel Farage’s insurgent rightwing Reform UK and allow Labour to set the narrative about the Tory record in government, two well-placed Tory sources said.

“There’s a deep-rooted fear within the party institutionally that if we don’t have a full-time leader by September, that will allow Farage to position himself as the main opposition to Starmer,” a Tory close to HQ said.

“If you wait until party conference or even Christmas, the problem is you then come in as leader and instead of facing Starmer … you’re suddenly having to first argue with Farage.”

Two sources said Sunak had indicated he would stay in place as a caretaker party leader until early September or potentially later into the autumn if needed.

You can read the full story by my colleagues, Eleni Courea and Rowena Mason, here:

Updated

Biden says he is looking forward to deepening 'special relationship' as he congratulates Starmer on election win

The US president, Joe Biden, has congratulated Keir Starmer on becoming the UK’s new prime minister after his landslide victory in the general election.

Biden, 81, is facing pressure to step down as the Democrat’s presidential candidate over concerns about his age, highlighted in his disastrous debate performance last week.

In a tweet posted to X on Friday, Biden wrote:

Congratulations to prime minister Keir Starmer on becoming prime minister of the United Kingdom.

I look forward to our shared work in support of freedom and democracy around the world, and to further strengthening the special relationship between our two countries.

Here are a few more of Keir Starmer’s cabinet picks:

  • Angela Smith (the former MP for Basildon) – Leader of the House of Lords

  • Lucy Powell – Leader of the House of Commons

  • Hilary Benn – Northern Ireland secretary

  • Jo Stevens – Wales secretary

Lisa Nandy appointed as the new culture secretary

Lisa Nandy has been appointed as the new culture secretary, after the holder of the brief in his shadow cabinet, Thangam Debbonaire, lost her seat to the Green party.

In opposition, she had been shadow international development secretary. Nandy, who has been a member of parliament since 2010, represents the constituency of Wigan.

There has already been much talk in the media about the Labour party’s stance on Israel’s war in Gaza costing them seats in the general election.

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, admitted the party had suffered because of the position it has taken on the war, after he won his seat of Ilford North by just 528 seats.

Streeting was one of several Labour MPs in heavily Muslim areas who either lost their seats or were run unexpectedly close. Five candidates who campaigned on pro-Palestinian platforms won seats, including in Leicester South, where shadow paymaster Jonathan Ashworth, who was tipped for a more senior post, lost his seat. Ashworth received 13,760 votes, but lost out to independent candidate Shockat Adam, who gained 14,739 votes.

The foreign secretary, David Lammy, who kept a low profile during the campaign, has been asked about the success of pro-Palestinian candidates. Keir Starmer was fiercely criticised by many supporters for only gradually shifting Labour’s position towards supporting a ceasefire in Gaza.

According to Ashitha Nagesh, BBC News’ community affairs correspondent, Lammy said the Labour party “recognises the agony of communities who have seen the scenes coming out of Israel and Gaza”.

“All of us want to see an immediate ceasefire, and I will do all I can diplomatically to support Joe Biden in bringing about that ceasefire,” he added.

“We also want the hostages out and we want unfettered aid to get into Gaza and in the end we must work towards that two-state solution and have a clear path to progress.”

Updated

Labour inherits a host of environmental issues that will need to be dealt with by a department which is unprotected and, according to the PA news agency, could face a further financial squeeze.

So, what are some of the pressing environmental issues Labour will now face?

  • The polluted and degraded state of rivers, lakes and coastal waters across the country.

  • Questions over funding at Thames Water, the heavily indebted water firm that could be taken over by the government. Ofwat, the water regulator, is set to publish draft rulings next week on water companies’ business plans for the next five years, a potential crunch point for the UK’s largest water company.

  • There will be key demands from green groups which failed to materialise in the last parliament, including a ban on sale of horticultural peat and support for reintroducing lost species such as beavers to the wild.

  • Conservationists will also be looking to Steve Reed, the new environment secretary, to deliver on tree-planting targets and a global commitment to fully protect 30% of land and sea by 2030.

  • The Labour government will come under pressure to reverse controversial new licences for North Sea oil

  • Extreme weather events, driven by climate change, will also pressure Keir Starmer to take bold action on net zero and to fulfil his manifesto pledge, which called for the UK to become a “clean energy superpower”.

Updated

Keir Starmer’s new cabinet continues to take shape. Steve Reed, the Labour MP for Streatham and Croydon North, has been appointed as the new secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs.

Labour has pledged to halt the decline of British species and protect at least 30% of the land and sea by 2030, and will face pressure to deliver on environmental protection and agricultural policies by both the Greens – who have 4 MPs – and the Liberal Democrats – who now have 71 MPs.

Labour has failed to put a figure on its farming budget but has promised to publish a trade strategy to promote the highest standards in food production.

As the Guardian’s environment editor, Fiona Harvey, has noted, the Conservatives were criticised while in office for setting ambitious environmental goals without putting in place the policies and regulations required to meet them. Instead, many regulations effectibely went unenforced as government bodies, including the Environment Agency and Natural England, had their budgets reduced and had to cut staff.

Updated

In another tranche of appointments, No 10 has confirmed that Liz Kendall will be work and pensions secretary, Jonathan Reynolds will be business secretary, Peter Kyle will be science secretary and Louise Haigh will be transport secretary. Again, these are all people taking jobs they have been shadowing.

New prime ministers are normally tempted to start fiddling around with the structure of Whitehall, renaming or merging departments. But, in keeping with his focus on stability, Keir Starmer shows no sign of being tempted by that.

That’s all from me for today. Yohannes Lowe is now taking over.

The declaration in Basildon South and East Thurrock means there is just one result left to come – from Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire in the Highlands, where there is a recount because the SNP and the Lib Dems are very close. They are counting on Saturday.

Updated

The National Education Union (NEU) has “warmly congratulated” Bridget Phillipson as the new secretary of state for education – and nudged her to publish the recommendations on next year’s teacher pay that school leaders in England have been waiting for.

Daniel Kebede, the NEU’s general secretary, said:

After the chaos of recent times, NEU members are hopeful that Bridget Phillipson will usher in a period of stability and seriousness at the Department for Education. She has expressed a willingness to reset the relationship between ministers and the profession, which is absolutely vital if we are to turn the corner and start recruiting and retaining enough teachers and support staff. Making education a national priority should have at its core the raising of the status of the profession.

One of the education secretary’s early decisions in government will be on the teacher pay award for this September. Her predecessor shamefully sat on this decision prior to the general election, showing a complete disregard for school leaders who need to know the pay award to plan their budgets for the next academic year.

The NEU is calling on the new secretary of state to right the wrong of Gillian Keegan and to immediately publish the pay review body report and the government’s 2024-25 pay and funding offer.

Here are the full results from Basildon South and East Thurrock, from PA Media. Reform UK won by 98 votes.

Reform win – gain from notional C
James McMurdock (Reform) 12,178 (30.79%)
Jack Ferguson (Lab) 12,080 (30.54%)
Stephen Metcalfe (C) 10,159 (25.69%)
Neil Speight (Ind) 1,928 (4.87%)
Elizabeth Grant (Green) 1,718 (4.34%)
Dave Thomas (LD) 1,071 (2.71%)
Steven Burnett (Ind) 275 (0.70%)
Simon Breedon (Soc Dem) 140 (0.35%)
Reform maj 98 (0.25%)

20.70% boundary change
Electorate 74,957; Turnout 39,549 (52.76%)

2019 notional: C maj 18,731 (41.88%) – Turnout 44,729 (61.00%)
C 29,271 (65.44%); Lab 10,540 (23.56%); Others 3,014 (6.74%); LD
1,836 (4.10%); Green 68 (0.15%)

Updated

Reform UK wins fifth seat, taking Basildon South and East Thurrock after beating Labour in recount

Reform has won a fifth seat in parliament. It has taken Basildon South and East Thurrock, where its candidate, James McMurdock beat Labour’s Jack Ferguson after a recount. The seat was Tory at the last election.

Updated

Yvette Cooper, the new home secretary, has said she will be guided by Labour’s first steps when she starts in the Home Office. She told reporters:

The first duty of any government is to keep our country safe, to keep our communities safe and to keep our borders secure.

That is why my first task as I go into the Home Office will be Labour’s first steps - which means trying to get neighbourhood police back on our streets, in our communities, and also setting up the new Border Security Command to go after the criminal boat gangs that are organising the dangerous boat crossings.

We know there are a lot of challenges ahead and after 14 years there is some difficult legacy that we will inherit, and we know that that will mean hard graft and not gimmicks ahead in order to tackle that.

We also know that it feels that our communities have faced damage, and often feel felt fractured and sometimes brittle as well, and our task has to be to bring people back together and to restore respect and to restore trust - as Keir Starmer has said today, to restore politics to public service as well.

Let the change begin.

Reeves tells Treasury she wants economic policy to focus more on needs of women 'whose work is too often undervalued'

Rachel Reeves has delivered her first speech as chancellor, to staff at the Treasury. She confirmed that her priority will be promoting growth (something she and Keir Starmer have been saying repeatedly) and some of the language sounded very much like Gordon Brown, one of her political heroes. “Not growth for growth’s sake, but growth for a purpose … There is a long road ahead … It will demand hard work. I am ready for it.”

But the short speech also included passages that fleshed out in a bit more detail how she views the job. Here are some of the more interesting lines.

  • She said she wanted to ensure economic policy pays more attention to the needs of women “whose work is too often undervalued”. She said:

It is also a huge privilege to be the first ever female chancellor of the exchequer.

So every young woman and girl watching this: Let today show that there should be no ceilings on your ambitions, your hopes, or your dreams.

But there is a deeper responsibility too: to women whose work is too often undervalued, who have borne the brunt of inequality, and whose lives and interests are too often excluded from economic policymaking.

Together, we are going to change that.

  • She said she wanted Treasury staff to focus on the interests of ordinary people when making policy. She said:

I know that in an uncertain world, if we can deliver the stability, investment and reform that the prime minister and I have set out, then Britain can reap the rewards.

But for families at home – I know that this is about more than just lines on a graph.

It is about tackling the causes of the cost of living crisis and making work pay.

Rebuilding our health service and our schools.

And driving opportunity in every part of Britain.

I will always hold in my mind’s eye the people across our country whose livelihoods, public services and aspirations will rise or fall based on the decisions we make here.

And I ask you to do the same – whether in Darlington, or Norwich, or in this building.

The “mind’s eye” test for policy making echoes what Keir Starmer said during the campaign about how he would take decisions. He said:

Politics is about policies and what we’re going to do to change. It’s also about who do we have in our mind’s eye when we make decisions. And I have in mind in my mind’s eye working people like you are struggling with cost of living crisis

  • Reeves implied that she would regard her time as chancellor as a failure if she had not made a material difference to people’s lives. She said:

I will judge my time in office a success if I know that, at the end of it, there are working-class kids from ordinary backgrounds living richer lives, their horizons expanded, and their potential realised;

If we are leaving to the next generation a country that is more prosperous, with more good jobs paying decent wages, and a country better able to thrive in an uncertain world.

  • She praised the professionalism of Treasury staff. She said:

I have often disagreed with the political choices that have been taken in this building.

But I have never been in any doubt about the talent, the dedication and the professionalism that Treasury staff have displayed.

But Keir Starmer does have to make at least one new appointment, because Thangam Debbonaire, the shadow culture secretary, lost her seat. On Sky News Sam Coates says Lisa Nandy, the shadow international development secretary, may replace her as culture secretary.

There is a lot to be said for stability in politics, but Keir Starmer’s decision to appoint people to jobs they actually know something about because they have been doing them already (sometimes a novel approach in UK politics) is making this one of the most boring “reshuffles” in history. In fact, it is not really a reshuffle. People are just having the “shadow” chipped off their title.

No 10 has confirmed that Wes Streeting will be health secretary, Bridget Phillipson will be education secretary and Ed Miliband will be energy secretary (or energy security and net zero secretary, to use the longer version of the title).

It has been a bad night for parliamentary sketchwriters; some of the characters they write about most frequently have been swept off the stage. Here is John Crace’s column.

And here is an excerpt.

Meanwhile, Liz Truss departed this political life in a flurry of indifference towards her constituents. The feeling was mutual. She was slow hand-clapped at her count. A dismal end to a dismal prime minister. But I’ll miss her nonetheless. Where will Popular Conservatism be without the woman who made it so Unpopular? Her unknowing sense of the absurd was comedy gold.

Still, not entirely good news for the Tories. Much to the disappointment of his colleagues, Richard Holden won by 20 votes in Basildon and Billericay. No greater love hath any man than this, that he lay down his friends for his seat.

They are not hanging about in No 10, where he have had five more appointments: Pat McFadden is chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster (Cabinet Office minister), David Lammy is foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper is home secretary, John Healey is defence secretary, and Shabana Mahmood is justice secretary.

These are all moves to jobs the the ministers were shadowing in opposition.

Rachel Reeves has posted this on X about her appointment as chancellor.

Farage says Reform UK will now be chasing Labour votes

Nigel Farage appeared with Richard Tice, Lee Anderson and Rupert Lowe at the Reform UK event this afternoon. All four are now MPs. And Farage took questions. Here are some of his main points.

  • Farage claimed Reform UK would now be chasing Labour votes. He said:

Old Labour was very, very patriotic. It believed in the country. It believed in its people. New Labour far less so.

And the journey that Lee Anderson has been on is a journey that at least a couple of million people have been on, and it’ll be many, many more by the time we’re finished, because no doubt, our priority now is to go after Labour votes. That is what we’re going to be doing.

  • He played down the significance of the racism problem in Reform UK, claiming that it was more of a problem in Labour. He said:

The racism problem in the Labour party was enormous, but to Keir Starmer’s credit actually he did quite a lot by getting rid of Jeremy Corbyn, who ironically has been re-elected.

There’s an awful lot we can do. There is plenty of racism in British politics, it’s mostly in the Labour party.

  • He renewed his claim that Reform UK had problem with racist candidates during the election because it was let down by a vetting company, and he said he would be taking legal action against it. The firm, Vetting.Com, has rejected Farage’s suggestions that candidates were not vetted as part of a plot to sabotage the party and said that, if there were problems, it was just because the election came early and there was not enough time. Farage has threatened legal action against the firm before. He has also threatened to take legal action against the Mail on Sunday over a story saying his comments about the Ukraine war were welcomed by the Kremlin. Whether any of these legal threats materialise remains to be seen.

  • Farage said he did not know whether he would be giving up his broadcasting career, or whether he would be going to the US to support Donald Trump in the presidential election in the autumn.

Rachel Reeves confirmed as Britain's first female chancellor

Rachel Reeves has been confirmed as the new chancellor. She is the first woman to hold the post in its 800-year history.

It means she has broken one of the few “glass ceilings’ left for women in British politics. (We have still not had a woman serve as clerk of the Commons, another post that goes back to the middle ages.)

Updated

No 10 confirms Angela Rayner as deputy PM and levelling up secretary

No 10 has confirmed that Angela Rayner will be deputy PM, and secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities (the job she shadowed in opposition).

Updated

Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow business secretary, has arrived in Downing Street for his meeting with Keir Starmer.

They are not wasting time in Downing Street. Peter Kyle, the shadow science secretary, and Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, have already gone in, and Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, has just arrived at the door.

Anneliese Dodds, the Labour chair and shadow secretary for women and equalities, is waiting her turn by the gates to No 10, according to the TV footage.

Diane Abbott to be mother of the House in new parliament

Labour’s Diane Abbott will be mother of the House in the new parliament (the longest-serving female MP). This is from the Fawcett Society offering its congratulations.

And Jeremy Corbyn, Abbott’s friend and ally who was re-elected last night as an independent, having been thrown out of Labour, has narrowly missed being father of the House (its longest-serving male MP). As PA Media reports, the Tory Edward Leigh, 73, MP for Gainsborough, pipped him to the title, because he was sworn in moments before Corbyn after the June 1983 election.

Abbott was only allowed to stand for election for Labour at the last minute. She had been suspended from the parliamentary party over a letter she wrote to the Observer last year, and it was widely assumed that Starmer’s allies at party HQ were determined to block her being a candidate. There was also talk of her agreeing to stand down with dignity, having been readmitted to the PLP. But Abbott was allowed to stand as a Labour candidate, and decided to run, after a newspaper briefing saying she would be blocked caused an angry backlash in the party.

David Lammy has arrived in Downing Street. He is due to become foreign secretary, having shadowed the post in opposition.

And Rachel Reeves has arrived at Downing Street. We know she is going to be chancellor because this was one of the few appointments Keir Starmer confirmed before the election.

Protester calls Nigel Farage a racist as he speaks after election

Ben Quinn has video of the protest at the Farage event.

Nigel Farage claims the protesters may be actors.

(This is the allegation he made about the Channel 4 News exposé showing racism amongst his activists. There is no evidence to support this.)

Updated

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, is about to give a speech in Westminster. There is a live feed at the top of the blog. As he was starting a heckler started interrupting him, who had to be escorted out.

A second protester is now doing the same. “Boring,” Farage shouts repeatedly. He says this will be good prepartion for the barracking he will get in the Commons.

Updated

Pat McFadden, Labour’ national campaign coordinator, has just arrived at No 10. He was also a shadow Cabinet Office minister. He is expected to play a very big role in Keir Starmer’s government, although as yet we do not know what his role will be.

Angela Rayner has just arrived in Downing Street. Labour’s elected deputy leader, she will be deputy PM in Keir Starmer’s government

Marina Hyde has filed her take on the election. Here’s an extract.

The Tories have cycled through five prime ministers over the past eight years, to the point where they were recently found going through the rubbish, pulling the first guy back out, thinking, “Actually, he doesn’t look half bad now,” and making him foreign secretary. This is the behaviour of addicts.

Not that they have the monopoly on erraticism. Any dispassionate view of these results suggests the fabled post-Brexit “realignment” is more of a dealignment – the huge sweeping gains of this or that political moment able to be reversed in previously unthinkable timespans. Volatility might now be our defining electoral characteristic, and a rise in sectarian politics cannot and should not be ignored. Because hey – what’s the worst that can happen with that one? Meanwhile, many people who derided the simplistic “Get Brexit done” slogan in 2019 have pretended not to notice that the winner here went out under the even more gnomic banner of “Change”.

New Commons will have highest ever number of comprehensive-educated MPs, report says

The new House of Commons will have its highest-ever proportion of MPs educated at comprehensive schools, according to new analysis by the Sutton Trust.

Of the 650 MPs, the trust calculates that 63% were educated at comprehensives, higher than the 54% elected in 2019 and closer to the 88% of the overall population who went to comprehensives. A further 13% went to grammar schools, meaning that more than three-quarters of MPs attended state schools.

Some 23% (126) of MPs went to private secondary schools, compared to around 7% of the population. That is well below the 29% of MPs after both the 2019 and 2017 elections.

One big change from 2010: only four MPs went to Eton, compared with 11 when David Cameron became prime minister. But 46% of Conservative MPs elected yesterday went to private schools, compared to 15% of Labour MPs.

In higher education, the majority of MPs continue to be drawn from a narrow range of Russell Group research-intensive universities, including 20% who went to Oxbridge. One in 10 MPs did not attend higher education.

Good afternoon. I’m Andrew Sparrow, back on the blog and taking over from Martin Belam.

We are getting cabinet appointments from Keir Starmer this afternoon. Having campaigned on the basis that he is offering stability, we’re expecting most shadow cabinet ministers to move into the jobs they have been shadowing.

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader and new MP for Clacton, is also promising a speech this afternoon.

If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line (BTL) or message me on X (Twitter). I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word. If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use X; I’ll see something addressed to @AndrewSparrow very quickly. I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos (no error is too small to correct). And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.

Rishi Sunak’s team have issued some photos of him saying goodbye to staff and colleagues in Downing Street before he headed to Buckingham Palace to tender his resignation to King Charles.

  • And on that note, it is time for me, Martin Belam, to bid you farewell too, as it is the end of my shift. Andrew Sparrow is back now to take you through the rest of the day. Thank you so much for your comments and emails over the last couple of days – especially the dog pictures – and I shall see you again soon. Take care, and I hope you enjoy as good a weekend as you can.

Updated

New prime minister Keir Starmer has posted to social media a picture of himself and his wife Victoria outside what is their new home.

There are only two seats left to declare. South Basildon and East Thurrock is having a full recount starting at 2pm this afternoon. It is believed to be tight, with Reform UK’s James McMurdock apparently likely to become their fifth MP ahead of Labour’s Jack Ferguson. Conservative Stephen Metcalfe, MP there since 2010, is believed to have come third.

The other outstanding declaration is Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire in the Highlands, where there is a recount to be held on Saturday morning. Angus MacDonald could become the 72nd Liberal Democrat MP and their 64th gain at the expense of the SNP’s Drew Hendry, who held the predeccesor seat before boundary changes.

All the rest of the results can be found here in our interactive …

Here is the video of Keir Starmer’s first address to the nation as the UK’s new prime minister.

The UK’s first past the post electoral system produces some very obvious distortions – Labour won close to two-thirds of Commons seats on around a third of the popular vote – and some of these have been crunched and collated by Make Votes Matter, a pro-proportional representation campaign group.

It found that 58% of people who voted have ended up with an MP different to the party they chose, a record high. In all, 74% of votes were what it called “non decisive” – either cast for a losing candidate, or above the margin of victory for the winner.

There were particular differences between the parties: their data found that while just three in ten people who voted Conservative ended up with a Conservative MP, this was the case for eight in ten Labour voters.

On average, to elect a Conservative or Reform MP it needed 87,200 votes, versus an average of 31,000 for a Labour, Lib Dem or Green MP.

The group said: “Labour’s vote has been described as efficient, but let’s be clear what this means: winning seats with as few votes as possible. The bottom line is, under first past the post, some people’s votes matter more than others’.

This is a map that Rishi Sunak will not be wanting to look at very often, one should imagine. It illustrates how just five years after Boris Johnson won a majority of 80 seats, Sunak has presided over a dismal electoral performance by the Conservatives which has reduced them to just 121 MPs. John Swinney probably should look away too.

Northern Ireland’s first minister has said thank you to voters for their support of Sinn Féin, which has become the largest party in Northern Ireland by both vote share and number of MPs. In a message on social media, Michelle O’Neill said:

Sinn Féin is now the largest party in the North; in local government, in the assembly and in Westminster. Your support has made history. I want to thank each and every one of you for placing your trust in us and voting for Sinn Féin.

We sought your endorsement for our strong leadership, vision for positive change, and commitment to work for all. And you have spoken loud and clear. Ahead of us is a new and better future for everyone on this island.

Sinn Féin MPs will work tirelessly to stand up for public services, and champion the needs and aspirations of workers, families, and communities. Thank you and let’s keep journeying forward to a new Ireland, together.

Sinn Féin MPs do not take up their seats in Westminster. Paul Maskey wrote for the Guardian at the height of the rows about Brexit in 2018 to explain why he didn’t and how that is not going to change.

Hilary Osborne is the Guardian’s money and consumer editor

The Labour party’s manifesto made a few promises on personal finances – and missed out a few things that might leave the way clear for change.

Tax and pay: Labour said it would not increase national insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of income tax, or VAT – but it will introduce VAT to private school fees.

It did not rule out changes to council tax, capital gains tax (the tax on the profits from selling assets) or inheritance tax.

The freeze on income tax thresholds until 2028 is set to stay in place, which means more people being dragged into higher rates of tax as they earn more. The Conservatives’ promise of more national insurance cuts was not matched by Labour.

It will extend the full minimum wage to cover everyone over 18.

Pensions: The triple lock will stay, so the state pension payments will continue to go up by at least 2.5% each year. The party has promised a comprehensive review of pensions – this will look at how to get more people saving enough for a secure retirement. During the campaign it committed to keeping the rules that allow retirees to take a 25% tax-free lump sum from their pension.

Previously, the party had said it would bring back in the lifetime cap on how much you can invest in a pension before facing tax charges. This was not in the manifesto, but could be revisited.

Housing: 1.5m new homes will be built over the next five years, the party says, including social housing – it has promised “the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation”.

The mortgage guarantee on 95% home loans will stay in place, which will give lenders reassurance to offer these low-deposit deals. New leasehold flats will be banned.

For renters, section 21 evictions will be abolished straight away and tenants will eventually get powers to challenge unreasonable rent rises.

Benefits: Not much was said on this subject in the manifesto, despite its importance. Labour said it would review universal credit, but has not pledged to scrap the two-child policy for benefits, despite having previously opposed it.

Eco measures: The ban on sales of petrol and diesel cars will be set at 2030. Labour has promised no one will have to rip out their boiler, but it will be encouraging people to install solar panels and low-carbon heating with grants and loans. Homes in the rented sector will have to meet minimum energy efficiency standards, which should help tenants keep their bills down.

The leader of the Conservatives in the Senedd, Andrew RT Davies, has offered best wishes to the new prime minister, and thanked outgoing prime minister Rishi Sunak. In a message on social media, he said:

I’d like to wish Rishi Sunak and his family the very best as he leaves Downing Street, and the same to Keir Starmer as he takes over as our prime minister. Our great country deserves effective leadership, and I say with utmost sincerity that I hope he succeeds. Britain wins if he does.

Davies was slightly less benevolent in his wording last night, when after the exit poll was published, indicating the Conservatives faced a wipeout in the country. He said the “shenanigans that have gone on over the last five years” in Westminster had been the cause of the party’s poor performance.

He told BBC viewers then that “You’ll see my anger tomorrow in the Welsh party board meeting.”

The first pictures of prime minister Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria entering 10 Downing Street, which will be their new home, have arrived.

Starmer promises government 'unburdened by doctrine'

My colleague Pippa Crerar picked up on this bit of Starmer’s speech, where he asked whether people believed that life was getting better for their children, before using that phrase “unburdened by doctrine”.

Ben Riley-Smith, the Telegraph’s political editor, suggests it is “perhaps the most significant phrase” of the speech. He posted:

Perhaps the most significant phrase hidden in that Starmer speech – this will be a “government unburdened by doctrine”. His leadership has rejected the simple ideological templates of the left. Starmer, aides say, is “outcomes foccused”. A declaration he’ll continue that approach.

Another phrase that stuck out for me was “End the era of noisy performance”, which suggests, at least for a little while, we might have a bit less of ministers going out to bat during the morning media rounds stirring up culture war issues or repeatedly defending lines that are clearly indefensible. We shall soon see on that score.

UPDATE: Starmer said:

From now on, you have a government unburdened by doctrine, guided only by the determination to serve your interest, to defy, quietly, those who have written our country off.

You have given us a clear mandate and we will use it to deliver change, to restore service and respect to politics, end the era of noisy performance, tread more lightly on your lives and unite our country.

Four nations standing together again, facing down as we have so often in our past, the challenges of an insecure world, committed to a calm and patient rebuilding.

So with respect and humility, I invite you all to join this government of service in the mission of national renewal.

Our work is urgent and we begin it today.

Updated

Keir Starmer has now gone inside Downing Street. During the afternoon we are expecting details of his cabinet appointments to be made public. Here are a couple of pictures of the scenes outside No 10 as he gave his first national address as prime minister.

Starmer: 'our work is urgent and we begin it today'

New UK prime minister Keir Starmer has finished speaking outside Downing Street. He ended his speech by saying his government would “defy quietly those who have written our country off.”

He said:

You have given us a clear mandate, and we will use it to deliver change. To restore service and respect to politics. End the era of noisy performance. Tread more lightly on your lives. And unite our country.

Four nations standing together again. Facing down, as we have so often in our past, the challenges of an insecure world. Committed to a calm and patient rebuilding. So with respect, and humility I invite you all to join this government of service, in the mission of national renewal.

Our work is urgent and we begin it today. Thank you very much.

In an earlier part of the speech he said “Brick by brick we will rebuild the infrastructure of opportunity. The world class schools and colleges. The affordable homes that I know are the ingredients of hope for working people.”

He added:

The work of change begins immediately, but have no doubt, we will rebuild Britain.

Updated

Starmer: country needs 'a bigger reset' and his government will be 'unburdened by doctrine'

The new prime minister says “it is surely clear to everyone that our country needs a bigger reset. A rediscovery of who we are.”

He says “one of the great strengths of this nation has always been our ability to navigate a way to calmer waters. And yet this depends upon politicians, particularly those who stand for stability and moderation as I do, recognising when we must change course.”

Starmer says “for too long now we turned a blind eye as millions slid into greater insecurity.”

He says his government will fight every day to make people believe in them.

He says “from now on you have a government unburdened by doctrine, guided only by the determination to serve your interest.”

Starmer says 'we will govern country first, party second'

Starmer says “whether you voted Labour or not, in fact, especially if you did not I say to you directly. My government will serve you. Politics can be a force for good. We will show that. We’ve changed the Labour party, returned it to service, and that is how we will govern. Country first, party second”.

Updated

Starmer says lack of trust in British politics can only be healed by action not words but “we can make a start today with the simple of knowledge that public service is a privilege, and that your government should treat every single person in this country, with respect”.

Updated

Keir Starmer has opened by paying tribute to Rishi Sunak, saying the “extra effort” he faced as “the first British Asian prime minister”. Starmer says “we also recognise the dedication and hard work he brought to his leadership”.

Updated

Keir Starmer gives first national address as prime minister

Keir Starmer has arrived at Downing Street after being appointed prime minister by the king, and is giving his first national address.

He has opened by saying he has accepted the invitation from the king to form the government of “this great nation”.

The UK’s new prime minister Keir Starmer is greeting supporters, having arrived at Downing Street. He will shortly be giving his first national address, having been formally appointed to the role by King Charles at Buckingham Palace.

Keir Starmer is the seventh Labour prime minister, and won yesterday’s election with the party returning 412 MPs after having lost the four previous general elections.

Buckingham Palace statement confirms Keir Starmer has been appointed prime minister

Buckingham Palace has confirmed Keir Starmer is the new prime minister with the following statement:

The king received in audience the right honourable Sir Keir Starmer MP today and requested him to form a new administration. Sir Keir accepted his majesty’s offer and kissed hands upon his appointment as prime minister and First Lord of the Treasury.

Prime minister Keir Starmer has left Buckingham Palace to head to Downing Street.

Very shortly the new prime minister Keir Starmer will emerge from Buckingham Palace, where he has been accompanied by his wife. He will then make the short journey to Downing Street where he will make a national address. Party workers and activists have lined the street there carrying flags.

All of the existing outgoing Conservative ministers of state have to return their seals of office to the king during the afternoon so they can be issued to Starmer’s cabinet, which we are expecting to be appointed before the end of the day.

Keir Starmer formally appointed as prime minister by King Charles

Keir Starmer has been formally appointed as prime minister by King Charles at Buckingham Palace after a landslide victory in yesterday’s general election.

While we are waiting for Keir Starmer to emerge from Buckingham Palace, here is Labour leader in Scotland, Anas Sarwar, posing with Labour’s Scottish MPs. There are now 37 of them after last night’s election.

This is the scene in Downing Street awaiting Keir Starmer, who is at this moment in Buckingham Palace meeting King Charles.

Earlier today France’s president Emmanuel Macron, no doubt somewhat preoccupied with his country’s own ongoing election, posted a message to social media to congratulate Keir Starmer. It implied the pair had spoken

Macron said:

Congratulations Keir Starmer on your victory. Pleased with our first discussion. We will continue the work begun with the UK for our bilateral cooperation, for peace and security in Europe, for the climate and for AI.

With it likely that in parliament Nigel Farage and his Reform MPs will have a focus on applying pressure on people arriving in the UK via channel crossings, Starmer will be keen to foster a co-operative relationship with Macron.

As a reminder, in the UK government, not only the prime minister, but all ministers have to be approved by the king before they can be appointed.

Former Tory cabinet minister David Gauke who ended up leaving the party over Brexit and running in his old seat as an independent in 2019, has made a point about the seeming graciousness with which the prime minister and chancellor have greeted defeat. He posted to social media to say:

I know it’s much harder when governing, let alone in a campaign, but a bit more of the tone represented by Rishi Sunak’s and Jeremy Hunt’s speeches today and maybe the Conservatives would be a little less hated.

In his speech earlier Sunak paid tribute to Starmer, describing him as a “decent, public spirited man”. The outgoing prime minister said “He and his family deserve the very best of our understanding as they make the huge transition to their new lives behind this door.”

The comments came just days after Sunak and the Conservatives had tried to make a wedge campaign issue out of Starmer suggesting he would try to carve out time on Friday evenings to spend with his family.

Keir Starmer has arrived at Buckingham Palace to meet King Charles

Keir Starmer has arrived at Buckingham Palace to meet King Charles. He will be invited to form the next UK government and become prime minister.

To add to the general air of chaos as the country currently has no prime minister during these constitutional handover shenanigans, here is a video of Ed Davey dad-dancing while Liberal Democrats sing Sweet Caroline. You’re welcome.

Nigel Farage was privately more than happy with the party’s haul of four MPs, according to his friend and Finnish alter ego, Timo Soini, who led Finland’s own version of Reform UK into government in 2015.

Soini, a Eurosceptic maverick who roughshod over the consensus that had long characterised Finnish politics and became foreign minister, is now retired, but made the journey to Clacton to witness his friend finally becoming an MP at the eight attempt.

“We discussed it this morning and agreed that it was better to have a trusted group of people around you rather than lots of bad apples,” Soini told the Guardian as he prepared to catch a train from Clacton.

Soini laughed in agreement at the suggestion that his own party – which started off with this one MP and later grew rapidly – with had set a blue print for Reform.

The Finnish populist leader was not the only international watcher from the hard right who had come to Clacton’s leisure centre last night. Others included Ezra Levant, a Canadian broadcaster and political activist who is close to the British far right political activist Tommy Robinson. US supporters of Donald Trump were also present, including Raheem Kassam, a former aide to Farage who has reinvented himself in the US as a media personality and Trump-supporting podcaster.

Plaid Cymru have had their best ever election result, with four MPs heading to Westminster. Leader Rhun ap Iorwerth has issued a thank you statement, and described the new MPs as “outstanding champions”. He said:

This election result was achieved through the collective efforts of everyone who believes in Wales’ future. The outstanding champions Wales will have in Westminster in Ann, Ben, Llinos and Liz.

The inspiring energy, passion and dedication of all candidates and the hundreds of activists who supported them. And everyone who put their faith in us to demand fairness for Wales at every turn. Diolch o galon. Together, we can build a fairer, more ambitious Wales.

Plaid Cyrmu won in Ynys Môn, Caerfyrddin, Ceredigion Preseli and Dwyfor Meirionnydd.

This evening my colleague Hugh Muir will chair a panel of Guardian columnists and writers including John Crace, Gaby Hinsliff, Jonathan Freedland, and Zoe Williams at an event in London called Guardian Newsroom: Election results special.

It is on from 7.30pm-9pm (BST), and you can join it in person or on a livestream. There are more details here.

Rebecca Ratcliffe is the Guardian’s Southeast Asia correspondent

Leaders in South-East Asia have congratulated Keir Starmer on the election. In a post on social media, Singapore’s prime minister Lawrence Wong wrote: “Congratulations to Keir Starmer and the Labour party on their victory in the UK general election. Singapore and the UK share a longstanding and historical relationship. Look forward to working with Mr Starmer and his team to strengthen our strategic partnership.”

Malaysia’s prime minister Anwar Ibrahim wrote: “Congratulations to Keir Starmer and the Labour party on their sweeping victory in the UK general election. The partnership between Malaysia and Britain is an enduring one, woven through history and strengthened by the close bonds of kith and kin. Britain’s participation in the CPTPP broadens the horizons for our economic partnership,” he said, referring to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, an Indo-Pacific trade bloc.

Anwar added: “The Five Power Defence Arrangements serve as a cornerstone for our mutual security, enhancing regional stability and fostering closer defence cooperation. I look forward to working with Starmer and his team to develop a new strategic relationship, built on inclusivity, equality, mutual respect, people-to-people connection and a shared vision for the future.”

The Five Power Defence Arrangements are defence relationships that include some Commonwealth countries, including Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the UK.

Praful Nargund, who was the official Labour candidate put up against Jeremy Corbyn in Islington North has issued a statement on social media. He posted to say:

While it wasn’t the result we hoped for, I’d like to thank every resident of Islington North who cast their vote for me. That was a huge act of faith in me, and I’ll always be grateful.

To each and every person who knocked on doors, stuffed envelopes, delivered leaflets, or helped out in the office – thank you. Your humour, kindness, and energy meant more to me than I can put into words.

I’m proud to have run a genuinely positive campaign, one that has been full of joy, smiles and hope for a better future for Islington North, and for our country. Of course there were tough times, and I would be lying if I said it was easy to hear and read things about me in this campaign that simply weren’t true. Sadly these sort of tactics are rapidly becoming a regular part of our politics now – and that can’t be good.

But today, Britain has voted for change. I’m incredibly proud to have stood on behalf of changed Labour party that now has the opportunity to serve in government. Thank you.

Corbyn’s own statement after victory said:

Tonight, our community made history. This election was never about me. It has always been about our community and the values we share. And it’s about our undying belief that there is an alternative to inequality, poverty and war.

Tonight’s result in Islington North gives us a glimpse of a different future, which puts the interests of the many ahead of those of the few. It is also a warning – a warning to the incoming government that dissent cannot be crushed without consequences. That ideas of equality, justice and peace are eternal. That hope for a better world can never be extinguished.

Tonight, we celebrate. Tomorrow, we organise. The energy we have unleashed will not go to waste. We are a movement made up of all ages, backgrounds and faiths. A movement which can win with and for people all over the country.

Nargund came second to Corbyn, who will sit as an independent MP, and who received 24,120 votes and has a majority of 7,247.

Guardian columnist Rafael Behr has had this to say just now on social media about the nature of Keir Starmer’s election victory, which has delivered a huge majority for the Labour party. Behr said:

Starmer won, using the available electoral system, by making himself the acceptable PM candidate for a vast anti-Tory coalition. It doesn’t vibe like a presidential mandate but nor is it simply expressed by the 34% Lab share.

Buckingham Palace confirms King Charles has accepted resignation of Rishi Sunak

Buckingham Palace has issued the following statement:

The Right Honourable Rishi Sunak MP had an audience of the King this morning and tendered his resignation as prime minister and First Lord of the Treasury, which his majesty was graciously pleased to accept.

Rishi Sunak appears to have left Buckingham Palace after tendering his resignation to King Charles.

This is a picture of the scene when he was invited in a few minutes ago.

My colleague Helena Horton seems not that fussed that Thérèse Coffey is among the Conservative ministers who lost their seats last night. Coffey had been the MP in Suffolk Coastal since 2010. The BBC reported last night that she declined to be interviewed after the defeat.

Keir Starmer will visit Buckingham Palace after Rishi Sunak, when the Labour leader will be invited to form the next government. He is expected to address the nation from Downing Street at about 12.25pm.

Earlier Pat McFadden, Labour’s national campaign manager, said he expected Starmer would appoint his full cabinet by the close of play today. He said the cabinet would meet on Saturday.

There is some constitutional rigmarole yet to be done, as ministers stay in their roles during an election campaign, and the outgoing Conservatives, some of whom lost their seats only hours ago, need to hand back seals of office.

Starmer is broadly expected to appoint the majority of his shadow cabinet into the equivalent ministerial roles, however there have been a couple of gaps left in the lineup. Jonathan Ashworth and Thangam Debbonaire both lost their seats, so Starmer will need to find people to fill their former roles in the work and pensions and the DCMS roles.

This is what Sunak posted about his farewell to office, saying:

I have given this job my all. But you have sent a clear message, and yours is the only judgement that matters. This is a difficult day, but I leave this job honoured to have been prime minister of the best country in the world.

Swinney: SNP need to take time to consider and reflect on election result

While Rishi Sunak is in Buckingham Palace, I just want to swing back to something from earlier. John Swinney has said his party need to take time to consider and reflect on an election result which has seen them lose 37 Westminster seats so far, reducing the party to just nine elected representatives in the House of Commons.

Speaking in Glasgow, Scotland’s first minister said “I have to accept that we failed to convince people of the urgency of independence in this election campaign.”

The party had previously said that winning a majority of seats in Scotland should be taken as a mandate for independence.

PA Media reports Swinney said:

As somebody who has devoted their entire adult life to the winning of Scottish independence – not for an abstract reason, but because I believe it will transform the lives of our people for the better – we need to get that approach correct in the forthcoming period.

I accept that we need to engage with, listen to and learn from the people of Scotland on how we take forward our arguments for independence.

Therefore, we need to take the time to consider and to reflect on how we deliver our commitment to independence – which remains absolute.

Rishi Sunak has just been welcomed into Buckingham Palace by the king’s private secretary Sir Clive Alderton.

Updated

Rishi Sunak is now visiting King Charles as part of the handover of power in the UK. After that, Keir Starmer will be invited to the palace and invited to form the next government.

The outgoing prime minister said outside Downing Street that he would step down as Conservative leader as soon as arrangements were in place to select a successor.

This is only the second handover of power between political parties in the UK in 27 years. There are now eight living former prime ministers.

Rishi Sunak was watched by his wife Akshata Murty as he made the speech outside Downing Street.

He did have some words about what he considered his achievements as prime minister, saying:

When I first stood here as your prime minister, I told you the most important task I had was to return stability to our economy. Inflation is backed to target, mortgage rates are falling and growth has returned.

We have enhanced our standing in the world, rebuilding relations with allies, leading global efforts to support Ukraine, and becoming the home of new generation of transformative technologies.

And our United Kingdom is stronger too. With the Windsor framework, devolution restored in Northern Ireland, and our union strengthened.

I’m proud of those achievements. I believe this country is safer, stronger, and more secure than it was 20 months ago. And it is more prosperous, fairer and resilient than it was in 2010.

Here is what Rishi Sunak had to say about his defeat. Speaking outside Downing Street he said:

I have given this job my all but you have sent a clear signal that the government of the United Kingdom must change and yours is the only judgment that matters. I have heard your anger, your disappointment. And I take responsibility for this loss.

He went on to say he was sorry to his colleagues who had lost their seats, saying:

To all the conservative candidates and campaigners who worked tirelessly, but without success, I am sorry that we could not deliver what your efforts deserved.

It pains me to think how many good colleagues who contributed so much to their communities and our country will now no longer sit in the House of Commons. I thank them for their hard work and their service.

This is how he announced his plan to resign as leader of the Conservatives:

Following this result, I will step down as party leader, not immediately, but once the formal arrangements for selecting my successor are in place.

It is important that after 14 years in government, the Conservative party rebuilds, but also that it takes up its crucial role in opposition professionally and effectively.

Rishi Sunak says “This is a difficult day, at the end of a number of difficult days” and finishes speaking.

He finished:

I leave this job honoured to have been your prime minister. This is the best country in the world. And it is thanks entirely to you, the British people, the true source of all our achievements, our strengths, and our greatness. Thank you.

Sunak is now being driven to Buckingham Palace to meet King Charles.

Sunak wishes Starmer well as PM, saying he is 'decent public spirited man'

Sunak has praised Keir Starmer, saying:

Whilst he has been my political opponent, Keir Starmer, will shortly become our prime minister. In this job, his successes will be all our successes, and I wish him and his family well. Whatever our disagreements in this campaign, He is a decent, public spirited man who I respect.

He and his family deserve the very best of our understanding as they make the huge transition to their new lives behind this door. And as he grapples with this most demanding of jobs in an increasingly unstable world.

Updated

Rishi Sunak announces intention to resign as Conservative leader but stay on until successor appointed

Rishi Sunak has announced his intention to resign as Conservative leader, but will stay on while arrangements can be made to choose his successor.

More details soon …

Updated

Rishi Sunak apologises to nation

Rishi Sunak has apologised to the nation for the election loss. He says:

I will shortly be seeing His Majesty the King to offer my resignation as prime minister to the country. I would like to say first and foremost, I am sorry.

I have given this job my all but you have sent a clear signal that the government of the United Kingdom must change and yours is the only judgment that matters. I have heard your anger, your disappointment. And I take responsibility for this loss.

Beth Rigby on Sky News has just said of Rishi Sunak that “I think he has defined his legacy by the scale of the loss. He just can’t get past that he will go down in history as the least successful Conservative prime minister at the ballot box.”

He is about to speak …

Poole has declared, and Labour’s Neil Duncan-Jordan has taken the seat from the Conservatives, beating Robert Syms by just 18 votes. Reform UK candidate Andrei Dragotoniu got 7,429. The Lib Dem Oliver Walters got 5,507 and the Green Party candidate Sarah Ward got 2,218. Labour now have 412 MPs.

Rishi Sunak to give final address to nation as prime minister after crushing general election defeat

Rishi Sunak is set to announce his departure as prime minister in a concession speech outside Downing Street. He will then travel to the palace for formally tender his resignation to King Charles.

After that, Keir Starmer will attend the palace, where the king will ask him to form the next government. Starmer is expected to make a national address at 12.25pm

It is unclear whether the outgoing prime minister will also use the opportunity to clarify his plans as leader of the Conservative party. He may resign with immediate effect, triggering a leadership campaign, or it is possible he may stay on as leader of the opposition for an interim period, until perhaps the new parliament is dissolved for the summer recess.

Several potential candidates for the role lost their seats overnight, including Penny Mordaunt who not long ago was being touted as a stable option to nurse the government through to an election if Sunak had been ousted. Steve Baker and Grant Shapps also lost their seats.

Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman, James Cleverly, Priti Patel, Robert Jenrick, Jeremy Hunt and Tom Tugendhat are all possible candidates who remain in parliament.

Updated

We are not going to get a final result in the general election today because the count in Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire is not going to be finished until tomorrow morning.

The Inverness Courier reports the initial count was “neck and neck throughout the night” between Liberal Democrat Angus MacDonald and the SNP’s Drew Hendry. It is a new constituency, but Hendry was SNP MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey from 2015 until 2024. A recount will be undertaken on Saturday.

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi has congratulated Keir Starmer on the election. In a post on social media, he said:

Heartiest congratulations and best wishes to Keir Starmer on the remarkable victory in the UK general elections. I look forward to our positive and constructive collaboration to further strengthen the India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in all areas, fostering mutual growth and prosperity.

One point that I have seen crop up in the comments and across social media is about the amount of airtime devoted to Reform UK compared to the Green Party when both parties have won four MPs apiece, but I do think it is worth looking at the relative scale of their votes.

Reform UK, with a couple of constituencies yet to be counted, have won over four million votes. That is notably under NIgel Farage’s claim they would win five million or possibly six million. However it is also equivalent to the SNP and Liberal Democrat vote combined, is just over twice the Green party vote, and is twentyfold the vote of Plaid Cymru, who have also ended up on four MPs.

There is a chance that Reform will pick up a fifth MP following the recount in South Basildon and East Thurrock, putting them on a par with the DUP’s 5 seats, who had a total vote of about 172,000.

Of course, this might lead one to question whether first past the post is a voting system reflective of the country’s wishes, but it was convincingly supported when there was a referendum on the voting system in 2011.

PA’s video list is suggesting to me that timings have slipped slightly this morning, with Rishi Sunak expected to appear in Downing Street to make a statement at 10.40am. It is unclear whether at that point he will announce his resignation as leader of the Conservative party as well as his departure as prime minister.

Keir Starmer is now listed to make his first national address as prime minister at 12.25pm

All 18 constituencies have been declared in Northern Ireland, and this is how the vote share and MP distribution breaks down

  • Sinn Féin 27.0% (7 MPs)

  • DUP 22.1% (5 MPs)

  • Alliance 15% (1 MP)

  • UUP 12.2% (1 MP)

  • SDLP 11.1% (2 MPs)

  • TUV 6.2% (1 MP)

  • Green 1.1%

That represents a 4.2% vote share increase for Sinn Féin. The DUP lost 8.5%, the Alliance lost 1.8% and the SDLP lost 3.8% compared the 2019. Independent Alex Easton won North Down.

We don’t yet have all the results in from Scotland, but here is the tally of MPs and the respective party vote share in the country:

  • Labour 35.9% (37 MPs)

  • SNP 30% (9 MPs)

  • Conservatives 12.6% (4 MPs)

  • Liberal Democrat 9.2% (5 MPs)

  • Reform UK 6.9%

  • Scottish Greens 3.9%

  • Alba 0.5%

Jeremy Hunt and his family, including dog Poppy, have been pictured leaving Downing Street this morning. Hunt retained his seat by a narrow margin, and earlier in a message aimed at his children, said “This may seem like a tough day for our family as we move out of Downing Street, but it isn’t. We are incredibly lucky to live in a country where decisions like this are made not by bombs or bullets, but by thousands of ordinary citizens peacefully placing crosses in boxes and bits of paper.”

On social media Plaid Cymru has said it is “a very good morning in Wales”.

In a post, the party said “This was Plaid Cymru’s best ever result in a general election. Our 4 Plaid Cymru MPs will now work tirelessly to make sure Wales’ voice is not ignored by the incoming Labour government. Plaid Cymru is now the clear alternative to Labour in Wales. We’re ready to put forward a vision which more people than every can get behind at the Senedd election in 2026.”

In Wales, Labour took 27 of the 32 seats, with Plaid Cymru the second most successful party on four. The Liberal Democrats took the remaining seat.

The vote share in Wales was:

  • Labour 37% (27 MPs)

  • Conservatives 18.2% (no MPs)

  • Reform UK 16.9% (no MPs)

  • Plaid Cymru 14.8% (four MPs)

  • Liberal Democrats 6.5% (one MP)

  • Green Party of Wales 4.7% (no MPs)

Ed Davey: Lib Dems to campaign for 'emergency budget for health and care'

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has said his party’s first campaign will be to demand from Labour an emergency budget to address health and care issues.

PA Media reports he said:

Our first campaign, that starts today, is a campaign for an emergency budget this month for health and care. Every Liberal Democrat MP will be the voice for carers and we are going to make sure your voice is heard like never before.

It does look like, unlike when Rishi Sunak was calling the election six weeks ago, the media scrum in Downing Street today have remembered to bring umbrellas.

Labour MP Zarah Sultana has spoken about the impact of conflict in Gaza on the party in the election results. Sultana was re-elected in Coventry South, and said the party had “moved in the right direction” by calling for a ceasefire but said it had taken “a long time to get there”.

As my colleague Andrew Sparrow noted earlier, Dewsbury and Batley, Blackburn and Leicester South were all lost by Labour to independent candidates campaigning on a pro-Palestinian platform. Keir Starmer’s own personal vote was dented when Andrew Feinstein came second with more than 7,000 votes.

Sultana told listeners of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme “The party has clearly lost support in parts of the country because of its position on Gaza, and we see that in Coventry as well – we’ve heard concerns about the Labour party when it comes to Gaza and it’s no surprise.”

She said the public “overwhelmingly back a ceasefire”, adding:

On the one hand we’re saying we need to listen to voters, but when it comes to this particular issue there was a hope that this problem would just go away and it hasn’t.

The party has to seriously recognise and acknowledge the issue, which is not just with British Muslim communities, it’s across communities, but it definitely is a serious issue, as well the Islamophobia that people experience – which also exists within the Labour party.

With five seats left to declare the current tally for the four largest parties in the new House of Commons are Labour on 411 MPs, Conservatives on 119, Liberal Democrats with 71 and SNP on 9.

The five constituencies yet to declare (I believe) are:

  • Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale

  • Dumfries and Galloway

  • Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire

  • Poole

  • South Basildon and East Thurrock

Richard Adams is the Guardian’s education editor

Analysis by the Sutton Trust suggests that Keir Starmer’s cabinet will have the highest number of ministers educated at comprehensive schools, and the lowest proportion in modern history who went to private schools.

Based on Labour’s shadow cabinet, 84% went to comprehensive schools, 10% went to private schools and 6% to state grammar schools.

That would mean for the first time the cabinet closely reflected British society, with more than 90% of ministers having attended state schools. That comes as one of Labour’s key policies is to add Vat to private school fees.

Since 2010 about 60% of cabinet ministers attended private schools, apart from Theresa May’s cabinet where the proportion dipped to 30%. According to the Sutton Trust, the previous low was Clement Attlee’s 1945 cabinet, with 25% privately educated.

The Liberal Democrats are holding a celebratory event at their HQ, where leader Ed Davey has promised voters they would not be let down.

He said “I want to thank you for trusting us again. We will not let you down. Trust is a very precious commodity.”

He thanked supporters for getting the best result “in over 100 years”

In keeping with the manner of his campaigning, Davey joked “I didn’t even have to paraglide in.”

He told the media he thought people had really enjoyed his stunts, and earlier, speaking on the BBC, had underlined that they had helped the party push its message. He told viewers:

What was key for me was to show that you know, we can have some fun. You don’t have to take yourself too seriously, as long as you take the voters concern seriously.

Every time we did a stunt, we had a message. Falling off a paddleboard was about sewage. When I came down that slide with kids and their families enjoying the half-term, we were talking about the mental health crisis for children young people.

Zelenskiy congratulates Starmer on win and thanks Sunak for support

In a message posted to social media Ukraine’s president Volodymy Zelenskiy has congratulated Keir Starmer on his election win and thanked Rishi Sunak for his support.

The president wrote:

Congratulations to Keir Starmer and Laboour on their convincing election victory. Ukraine and the United Kingdom have been and will continue to be reliable allies through thick and thin. We will continue to defend and advance our common values of life, freedom, and a rules-based international order

I wish the incoming government every success both in domestic affairs and in solidifying the UK’s leadership on the world stage. I look forward to working closely together on strengthening the Ukraine-UK partnership and restoring international peace and security.

He continued:

I am grateful to my good friend Rishi Sunak for the UK government’s steadfast support under his leadership. Challenger tanks, Storm Shadow missiles, F-16 training for our pilots, and the first bilateral security cooperation agreement are just a few of our shared achievements that Ukraine will never forget. Thank you, Rishi.

In February 2023, while leader of the opposition, Starmer visited Kyiv, and said he told Ukraine’s president “should there be a change of government when we have a general election here, the support for Ukraine will remain the same. It’s a very important message for me to be able to relay to the president face-to-face, and I’ve been able to do that this afternoon.”

Labour: Starmer is expected to appoint whole Cabinet today

Labour’s national campaign chief Pat McFadden has said he expects Keir Starmer to have appointed the whole cabinet by the end of today.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

Keir Starmer will get on with appointing his Cabinet, which we expect to be done by the end of today. Certainly the whole Cabinet. That Cabinet will meet tomorrow. And he will have to quickly allocate those responsibilities, give his new Cabinet their marching orders and then there’s big international events coming.

We have a Nato summit next week. That will be his first moment on the international stage. And while he’s doing that, he will want his new Cabinet to get on with it pretty quickly.

Starmer is expected to meet King Charles before lunch, and to make an address to the nation as prime minister at about 12.20pm from Downing Street.

One seat we won’t be getting the result of any time soon is South Basildon & East Thurrock. There will be a complete recount starting from 2pm.

Thurrock Nub News reports that:

After a delayed first count, the Reform candidate James McMurdock appeared to have won the seat with around 12,000 votes from Labour’s Jack Ferguson, with Tory Stephen Metcalfe around 1,000 votes behind.

Initially candidates were told Reform had won by a margin of 127 votes, which prompted Labour to demand a recount and an initial check found botched counting procedures.

The saga over the count dragged on until around 6am when Thurrock Council CEO and returning officer Dave Smith said he had told counting staff to go home and a full recount would have to take place.

Metcalfe was the MP for the constituency in the 2019 election and was defending a majority of nearly 20,000 votes.

There are literally just a handful of seats left to declare. Gregory Campbell has just retained the East Londonderry constituency in County Derry for the DUP in a very tightly fought contest. Sinn Féin’s Kathleen McGurk was second but just 179 votes behind. Campbell has held the seat for 23 years.

As well as Rishi Sunak visiting the palace to formally resign, which is expected at 10.30am, and a first national address from Keir Starmer, expected at about 12.20pm, we are also expecting to hear from Labour leader in Scotland Anas Sarwar, and SNP leader and Scotland’s first minister John Swinney. Both of those are – somewhat irritatingly if you are trying to cover them – scheduled for 10am.

Mel Stride was virtually ever present on the media rounds during the campaign, and has been wheeled out by the Conservative party again this morning.

PA Media reports the outgoing work and pensions secretary, who held on to his Central Devon by a margin of just 61 votes, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

I think the message from the electorate is extremely stark, this is a devastating defeat and it will take quite a lot of time now to do the thinking, to get ourselves back into a position where we can rebuild and become once again the natural party of government – and that is going to take a bit of time.

He said “Clearly, at some point, there will need to be a new leader of the Conservative party,” and advised colleagues to “avoid too much friction, sound and fury” and instead “focus on rebuilding”.

Sunak to make statement at 10.30am, Starmer to address nation at about 12.20pm

Outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is set to make a statement at about 10.30am, Downing Street has said.

PA Media reports he will then travel to Buckingham Palace for an audience with the King, where he is expected to formally tender his resignation.

Then Keir Starmer will see the King at the palace. He will be appointed as the country’s next prime minister and asked to form an administration.

He will then be driven to Downing Street to address the nation for the first time as prime minister at around 12.20pm.

Timings are subject to change, No 10 noted.

Ian Paisley Jr has lost his seat in North Antrim. The DUP stalwart was replaced by Jim Allister, a candidate from the TUV, an even more pro-unionist party backed by Reform UK. The seat had been held by a Paisley since 1970.

Speaking after his defeat, Paisley Jr said:

The tides of life ebb and flow, as we all know. This is certainly not the script that I would have written for tonight, as I think most of you would accept. But life is made up of many chapters and I embrace this chapter as happily as I embraced the previous.

I congratulate my successor. I commend all of those who took part in this race, the race to the finish, and I wish them well. Being a member of parliament is a huge privilege. It’s been a huge privilege for me, over 14 years as a member of parliament and the previous 13 years in the Northern Ireland assembly, to serve my constituency. I greatly appreciate the support that they have given me. Thank you.

The distribution of seats in Northern Ireland will see Sinn Féin as the largest party. It has seven seats. The DUP has five, SDLP two, the Alliance, UUP and TUV have one each. Independent Alex Easton won North Down from Alliance.

Updated

Green party of England and Wales co-leader Carla Denyer has been appearing on the Today programme. She told listeners:

It feels wonderful to have this vote of confidence from the people of Bristol Central and all over the country. We had a target in this election of going from one MP to four MPs, quadrupling our representation in the House of Commons. And we’ve achieved that.

She promised that their presence “will push [Labour] to be braver on the areas where we don’t think they’re going far enough. For example, in housing.”

Frances Ryan is one of the people on our panel who have just delivered their verdict on the night’s events. She wrote:

At its heart, this election was less about welcoming Labour in than getting the Tories out. From austerity to Brexit to Partygate, voters have lived through an unprecedented era of cruelty, chaos and corruption. If a week is a long time in politics, 14 years of Conservative misrule has practically been a life sentence.

Many don’t believe anything will change with a Labour government, let alone soon. In the coming months, Starmer must show it can. For now, it is enough to sit and savour what has ended. To draw a line under the worst of governments and remember the millions of lives made poorer, sicker, more afraid.

Today is for Windrush, disability benefit deaths and Grenfell. It is for food banks, “go home” vans and the rape clause. For PPE contracts, cancer patients and Rwanda flights. Goodbye to the vandals of Britain. How fitting they destroyed themselves in the end.

You can read more from Frances Ryan, alongside Katy Balls and Chris Skidmore, here: How will Labour change Britain – and what next for the shattered Conservatives? Our panel’s verdict

Our video team have pulled out the clip of the moment that former prime minister Liz Truss lost her seat in South West Norfolk to Labour.

Our community team are interested in hearing your reaction to the election results. You can get in touch with them here.

With 641 constituency results declared, Labour has won 410 seats with a 33.9% share of the vote.

The Conservatives have 119 seats and a 23.7% vote share.

The Liberal Democrats have won in 71 constituencies with 12.3% of the overall vote, while Reform UK has 14.3% of the vote, translating to success in four seats.

The SNP has eight seats, Plaid Cymru is on four, Sinn Féin has seven and the DUP has four. The SDLP have won two seats, and Alliance one. The UUP has also won a seat. The Green party of England and Wales has 6.8% of the votes and four seats.

For comparison to previous Labour election performances, here is the number of seats and share of votes in the four elections they lost between 2010 and 2019

  • 2024 (latest figures): 410 seats, 33.9% vote share

  • 2019: 202 seats, 32.1% vote share

  • 2017: 262 seats, 40.0% vote share

  • 2015: 232 seats, 30.4% vote share

  • 2010: 258 seats, 29.0% vote share

Updated

On the assumption that Rishi Sunak will tender his resignation as leader of the Conservatives as well as prime minister at some point today, speculation about who might replace him has of course started. With several potential contenders losing their seats including Grant Shapps and Penny Mordaunt, the field may be narrower than expected. James Cleverly, Suella Braverman, Priti Patel, Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch may be the most likely names in the frame.

Ardent Brexit-supporter and a man who has mooted Conservative leadership challenges in the past, Steve Baker, has told BBC radio listeners “thank God I’m a free man” after he lost his Wycombe seat.

PA Media quotes him saying “I fought this to win it and I wanted to do my duty and continue. But I am today, thank God, a free man. Try being elected to parliament and you’ll understand. I am able now to resume my life and that is going to be a great blessing to me. So I’m afraid I will be honest with the public. Thank God I’m a free man.”

He was rather awkwardly the BBC’s guest at 10pm last night on BBC One, and had to sit there while they unveiled a prediction that he only had a 1% chance of winning his seat.

Archie Bland and Nimo Omer have also been up all night putting together First Edition, and sum up the Rorschach test election results situation by asking whether Labour have scored a stunning vindication or merely a “loveless landslide”. Here is an excerpt:

Labour piled up gains well beyond what the swing towards them might have suggested thanks to the remarkable efficiency of their vote – and the way Reform devoured votes that might once have belonged to the Tories. The BBC estimated that the swing away from the Conservatives in the seats they lost to Labour was 26% – with far more of it towards Reform than towards Labour. Early in the night, Channel 4’s political editor, Gary Gibbon, described it as a “loveless landslide”. Starmer’s vast majority is built on what may end up as a smaller vote share than Jeremy Corbyn achieved in 2017, and less than 2% higher than it was in 2019.

But it is also true that Labour fought the election in front of it, after a gruelling defeat in 2019 that many doubted the party could come back from – and their success on a relatively small vote share is arguably vindication of that strategy, and of Starmer and his team’s recognition of the political landscape they faced. Labour is now the largest party in England, Scotland and Wales – the first party to achieve that in nearly a quarter of a century. It twice broke the record for swing towards it from the Tories, in Swindon North and Telford. And Starmer is only the fourth Labour leader to win an election in the last 80 years.

Read more here: Friday briefing – A long night – and a new prime minister

Liz Truss blames Tory defeat on not doing enough 'to take on the legacy we’d been left' 14 years ago

Asked on the BBC if she took responsibility for her role in the Conservatives defeat tonight, Liz Truss rather side-stepped the question. The former prime minister for 49 days who this morning lost her seat, said:

I think the issues we faced as the Conservatives is we haven’t delivered sufficiently on the priorities of people. And that means keeping taxes low, but also particularly on reducing immigration. And I think that’s been a crucial issue here in southwest Norfolk. That was the number one issue that people raised on the doorstep with me.

She was asked “do you accept that first as a cabinet minister, and then for a brief time as prime minister, you were part of the people in power, overseeing those things not being delivered?”

She replied

I agree I was part of that, that it is absolutely true. But during our 14 years in power, unfortunately, we did not do enough to take on the legacy we’d been left. In particular things like the Human Rights Act that made it very difficult for us to deport illegal immigrants, and that is one of the reasons I think we’ve ended up in this situation we are now.

Asked whether she had a plan for her future, she said “I’ve got a lot to think about. It’s been a very, very hectic few weeks. I haven’t slept last night, so give me a bit of time, but I will definitely talk to you again.”

  • Incidentally it is Martin Belam with you now for the next few hours. Andrew Sparrow is having a well-deserved rest and will be back later on. You can get in touch with me at martin.belam@theguardian.com

Labour win historic landslide election as Liz Truss and many cabinet ministers lose seats in Tory wipeout

  • Keir Starmer and Labour will form the next UK government after a sweeping victory in the general election. With a couple of dozen seats left to declare Labour have 408 seats, well above the 326 required for a majority

  • Speaking at Royal Festival Hall in London, Starmer said people would be waking up to the news of a Labour victory and Tory defeat “relieved that a weight has been lifted, a burden finally removed”. He told a rally that change “begins now” and promised an “age of national renewal” in which Labour would “start to rebuild our country” but he also acknowledged that change would not be easy

  • Rishi Sunak said he accepted responsibility for the Conservative government’s performance at the ballot box. The Tories are on course to record their worst ever electoral defeat

  • Liz Truss, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Alex Chalk, Gillian Keegan, Johnny Mercer, Penny Mordaunt and Grant Shapps were among senior figures to lose their seats on a tumultuous night. Home secretary James Cleverly retained Braintree, and took a swipe at Reform, criticising people who present “simple and thin solutions to challenging and complex problems”

  • Ed Davey’s Liberal Democrats are set to be the third biggest party in the House of Commons, with at least 68 seats in the new parliament. It is a huge increase for a party who performed dismally in 2019.

  • On a bad night for the SNP in Scotland the party so far has only won 8 MPs, losing 37 seats so far. Labour made significant gains in Scotland

  • The Green Party of England and Wales have achieved their ambition of four MPs, with victories in target seats in Bristol. Both co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay will be in parliament

  • Nigel Farage won in Clacton as Reform took four seats. Reform votes across the country have eaten into Conservative totals

  • Labour’s victory was not without hitches, however. Three seats fell to independents running on pro-Palestinian tickets, the party failed to prevent Jeremy Corbyn winning as an independent, and the selection fiasco in Chingford and Woodford Green saw the party’s candidate Shama Tatler and former candidate Faiza Shaheen just 79 votes apart having split the vote to allow Iain Duncan Smith to win

  • Sinn Féin will be the largest party in Northern Ireland for the first time

  • Plaid Cymru have won 4 seats in Westminster

  • George Galloway lost the Rochdale seat he won earlier this year in a byelection. He did not attend the announcement

You can find the results in full here …

Updated

Labour loses three seats to independent candidates in constituencies where Gaza has been major issue

Although Labour has won a landslide, in three constituencies where Gaza has been a key issue, the party has lost what should have been safe seats to independents.

In Dewsbury and Batley, Labour had a majority of more than 14,000 at the last election. But Heather Iqbal, a former adviser to Rachel Reeves, lost to Iqbal Mohamed by almost 7,000 votes.

In Blackburn Kate Hollern, who had held the seat for Labour since 2015, lost to Adnan Hussain by less than 200 votes. Craig Murray, who was standing for the Workers Party of Great Britain and also campaigning against Labour’s stance on Gaza, came third, with more than 7,000 votes.

And in Leicester South Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, who had a majority of more than 22,000 at the last election, was beaten by Shockat Adam by just under 1,000 votes.

In other seats pro-Palestinian campaigners took serious chunks out of Labour majorities. Keir Starmer’s share of the vote was down 17 points in his Holborn and St Pancras constituency. Andrew Feinstein, an independent challenging him, came second with more than 7,000 votes.

And in Ilford North Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, beat the independent
Leanne Mohamad by just over 500 votes.

That’s all from me. Martin Belam is running the show now. I’ll be back later today.

Earlier chancellor Jeremy Hunt held on to his seat by fewer than 900 votes, bucking exit poll predictions that he might become the first sitting chancellor to lose his seat. He said his imminent departure from 11 Downing Street would be a “tough day” but added in a message aimed at his children that it illustrated “the magic of democracy”. He praised Keir Starmer and Raxchel Reeves as “decent people and committed public servants”.

PA Media reports he said:

A message to my children, who I sincerely hope are asleep now. This may seem like a tough day for our family as we move out of Downing Street, but it isn’t.

We are incredibly lucky to live in a country where decisions like this are made not by bombs or bullets, but by thousands of ordinary citizens peacefully placing crosses in boxes and bits of paper. Brave Ukrainians are dying every day to defend their right to do what we did yesterday and we must never take that for granted.

Don’t be sad, this is the magic of democracy.

Describing the overall defeat of the Conservatives as a “bitter pill to swallow”, he said:

We have achieved much in government and the economy has transformed from where it was post-pandemic.

Some Conservatives will wonder whether the scale of our crushing defeat was really justified. But when you lose the trust of the electorate, all that matters is having the courage and humility to ask yourself, why? So that you can earn it back again.

I was incredibly proud to serve under Rishi Sunak, but I wish the incoming Labour government well.

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are decent people and committed public servants who have changed the Labour party for the better. Whatever our policy differences, we all now need them to succeed.

I hope in particular they use their majority to make much needed reforms to the NHS, in a way that is sometimes difficult for Conservative governments to do.”

A couple of results coming in from London. Labour candidate Danny Beales has beaten the Conservatives in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, previously the seat of former prime minister Boris Johnson. That means that the Conservatives have now lost the seats of former prime ministers David Cameron, Theresa May and Johnson, as well as Liz Truss personally losing her seat just now.

Last year the Tories won Uxbridge in a byelection held after Johnson stepped down from parliament in disgrace. At the time the defeat was widely pinned on Sadiq Khan’s Ulez policy.

Across London, business and trade minister Greg Hands has lost Chelsea and Fulham to Labour by a smidgeon.

Sam Freedman suggests it means that for the first time in over a century there will be no Conservative MPs representing anywhere in inner London.

Liz Truss did not speak from the platform after it was announced she had lost her seat.

The seat has changed a little with the constituency boundary changes, but Truss had a majority of 26,195 majority in 2019 and, if the new boundaries had been in place, the majority would have been 24,180 majority with the new boundaries.

Though the constituency boundaries have shifted in the past, the seat has largely been held by the Conservatives since 1964.

Former PM Liz Truss loses her South West Norfolk seat to Labour by 630 votes

Liz Truss has lost in South West Norfolk. The former PM, who had a majority of more than 26,000 at the last election, was beaten by Labour by 630 votes.

Updated

We are about to get the result form South West Norfolk, where Liz Truss is hoping to hold her seat. All other candidates have gather for the count. But Truss is not there, prompting speculation she may have lost.

Earlier we reported that David Cameron’s old seat of Witney had been a Liberal Democrat gain. So has Maidenhead, the former seat of Theresa May.

Shabana Mahmood, shadow justice secretary, wins Birmingham Ladywood

Shabana Mahmood, shadow secretary of state for justice, has won Birmingham Ladywood. One of the most ethnically diverse constituencies in the UK and historically one of Labour’s safest seats, she was facing a strong challenge from independent candidate Akhmed Yakoob, who was largely standing on a platform addressing the conflict in Gaza. Mahmood took 15,558 votes. Yakoob came second with 12,137, giving her a majority of 3,421.

A record number of female MPs will sit in the new House of Commons, PA Media reports. PA says:

Some 242 women MPs have been elected so far, passing the previous record of 220 at the election in 2019.

The number of female MPs has risen at each of the past six elections.

James Cleverly retains seat, criticises those who present 'simple and thin solutions to challenging and complex problems'

James Cleverly has retained his seat in Braintree for the Conservatives. The home secretary appeared to take a swipe at Reform in his acceptance speech, criticising those who present “simple and thin solutions to challenging and complex problems”.

He said:

This has been a very difficult night for my party and losing the position of government of this country is painful. But it is the nature of our democracy that it happens, and when it happens, it is incumbent upon all parties, but particularly the party leaving government, to listen carefully to what the voters are telling us.

I am not going to rush to any quick judgments. I think the right thing to do is be thoughtful and take a short period of time to really assess what the voters are telling us. But it is clear that when you see the vote share of the traditional main parties of government that many voters are disillusioned with all of us, and we should take that on board.

I think it is also right that we have humility, to recognise that there is nothing honourable in presenting simple and thin solutions to challenging and complex problems. And the world is a difficult and dangerous place and we have to respond to that.

Rishi Sunak has taken off from Teesside airport to fly to London, where he will go to tender his resignation to the king. The BBC has footage of his flight taking off.

Liberal Democrat Charlie Maynard has won Witney, beating the Conservatives in the seat which used to belong to former prime minister and current foreign secretary David Cameron.

Siân Berry wins Brighton Pavilion for Greens

The Green party has won its fourth seat, after Siân Berry, a former co-leader of the party, won Brighton Pavilion. This is the seat previously held by Caroline Lucas, the Greens’ first MP.

Taoiseach Simon Harris has sent congratulations to Keir Starmer on his general election victory. The Fine Gael leader posted to social media to say:

Congratulations Keir Starmer on a comprehensive victory in the UK election. I look forward to working with you as close neighbours and friends. The relationship between Ireland and the UK is deep and consequential. I look forward to it going from strength to strength.

Updated

Transport secretary Mark Harper loses Forest of Dean to Labour

Mark Harper, the transport secretary, has lost his Forest of Dean seat to Labour.

At the last election he was ahead of Labour here by 60% to 29%.

First minister of Wales, Vaughan Gething, has posted to social media to say that “a new chapter” was beginning for Wales, with “two Labour governments working together”.

He wrote:

After fourteen long years, today we begin a new chapter for Wales. Your Welsh Labour Government will have a true partner in Keir Starmer as we build the fairer, greener future Wales deserves. Two Labour governments working together for a stronger Wales in a fairer Britain. Change begins here.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross loses to SNP

Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, has failed to win his seat. He has been beatedn by the SNP’s Seamus Logan in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East.

Ross has a seat in the Scottish parliament and had been expected to quit Westminster at this election. But at the last minute he put himself forward as the candidate for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East after the previous candidate, David Duguid, was banned from standing by the party on health grounds. Many Scottish Tories were angered by this, and in response Ross said he would stand down as party leader after the election.

The Conservative Party candidate Robbie Moore has held on to Keighley and Ilkley in West Yorkshire iwth 40.26%. Labour are a close second, with 36.74%.

Turnout was 62.09%.

Here is a breakdown of the results, via PA:

Robbie Moore (C) 18,589 (40.26%, -7.84%)
John Grogan (Lab) 16,964 (36.74%, -7.14%)
Andrew Judson (Reform) 4,782 (10.36%)
John Wood (Green) 2,447 (5.30%)
Vaz Shabir (Ind) 2,036 (4.41%)
Chris Adams (LD) 970 (2.10%, -2.79%)
Dominic Atlas (Yorkshire) 389 (0.84%, -0.43%)

The co-leader of the Green Party, and newly elected MP for Bristol Central, Carla Denyer has told the Guardian her party’s message of hope has propelled it towards a record-breaking vote share for the party in this election.

Denyer easily beat the Labour candidate and shadow frontbencher, Thangam Debbonaire, in the newly drawn constituency by more than 10,000 votes.

Denyer’s fellow co-leader Adrian Ramsay also won in Waveney Valley in Suffolk, while Ellie Chowns won for the party in Herefordshire North. They are hopeful of taking their fourth target seat of Brighton Pavilion, where Sian Berry is standing.

Denyer said: “We’re probably on track for a record breaking vote share in this election. I think it’s because the Green Party has been the only party being honest about the state of public services in this country, the level of investment that’s needed, not shy about talking about how we would raise it, and proud of the fact that we want a more inclusive society.

“We want a country that is welcoming and takes a humane approach to migration. I think that resonates with so many people in this country.”

Denyer said the Reform Party, which was heading to the same number of parliamentary seats as the Greens, offered fear while her party offered hope.

“The Green Party offers the opposite to what the Reform Party has been offering voters,” she said. “Our policies and our politics is around offering positive solutions, offering change and offering hope. And that’s clearly gone down well with the electorate.”

Lib Dems win Henley and Thame

The Liberal Democrats candidate Freddie Van Mierlo has won Henley and Thame, Boris Johnson’s old seat:

Internal Lib Dem polling seen by the Guardian in late June suggested there would be a close race in Henley and Thame – which includes much of Johnson’s former seat. The party believed it could win by a margin of just 500 votes.

But today the Lib Dems won with a majority of 6,000.

Updated

Former international trade secretary Liam Fox loses Somerset North to Labour

Liam Fox, the former defence secretary and international trade secretary, has lost his Somerset North seat to Labour.

Here are the full results for Somerset North, according to PA media:

Sadik Al-Hassan (Lab) 19,138 (35.59%)
Sir Liam Fox (C) 18,499 (34.41%)
Ash Cartman (LD) 7,121 (13.24%)
Alexander Kokkinoftas (Reform) 5,602 (10.42%)
Oscar Livesey-Lodwick (Green) 3,273 (6.09%)
Suneil Basu (WPB) 133 (0.25%)
Lab maj 639 (1.19%)
Notional 14.82% swing C to Lab
8.50% boundary change
Electorate 70,504; Turnout 53,766 (76.26%)
2019 notional: C maj 16,184 (28.46%) - Turnout 56,864 (76.88%)
C 30,411 (53.48%); Lab 14,227 (25.02%); LD 9,425 (16.57%); Green
2,801 (4.93%)

Updated

With 545 constituency results declared, Labour has won 372 seats with a 35.6% share of the vote, PA Media says. PA reports.

The Conservatives have 90 seats and a 22.8% vote share.

The Liberal Democrats have triumphed in 50 constituencies with 11.2% of the overall vote, while Reform UK have 14.5% of the vote, translating to success in four seats.

The SNP has five seats, Plaid Cymru is on four, Sinn Féin has six and the DUP has four.

The Green party has 6.8% of the votes and two seats.

Compass, the leftwing group committed to pluralism, has said tonight’s election results show the first past the post voting system is not fit for purpose. Compass spokesperson Neal Lawson said:

What we are seeing is a European multi-party politics emerging in the traitjacket of a two-party system.

There are clearly complex forces at work: Labour is set to win a huge majority but two shadow cabinet ministers have already lost their seats. Jeremy Corbyn has pulled off an unlikely victory and the scale of the win in Bristol Central just underlines the volatility of an increasingly complex electorate.

But our first past the post electoral system is incapable of accommodating such a nuanced reality and is clearly buckling under the pressure of the underlying multi-party reality.

Lawson also said the early results pointed to a Gallagher index score (a measure of disproportionality) of around 23, which he said suggested “this election could be the most disproportionate we have ever seen”.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross loses seat to SNP

Outgoing Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has lost to the SNP’s Seamus Logan in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East.

Logan won with 13,455 votes.

Ross stood in place of David Duguid, who was barred from standing by party chiefs due to ill health. Ross announced he would resign as party leader following the election after u-turning on his decision not to stand as an MP.

Updated

Adrian Ramsay, the co-leader of the Green party, gains Waveney Valley from the Conservatives.

Carla Denyer, the other Green party co-leader, was earlier declared winner of Bristol Central.

The BBC has broadcast some revised forecast numbers for the final results. Here are the figures (with the original exit poll figures in brackets).

Labour: 408 seats (410)

Conservatives: 136 (131)

Lib Dems: 66 (61)

SNP: 8 (10)

The Tory figures is now much closer to the 10pm exit poll figure. At one point the BBC projection was saying they could be up to 156.

Conservatives lose all their MPs in Wales

The Conservatives have suffered a wipeout in Wales. They won 14 seats in 2019. This time they have won none, an echo of 1997 when Tony Blair came to power and the Welsh Tories were left with no representation at Westminster.

The final result came in Monmouthshire where David TC Davies, who was the secretary of state for Wales, lost his seat.

SNP leader John Swinney: I’m deeply sorry

Scotland’s first minister, SNP leader John Swinney, has apologised to his party colleagueswho did not retain their seats in the House of Commons.

He told the Press Association that the result was “very damaging and tough”.

“I’m very sorry to the colleagues who have lost their seats and will lose their seats in the course of this evening,” said Swinney who is only two months into the job.

“You don’t recover from those tough times in an instant, and we’ve not managed to recover from them during this election campaign and I’m deeply sorry that that’s the situation that we face,” he said.

Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, has congratulated Keir Starmer, and said he looks forward to working with him “to deepen the close friendship between Israel and the United Kingdom”.

Updated

DUP's Ian Paisley on track to lose North Antrim

Ian Paisley is on track to lose the once-impregnable Democratic Unionist party (DUP) bastion of North Antrim, capping a devastating election for the party.

Jim Allister of the hardline Traditional Unionist Voice seems certain to take the seat in a seismic shock that all but assures Sinn Féin will overtake the DUP as Northern Ireland’s biggest Westminster party.

Alliance’s Sorcha Eastwood took the DUP Lagan Valley stronghold vacated by its former leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, in the wake of sex offence charges.

The Ulster Unionist Robin Swann is expected to oust the DUP’s Paul Girvan from South Antrim, slashing the number of DUP MPs from eight to five. Sinn Fein is expected to hold its seven seats.

The DUP’s one solace is that its leader, Gavin Robinson, fended off a challenge from Alliance’s Naomi Long in East Belfast. But losing three seats, including a citadel held by the Paisley family since 1970, is a shattering outcome – and a legacy of Brexit. The party’s gyrations on the Irish Sea border alienated centrist supporters, who defected to Alliance and the UUP, and harder line unionists, who switched to the TUV.

Reform originally backed the TUV but upon becoming leader Nigel Farage endorsed several DUP MPs, including Paisley, who were described as “beer buddies”.

Updated

Esther McVey, formerly the minister without portfolio, has held on in Tatton.

The full results for Tatton, according to PA media:

Esther McVey (C) 19,956 (38.44%)
Ryan Jude (Lab) 18,820 (36.26%)
Oliver Speakman (Reform) 5,948 (11.46%)
Jonathan Smith (LD) 4,614 (8.89%)
Nigel Hennerley (Green) 2,571 (4.95%)
C maj 1,136 (2.19%)
Notional 16.31% swing C to Lab
21.20% boundary change
Electorate 75,978; Turnout 51,909 (68.32%)
2019 notional: C maj 19,281 (34.81%) - Turnout 55,394 (73.33%)
C 31,732 (57.28%); Lab 12,451 (22.48%); LD 8,966 (16.19%); Green
2,046 (3.69%); Brexit 199 (0.36%)

Updated

Plaid Cymru celebrates its 'best ever' result in general election

Plaid Cymru have hailed a “stunning” general election result after retaining its two incumbent MPs and gaining two others.

Leader Rhun ap Iorwerth said:

Despite the tough context of an unprecedented Labour wave, this is the party’s best ever result in a general election - representing the greatest proportion of seats won.

This result shows that Plaid Cymru is the clear alternative to Labour in Wales and our focus now shifts to putting forward a vision which more people than every can get behind at the Senedd Election in 2026.

Plaid also won four seats at the last general election. But since then Wales has lost eight of the 40 seats it had and, on the basis of how people voted in 2019, Plaid would have only won two of the new seats. Two of the seats they have won tonight, Yns Môn and Caerfyrddin.

Kwasi Kwarteng has compared the Tories to the Egyptian god Osiris, saying it has suffered deaths before, and will “rise again”.

Writing in the Telegraph, the former (and very, very short-lived) chancellor of the exchequer writes that today’s results will be “disastrous” for the Conservatives. But, he says, despite a number of disasters over the last 200 years (polls predict this will be the worst in the party’s history), he believes that the Conservatives will “rise again”, thanks to the “feebleness of Labour” and the “volatility of today’s voting public”.

Interestingly, Osiris, if Plutarch is to be believed, was eventually ripped into 14 pieces, put back together, and remained in the underworld forever afterwards.

Updated

Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has congratulated Keir Starmer in a post on X.

“Let’s get to it, my friend,” Trudeau wrote.

There have been hugs and tears among the Lib Dem campaign team here in Godalming and Ash where they had expected to unseat the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt.

In the event, Hunt held on by less than 900 votes – after ploughing his own money into the campaign.

The political makeup of the surviving Tory MPs is unclear as yet, but Hunt is now likely to be a significant figure in the fight for his party’s future.

There were some recriminations here among Green campaigners about whether their party should have stood down in favour of the Lib Dem, Paul Follows.

Updated

Labour has won all six of the seats in Glasgow, taking each of them from the SNP:

The Guardian’s Hannah Al-Othman was at the counting centre in Rishi Sunak’s seat earlier. Here is more on what happened:

He appeared in public for just a matter of minutes at his own election count in Northallerton. Looking somewhat downcast, Sunak, accompanied by wife, Akshata Murty, stepped out only when candidates and their agents were asked to come to the counting floor after ballots had been tallied. Shortly after, the result was declared, with Sunak comfortably holding on in North Yorkshire, albeit with a significantly reduced majority, in a result that was met with muted applause.

Sunak declined to answer questions from journalists, but in a short speech from the podium, he said that after a “difficult night”, he had called Keir Starmer to congratulate him on his victory. “The Labour party has won this general election,” Sunak said, adding that “the British people have delivered a sobering verdict tonight”. He added: “There is much to learn and reflect on.”

Sunak said that he took responsibility for the loss, apologising to the “many good, hardworking Conservative candidates” who had not been elected. With speculation continuing that Sunak may step down as an MP as his term as prime minister comes to an end, he addressed voters in North Yorkshire directly, saying: “I look forward to continuing to serve as your member of parliament,” and concluding his address by adding that he looked forward to spending more time in the area in the “week, months and years to come”.

After a speech lasting less than two minutes, Sunak left the building to travel to London, from where he said he would “say more about tonight’s result”.

Updated

Starmer vows to 'renew the ideas that hold this country together'

Starmer says “country first, party second” isn’t just a slogan, it’s a “guiding principle”.

Our task is nothing less than renewing the ideas that hold this country together.

Updated

“Now I may have mentioned my parents in this campaign, once or twice,” Starmer said.

But they had hope, he said. It was not high-minded, not idealistic. The hope that working class families like mine could improve their lives may not burn brightly right now, but it will.

Starmer says the British people should “enjoy this moment”. “Nobody can say you haven’t waited patiently,” he says.

He says people should hold on to this emotion “because this is what unity is made from.”

But don’t pretend there was anything inevitable about this moment, he says.

Election victories don’t fall from the sky. They’re hard won and hard fought for, and this one could only be won by a changed Labour Party.

Lib Dems takes Surrey Heath, Michael Gove's former seat

The Liberal Democrat candidate Al Pinkerton has defeated the Conservatives in Surrey Heath, capturing the former seat of former levelling up secretary Michael Gove, who did not seek re-election.

It was a huge win. Here are the figures from PA Media.

LD win - gain from notional C
Al Pinkerton (LD) 21,387 (44.75%)
Ed McGuinness (C) 15,747 (32.95%)
Sam Goggin (Reform) 6,252 (13.08%)
Jessica Hammersley-Rich (Lab) 3,148 (6.59%)
Jon Campbell (Green) 1,162 (2.43%)
Elizabeth Wallitt (Heritage) 92 (0.19%)
LD maj 5,640 (11.80%)

Notional 20.82% swing C to LD
24.20% boundary change

Electorate 71,934; Turnout 47,788 (66.43%)
2019 notional: C maj 15,552 (29.83%) - Turnout 52,131 (73.61%)
C 30,161 (57.86%); LD 14,609 (28.02%); Lab 4,888 (9.38%); Green 1,845
(3.54%); Others 628 (1.20%)

Starmer says great responsibility comes with Labour’s mandate. He says we must return politics to public service so that politics “can be a force for truth”.

Make no mistake, that is the great test of politics in this era. The fight for trust is the battle that defines our age.

He says the “values of this changed Labour party” are the “driving principle for a new government: country first, part second.”

Keir Starmer, in his remarks, says the Labour party is “ready to serve our country” and to serve working people across the country.

People will be waking up this morning to find a weight has been lifted, “a burden finally removed the shoulders of this great nation.”

Thank you – truly. You have changed our country.

Craig Williams, who was suspended by the Conservatives over the betting scandal, has lost his seat in Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr.

Labour’s Stephen Witherden won what was the safest Tory seat in Wales.

The prospect of a Tory wipe-out in Wales looms larger.

Keir Starmer: We did it!

Labour has won the 2024 general election.

Keir Starmer is speaking now:

“We did it! You campaigned for it, you fought for it, you voted for it, and now it has arrived. Change begins now. And it feels good, I have to be honest. Four and a half years of work changing the party. This is what it is for: a changed labour party, ready to serve our country, ready to restore Britain to the service of working people.”

The Guardian’s results tracker has Labour on 326 seats so far: a majority.

Updated

Former business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg defeated by Labour

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, has lost his seat in North East Somerset and Hanham to Labour.

'Change begins now': Starmer speaks as Labour declared winner

Keir Starmer is speaking now. “Change begins now,” the Labour leader says. “It feels good.”

Eight cabinet ministers lose their seats

The Conservative cabinet ministers who have lost their seats so far are:

  • Penny Mordaunt, leader of the Commons

  • Alex Chalk, the justice secretary

  • Grant Shapps, the defence secretary

  • Gillian Keegan, the education secretary

  • Simon Hart, the chief whip

  • Michelle Donelan, the science secretary

  • Lucy Frazer, the culture secretary

  • Johnny Mercer, the veterans minister

Updated

Kemi Badenoch holds her seat

Kemi Badenoch, the business secretary, and favourite to be next Tory leader, has held her seat. She received 19,360 votes to Labour candidate Issy Waite’s 16,750.

Labour has now won a fifth of the six possible seats in Glasgow:

Election - latest state of play

Around two thirds of constituencies have now declared. Here is the state of play.

  • Keir Starmer will be the next prime minister, after Rishi Sunak conceded defeat within the last few minutes. The Conservatives have suffered a landslide defeat. The latest projection from the BBC suggests the Tories will be left with just 144 MPs – their lowest total after an election since they first started operating as the Conservative party in in the 1830s.

  • Sunak has said he will make a full statement about the defeat when he returns to London later today. Speaking at his count, he did not say whether or not he intends to stay on as party leader.

  • Starmer is on course to take power with a majority of 170, the latest projection from the BBC suggests. It says Labour is set to end up with 410 seats. In a speech at his count at Holborn and St Pancras, he said that the people had voted for change and that it was “time for us to deliver”.

  • Leading members of the cabinet are among the Tories who have already lost their seats, including Penny Mordaunt, leader of the Commons, Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, Simon Hart, the chief whip, Michelle Donelan, the science secretary, Lucy Frazer, the culture secretary and Johnny Mercer, the veterans minister. After a close fight, Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, has held his seat.

  • John Swinney, the SNP leader and Scottish first minister, has said his party is having “a bad election”. It won 48 seats at the last general election, but the BBC is now projection it will end the night with just eight.

  • The Liberal Democrats are on course to have their best election result, in terms of gains, for a century. At the last election they won 11 seats. Now the BBC is projecting they will end up with 58 seats. The party says Liberals have not made gains like this at an election since 1923.

  • Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has said his party is making progress towards his goal of replacing the Tories as the main opposition to the Tories. Farage has won Clacton, and his party has won three other seats. The latest BBC projection suggests the party won’t get any more than this. But in many seats it has been coming second to Labour, recording large swings from 2019.

  • Carla Denyer, the Green party co-leader, has beaten Labour to win Bristol Central. The party is projected by the BBC to win two seats.

  • Plaid Cymru is on course to win four seats, the BBC projection suggests.

  • Two Labour shadow cabinet ministers have lost their seats, despite the party overall achieving a landslide victory. Thangam Debbonaire, the shadow culture secretary, was beaten by the Greens in Bristol, and Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, lost his seat in Leicester South.

Updated

Faiza Shaheen, the independent candidate who was blocked by Labour from standing in Chingford and Woodford Green, has said the Labour party should be “ashamed”.

Shaheen came a narrow third in the north-east London seat with 12,445 votes, behind Labour’s Shama Tatler on 12,524 votes, said her former party was responsible for letting Sir Iain Duncan Smith win.

Shaheen quit the Labour party after her deselection over historical posts on social media.

Updated

Sunak says the British people have delivered a “sobering verdict”. There is much to learn and reflect on, he says.

He says he will return to London where he will say more about tonight’s result before he gives up his job as PM. Then he will return home to Yorkshire, he says.

He does not say anything about how long he is likely to stay as Tory leader.

Updated

SNP lose fourth of six seats in Glasgow to Labour

The SNP have lost the fourth of six possible seats in Glasgow to Labour.

Labour’s Patricia Ferguson has been elected with whopping majority, with 18,000 votes, compared to the SNP’s 12,175.

Sunak concedes Labour has won, and says he has congratulated Keir Starmer

Rishi Sunak is speaking at his count where he has just been elected.

He says it has been a “difficult night” for his party.

He thanks his constituents for their support and says he looks forward to continuing to serve them.

He says Labour has won and he has called Keir Starmer to congratulate him.

Updated

Jeremy Hunt holds on to seat

Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, has held on to his Godalming & Ash seat.

Australia’s Labor prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has said that he very much looks forward to working with Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner. He noted that he met with three British prime ministers in his first six months of being Australia’s leader.

Here are his comments on Friday in Canberra:

We have a strong relationship between our two countries. But in Sir Keir Starmer and [deputy leader] Angela Rayner and so many others who I am so familiar with in the British Labour party, I look forward very much to working with them.

They have similar views to us on a range of issues. I’m sure we will work closely on Aukus – where we worked very closely as well with the former government. I went through in my first six months of being the prime minister of Australia, I met three different British prime ministers [and] had constructive engagement with all of them.

…

It’s been a very disciplined, significant campaign by the British Labour party and certainly, without pre-empting – the polls have closed now so I think I can comment – that I congratulate all those who have been successful.

The Liberal Democrats have held onto Bath, per the latest results from PA.

Wera Hobhouse won 41.31% of the vote and turnout was fairly high for this election, at 69.10%.

Here are the results:

Wera Hobhouse (LD) 19,883 (41.31%)
Dan Bewley (Lab) 8,665 (18.00%)
James Wright (C) 7,659 (15.91%)
Dom Tristram (Green) 5,952 (12.37%)
Teresa Hall (Reform) 3,798 (7.89%)
Colin Blackburn (Ind) 1,749 (3.63%)
Matthew Alford (WPB) 230 (0.48%)
Bill Blockhead (Ind) 169 (0.35%)

Labour has won a third Glasgow seat.

Well, one of the night’s memes has emerged, and it is a rather large hat.

When she announced the election result, the High Sheriff of Northumberland, Lucia Bridgeman, wore a navy hat adorned with ostrich feathers (“things are going to get feather”, anyone?):

She told the BBC, “This is the outfit that the high sheriff wears, it’s not meant to be ostentatious, but is meant to be a uniform, in a sense.”

Bridgeman said that the had was handed down from a previous high sheriff in another county.

“You will see it again,” she said.

Wes Streeting, Labour’s shadow health secretary, has scraped a win in Ilford North by just 528 votes.

John Swinney, the Scottish first minister, has admitted it has been a “very tough night” for the Scottish National Party.

“It’s a very poor result for the SNP tonight,” Swinney told the BBC.

There will have to be a lot of soul searching as a party as a consequence of these results that have come in tonight.

It’s turning into a great night for Plaid Cymru, who have won Ynys Môn (Anglesey) and Caerfyrddin (Carmarthen) from the Tories.

The Caerfyrddin result means that Rishi Sunak’s chief whip, Simon Hart, has lost his seat. He came third behind Labour.

The new Ynys Môn MP, Llinos Medi, said: “Plaid Cymru put fair funding at the heart of our campaign. As council leader, I saw how relentless cuts have gutted public budgets and unleashed hardship on our communities. As a member of parliament, I will hold the new Labour government to account and demand investment for our communities.”

Across Great Britain, Labour has won a huge majority and they now have a duty to prove to people that “change” was not just a slogan. Plaid may well end up with four MPs, a gain of two taking boundary changes into account.

Johnny Mercer, the veterans minister, has lost his seat to Labour in Plymouth Moor View.

Labour’s Fred Thomas has won the seat.

Labour has regained the red wall seat of Burnley from the Conservatives after surviving a scare as it lost support over its stance on Gaza.

The Lancashire constituency was billed as Labour’s most winnable seat and needed only a tiny swing to overturn the Tories’ 1,352 majority.

But the party’s position on Gaza made the contest much closer than expected as the town’s Muslim community voted in large numbers for the Liberal Democrat’s 80-year-old candidate, Gordon Birtwistle, who was the town’s MP from 2010 to 2015.

In the end Labour won with 12,598 votes (about 32% of the vote) – meaning a 3,420 majority, much closer than the party would have liked.

The Liberal Democrats came second with 9,178 votes (23%), while the Conservatives were almost pushed into fourth place, winning 8,058 votes – just 303 ahead of Reform UK. The Conservative share of the vote has roughly halved since 2019.

The town’s new MP, Oliver Ryan, a Labour councillor from nearby Manchester, pledged to fight for “peace and prosperity around the world including in the Middle East and Gaza” in his victory speech at a large pentecostal church, where the count was held.

Sunak arrives at count for his seat of Richmond and Northallerton

The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has arrived at the counting centre for his seat of Richmond and Northallerton, which means we are expecting a result soon.

Updated

Leader of Commons Penny Mordaunt defeated in Portsmouth North

Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the Commons, has lost her Portsmouth North contest. Of all the cabinet ministers who have lost their seats so far, her defeat is probably the most significant because she was seen as one of the strongest candidates to replace Rishi Sunak as leader. Labour took the seat on an 18% swing. Labour’s Amanda Martin got 14,495 votes, and Mordaunt 13,715 votes.

Updated

Fareham and Waterlooville results: Suella Braverman holds on to her seat

Here are the results for Fareham and Waterlooville, where the former Tory home secretary Suella Braverman has held on to her seat. Via PA Media:

Turnout was 64.52%.

Suella Braverman (C) 17,561 (35.04%)
Gemma Furnivall (Lab) 11,482 (22.91%)
Bella Hewitt (LD) 9,533 (19.02%)
Kevan Chippindall-Higgin (Reform) 9,084 (18.12%)
Baz Marie (Green) 2,036 (4.06%)
Robert Holliday (HampInd) 217 (0.43%)
Edward Dean (Rejoin) 210 (0.42%)

Updated

Thérèse Coffey loses Suffolk Coastal seat

Thérèse Coffey, the Conservative former health secretary, has lost her Suffolk Coastal seat.

Updated

Green Party wins first seat of night

The Green party has won its first seat of the night as co-leader Carla Denyer was elected as MP for Bristol Central in a major upset for Labour.

Denyer won 24,539 votes in the newly drawn constituency, easily beating the Labour candidate and shadow frontbencher Thangam Debbonaire to second place with 14,132.

Debbonaire, who represented the constituency’s predecessor Bristol West from 2015, was on course to take a seat in a Keir Starmer cabinet as culture secretary had she won.

In her acceptance speech, Denyer, 38, who has co-led the Green party with Adrian Ramsay for nearly three years, said: “Bristol you made history today. Together we did it. We elected our city’s first Green MP.”

She thanked Green voters as well as those who voted for other parties, volunteers, council staff, and Debbonaire.

“This incredible city has long had my heart and the warmth and positivity I have felt during this campaign has been truly humbling. I feel so privileged to have this opportunity to serve you and to ensure that the real hope that inspired so many people to vote Green is represented in parliament. I can’t wait to get started.”

Updated

Richard Holden, who is chair of the Conservative party, has scraped a win in Basildon and Billericay by a mere 20 votes.

Suella Braverman wins her seat

Speaking after winning her seat of Fareham and Waterlooville, the former home secretary Braverman says: “I’m sorry the Conservative party didn’t listen to you.”

In what looks and sounds distinctly like a pitch to be the next Tory leader, she is doing her best to appear chastened, serious, and to make it clear she thinks the party (under Sunak) has disappointed supporters.

She says the party “let you down”, and “acted like we’re entitled to your vote”.

As bad as tonight has been for the Tories, she says, if the party doesn’t listen, “we’ll have many worse nights to come”.

Updated

Richard Tice takes Reform UK's fourth win of night in Boston and Skegness

Richard Tice, the former leader of Reform UK, has won Boston and Skegness from the Conservatives.

This makes Reform’s fourth win of the night – along with Clacton, Ashfield and Great Yarmouth.

Updated

BBC says its revised forecast suggests Starmer on course for majority of 160, with Labour on 405 seats and Tories on 154

The BBC has now revised its forecast for the final result, based on the constituencies that have already counted.

Here are the new figures, with the exit poll figures in brackets.

Labour: 405 (410)

Conservatives: 154 (131)

Liberal Democrats: 56 (61)

SNP: 6 (10)

Reform UK: 4 (13)

Plaid Cymru: 4 (4)

Greens: 2 (2)

Others: 19 (18 Northern Ireland MP plus one independent, Jeremy Corbyn)

Majority: 160 (170)

This would still be the worst Conservative party result in their history, in terms on number of seats, but it would by only two seats worse than the previous record low, 156 seats in the 1906 election.

Green party co-leader Carla Denyer takes Labour's Bristol Central seat from Thangam Debbonaire

Thangam Debbonaire, the shadow secretary for culture, media and sport, has lost in the Bristol Central seat, becoming the second shadow cabinet minister to be beaten.

Carla Denyer, one of the Green party’s co-leaders, has won the seat.

Updated

Education secretary Gillian Keegan beaten by Lib Dems

Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, has lost her seat in Chichester.

The Lib Dems have won the seat with a majority of 12,172 votes.

Michael Fabricant loses Lichfield seat to Labour

Labour has gained Lichfield from the Conservatives, meaning Michael Fabricant has lost his seat.

Here are full results for Lichfield, according to PA media;

Lab win - gain from notional C
Dave Robertson (Lab) 17,232 (35.09%)
+Sir Michael Fabricant (C) 16,422 (33.44%)
Richard Howard (Reform) 9,734 (19.82%)
Paul Ray (LD) 3,572 (7.27%)
Heather McNeillis (Green) 1,724 (3.51%)
Pete Longman (Ind) 322 (0.66%)
John Madden (ND) 98 (0.20%)
Lab maj 810 (1.65%)
Notional 22.37% swing C to Lab
3.50% boundary change
Electorate 76,118; Turnout 49,104 (64.51%)
2019 notional: C maj 22,609 (43.09%) - Turnout 52,465 (71.05%)
C 33,638 (64.12%); Lab 11,029 (21.02%); LD 5,528 (10.54%); Green
1,702 (3.24%); Others 568 (1.08%)

Updated

Farage claims Reform UK on course to be credible opposition to Labour in a rise that will 'stun all of you'

In his victory speech in Clacton Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said what his party had achieved in just four weeks was ‘“truly extraordinary”.

To come second in so many seats showed something fundamental was happening, he said.

Referring to a big rally he held at the NEC in Birmingham, he said that showed that his plan to build a national movement to challenge Labour was credible.

Labour would be in trouble very quickly, he said

He went on:

Believe me folks, this is just the first step of something that is going to stun all of you.

Updated

Karin Smyth has held Bristol South for Labour in the first result announced for the city.

Smith, who has represented the constituency since 2015, won 18,521 votes, comfortably beating the Green Party to second place, with 10,855 votes.

Turnout was 57.7% in the constituency. Smyth most recently served as shadow health minister.

Smyth’s neighbouring constituency, Bristol Central, is set to be declared later this morning at the same count centre, with the exit poll suggesting the Green Party’s co-leader Carla Denyer will win in a major upset to Labour rival Thangam Debbonaire.

Reform claims third seat - Great Yarmouth

Reform UK has gained Great Yarmouth from the Conservatives, the party’s third win of the night.

Anas Sarwar: I am confident we will have a majority

The Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has said, “I am confident we will have a majority in Scotland and we can start the process of change tomorrow.

“The first stage is getting rid of a 14 year Tory government that has done so much damage to our country. That hard works tomorrow. The second stage would be looking towards Scottish parliament, parliamentary elections in 2026.”

First results from Glasgow not expected for at least an hour but the SNP camp is downbeat as they look like losing five of the sixth seats judging by the piles of ballot papers marked Labour in the arena.

Updated

In his victory speech Jeremy Corbyn said he fought a “positive campaign”. The political system must produce answers for social problems, he said. Demonising asylum seekers is not the answer, he said.

He said he was proud of his constituency for standing up for a “kinder, gentler, more inclusive politics”.

Nigel Farage elected MP for Clacton with majority of 8,405

And Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has finally been elected an MP. This was his eighth attempt (although he claimed only his second serious attempt).

He won Clacton with 21,225. He beat Giles Watling, the Conservative who had a majority of 24,702 at the last election, but who tonight got just 12,820. (Boundary changes only had a minor impact on the compostition of the constituency.

Farage’s majority was 8,405.

Updated

More now from Keir Starmer’s victory speech, in which he pledged to “end the politics of performance” and return to “politics as public service”.

Speaking in Holborn and St Pancras, where he was re-elected with 18,884 votes, Starmer addressed the projected Labour landslide, saying: “Tonight people here and around the country have spoken and they’re ready for change ... The change begins right here because this is your democracy, your community and your future. You have voted. It is now time for us to deliver.”

“Whether you voted for me or not, I will serve every person in this constituency,” the Labour leader said. “The mothers I sat with who lost children to knife crime, the pensioners who can’t get the doctor’s appointments they desperately need, the local businesses who’ve struggled so hard to keep their head above water. I will speak out for you. Have your back. Fight your corner, every single day.”

There were shouts of “free Palestine” from supporters of other candidates who were gathered at the Holborn and St Pancras count. One heckler interjected during Starmer’s speech with “you lost half your votes” and another shouted “lies”.

Starmer’s majority was 11,572 down from 22,766, according to projection of his 2019 result on his new constituency boundaries. Andrew Feinstein, a left-wing independent candidate, came second with 7,312 votes.

Louise Casey, the crossbench peer tipped for a role in a Labour government, was at the count.

Updated

Jonathan Ashworth first shadow cabinet minister to lose seat

Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth has lost his seat of Leicester South, becoming the first shadow cabinet minister to lose a seat.

Shockat Adam, an independent, has won the seat.

Updated

Jeremy Corbyn easily beats Labour to be re-elected MP for Islington North as independent

Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, has been re-elected as MP for Islington North. After being banned from running as a Labour candidate, he ran as an independent, and easily beat his Labour opponent. Corbyn got 24,120 votes and Labour’s Praful Nargund got 16,874 votes.

Updated

Penny Mordaunt, the Commons leader, will lose her seat to Labour, according to Conservative sources.

Mordaunt has been MP for Portsmouth North since 2010.

Iain Duncan Smith holds seat after leftwing independent Faiza Shaheen splits Labour vote

Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, has retained his seat, Chingford and Woodford Green. He got 17,281 votes.

He seems to have won because the Labour vote was split almost 50/50 between is official candidate, Shama Tatler, and Faiza Shaheen, the leftwinger who contested the seat in 2019 and who was set to be Labour’s candidate until she was removed at short notice because of past tweets deemed unacceptable. She decided to run as an independent instead.

Shapps: voters dismayed by endless soap opera of Tories

Grant Shapps, the former defence secretary, is speaking now in his seat of Welwyn Hatfield, which he just lost.

He says that voters have been “dismayed” by the inability of the Conservatives to sort out their differences in private.

He called it an endless soap opera, and “indulgent”.

He also said that the new government must spend 2.5% of GDP on the armed forces, he says, or the UK’s support for Ukraine will suffer.

Shapps also mentioned that his proudest achievement was securing £75bn in defence spending. And that he served as Home Secretary, a position he held for six days. Which was an achievement, in a way, because it made him the shortest-serving Home Secretary in British history.

Updated

Labour has gained the Paisley seat from the Scottish National party.

Labour has also gained Lothian East from the SNP. Its candidate here is Douglas Alexander, who served as a cabinet minister under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown but who lost his former seat, Paisley and Renfrewshire South, in 2015.

Updated

Justice secretary Alex Chalk beaten by Lib Dems

Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, has lost in Cheltenham to the Liberal Democrats, becoming the first cabinet minister to lose his seat.

Here are the full result, according to PA media:

LD win - gain from notional C
Max Wilkinson (LD) 25,076 (50.62%)
+Alex Chalk (C) 17,866 (36.06%)
Daniel Wilson (Green) 3,160 (6.38%)
Lara Chaplin (Lab) 2,665 (5.38%)
Daud McDonald (Ind) 775 (1.56%)
LD maj 7,210 (14.55%)
Notional 8.53% swing C to LD
5.90% boundary change
Electorate 76,143; Turnout 49,542 (65.06%)
2019 notional: C maj 1,421 (2.50%) - Turnout 56,883 (75.55%)
C 27,563 (48.46%); LD 26,142 (45.96%); Lab 2,733 (4.80%); Others 445
(0.78%)

Updated

Defence secretary Grant Shapps beaten by Labour in Welwyn Hatfield

Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, has lost his seat in Welwyn Hatfield.

He was beaten by Labour’s Andrew Lewin, who got 19,877 votes (41%). Shapps got 16,078 votes (33%).

Updated

Starmer says 'people have spoken, they're ready for change, it's now time for us to deliver'

Keir Starmer starts by thanking his family.

And he thanks the police and the returning officer for making sure every voice was heard, and every vote counted.

And he thanks the other candidates who put themselves forward for public service.

It all starts with you, he tells his audience. Change begins with people who come together to make life better.

He talks about community groups and faith communties who serve the people.

And he says he promises to serve every person in the constituency, whether they voted for him or not. He will speak out for people, “have your back and fight your corner every single day”.

He goes on:

People here and around the country have spoken and they’re ready for change, to the politics of performance, a return to politics as public service.

The change begins right here, because this is your democracy, your community and your future.

You have voted. It is now time for us to deliver.

Updated

Bishop Auckland was part of the demolished “red wall” in 2019, and has now been reclaimed by Labour.

Here are full results for Bishop Auckland, from PA media:

Lab win - gain from notional C
Sam Rushworth (Lab) 17,036 (42.14%)
Jane MacBean (C) 10,364 (25.64%)
Rhys Burriss (Reform) 9,466 (23.42%)
Sarah Hannan (Green) 1,857 (4.59%)
Helen Cross (LD) 1,373 (3.40%)
Rachel Maughan (Transform) 331 (0.82%)
Lab maj 6,672 (16.50%)
Notional 16.45% swing C to Lab
52.90% boundary change
Electorate 70,756; Turnout 40,427 (57.14%)
2019 notional: C maj 8,113 (16.39%) - Turnout 49,511 (69.85%)
C 26,239 (53.00%); Lab 18,126 (36.61%); Brexit 2,739 (5.53%); LD
1,782 (3.60%); Others 325 (0.66%); Green 300 (0.61%)

Keir Starmer is about to speak at the Holborn and St Pancras count, where he has just been declared the winner.

A recount is under way in Basildon and Billericay, where the Tory chair, Richard Holden, is standing.

Holden was selected at the last minute for a safe seat 300 miles from his former constituency, triggering anger among members. He was chosen after being the only candidate on the list.

Members of the local Conservative association were incensed. Andrew Baggott, the Conservative group leader on Basildon council, said at the time that he would refuse to campaign for Holden.

Updated

Nigel Farage arrives in Clacton and says Reform UK will now target Labour

Arriving at his count in Clacton, Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said his party would now be going after Labour.

He said Lee Anderson, the former Tory MP, had won because he had the courage to defect to Reform UK. He said there were many Conservative MPs who would be losing tonight because they did not have the courage to do the same.

And he went on:

And the really big message is this. Geographically now, in most of the country, a vote for the Conservatives actually splits our vote and is a vote for Labour. The argument they’ve used against us can never be used again.

Updated

Lots of Labour gains have been announced in the last few minutes:

Labour gains Barrow & Furness from the Conservatives.

Labour gains Thurrock from the Conservatives.

Labour gains Scunthorpe from the Conservatives

Labour gains Broxtowe from the Conservatives.

Labour gains Bishop Auckland from the Conservatives.

Labour gains Tipton & Wednesbury from the Conservatives.

Labour gains Wrexham from the Conservatives.

Labour gains Rushcliffe from the Conservatives.

Labour gains Dunbartonshire West from the Scottish National party.

Updated

It does not quite match “the people have spoken, the bastards” level of sulk but Tim Collins, the army colonel who gave a famous speech to troops before the invasion of Iraq, has made some choice remarks about the voters of North Down who declined to elect him.

“People in North Down, I think they don’t want someone who doesn’t live in Northern Ireland,” Colllins, who lives in Kent, said after being eliminated.

“They’re interested in local politics, they’re not interested in cutting VAT, they’re not interested in international affairs. They’re interested in potholes and hedges.”

The Ulster Unionist party candidate made headlines during the campaign when comparing the cost of insuring a car in Northern Ireland to insuring his Rolls-Royce. “It’s Northern Ireland, they don’t understand these things,” he said at the count centre. “The point I was making is that an expensive car is cheaper to insure in England than it is here.”

The seat remained a toss-up between the incumbent, Stephen Farry of Alliance, and Alex Easton, an independent unionist.

Updated

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, has been re-elected in Ashton-under-Lyne.

In her victory speech, she says this is a vote for change. She says Labour wants to bring an end to division, to bring the country together and “to replace self-service with public service”.

First Scottish result: Labour wins Kilmarnock and Loudoun

Labour’s Lillian Jones has won the Kilmarnock and Loudoun with more than 19,065 votes.

SNP came second on 13,936.

It is the first result in Scotland.

Lib Dem leader Ed Davey holds seat in Kingston and Surbiton.

Ed Davey has held on to his seat in Kingston and Surbiton.

He is giving a victory speech now, and says, “Now I don’t know if you could tell, but I have rather enjoyed this campaign. But what I’ve loved most is not the bungee jumping … it’s speaking to people ... about the challenges they face and their hopes for the future.”

Davey has performed a series of stunts during his campaign, including bungee jumping, surfing and, perhaps hardest of all, a zumba class.

Updated

PA Media posted this summary of the results so far just a few minutes ago.

With 41 constituency results declared, Labour has won 35 seats with a 43.2% share of the vote.

The Conservatives have three seats and a 20.4% vote share.

The Liberal Democrats have won in two constituencies with 19.9% of the overall vote, while Reform UK have 19.9% of the vote, translating to success in one seat.

The Green party have 6.5% of the votes.

Updated

Galloway loses to Labour's Paul Waugh in Rochdale by 1,440 votes - results in full

George Galloway, leader of the Workers Party of Britain, was beating in Rochdale by Paul Waugh, the Labour candidate and a former political journalist. On the BBC election programme Neil Kinnock, the former Labour leader, could scarcely contain his glee. He described Galloway as “repulsive” – but said when he was leading the party, he could not find a reason to throw him out.

Here are the results in full from PA Media.

Lab win - notional hold
Paul Waugh (Lab) 13,027 (32.82%)
+George Galloway (WPB) 11,587 (29.20%)
Michael Howard (Reform) 6,773 (17.07%)
Paul Ellison (C) 4,273 (10.77%)
Andy Kelly (LD) 2,816 (7.10%)
Martyn Savin (Green) 1,212 (3.05%)
Lab maj 1,440 (3.63%)

10.30% boundary change

Electorate 71,264; Turnout 39,688 (55.69%)
2019 notional: Lab maj 8,109 (19.28%) - Turnout 42,058 (58.66%)
Lab 21,379 (50.83%); C 13,270 (31.55%); Brexit 3,451 (8.21%); LD
3,168 (7.53%); Green 790 (1.88%)

Updated

Labour holds Widnes and Halewood

Labour’s Derek Twigg has held Widnes and Halewood with 61.61%. Reform’s Jake Fraser came second, fairly far behind, with 18.52%.

Turnout was 52.97%.

Here are the results, via PA Media:

Derek Twigg (Lab) 23,484 (61.61%)
Jake Fraser (Reform) 7,059 (18.52%)
Sean Houlston (C) 3,507 (9.20%)
Nancy Mills (Green) 2,058 (5.40%)
David Coveney (LD) 1,593 (4.18%)
Michael Murphy (WPB) 415 (1.09%)

In March this year, Galloway, a veteran political agitator declared “a shifting of the tectonic plates” away from Labour after claiming a stunning victory in the Rochdale byelection.

Galloway is one of the most divisive politicians in Britain. He won almost 40% of the vote in a contest beset by chaos and controversy and dominated by the conflict in Gaza.

He took aim at Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak in a victory speech that was interrupted by hecklers after a dramatic count at the Rochdale leisure centre.

We’re expecting a victory speech from Labour’s Paul Waugh shortly.

In big news, the Workers party leader, George Galloway, has lost Rochdale to Labour. We expect fuller results and a speech shortly.

Updated

Keir Starmer has arrived for his count at Holborn and St Pancras.

Labour holds Battersea

Labour’s Marsha de Cordova has held onto her seat in Battersea, with 48.81% of the vote. The Conservatives came second, Liberal Democrats third, and Greens fourth, ahead of Reform.

Turnout was relatively high for this election so far, at 64.7%.

Here are the results, via PA:

Marsha de Cordova (Lab) 22,983 (48.81%)
Tom Pridham (C) 10,944 (23.24%)
Francis Chubb (LD) 4,826 (10.25%)
Joe Taylor (Green) 4,239 (9.00%)
Barry Edwards (Reform) 2,825 (6.00%)
Dan Smith (WPB) 499 (1.06%)
Georgina Burford-Connole (Rejoin) 401 (0.85%)
Jake Thomas (Ind) 216 (0.46%)
Ed Dampier (Soc Dem) 149 (0.32%)

Here are snaps from PA with some of the results that have declared in the past 20 minutes.

Labour win Runcorn & Helsby - notional Labour hold

Labour win Reading Central - notional Labour hold

Labour win Tynemouth - notional Labour hold

Labour win Putney - notional Labour hold

Labour hold Bootle

Labour win Redcar - gain from notional Conservative

Labour win Leigh & Atherton - gain from notional Conservative

Conservative win Castle Point - notional Conservative hold

Labour win Vale of Glamorgan - gain from notional Conservative

Reform UK win Ashfield - gain from notional Conservative

Labour gain from Conservative in Cannock Chase

Labour win Whitehaven & Workington - gain from notional Conservative

Labour win Norwich South - notional Labour hold

Labour win Bridgend - gain from notional Conservative

Conservative win Broxbourne - notional Conservative hold

Labour win Barnsley South - notional Labour hold

Labour win Colchester - gain from notional Conservative

Labour win Blackpool South - gain from notional Conservative

Labour win Battersea - notional Labour hold

Labour win Widnes & Halewood - notional Labour hold

Labour win Swindon North - gain from notional Conservativ

Labour gains Blackpool South from Conservatives

Labour’s Chris Webb has gained the seat of Blackpool South from a Zak Khan. Reform has come second.

The result for the Conservatives is brutal, with just 15.65% of the vote.

Turnout was very low, at 45.41%.

Here are the results, via PA:

Chris Webb (Lab) 16,916 (48.08%)
Mark Butcher (Reform) 10,068 (28.62%)
Zak Khan (C) 5,504 (15.65%)
Ben Thomas (Green) 1,207 (3.43%)
Andy Cregan (LD) 1,041 (2.96%)
Stephen Black (Ind) 261 (0.74%)
Kim Knight (ADF) 183 (0.52%)

Updated

Labour has won Cannock Chase from the Conservatives. According to the BBC, the Conservative share of the vote was down by 40 percentage points.

First results from Wales: Labour takes two seats from Conservatives

The first two Welsh results are in and it’s grim news for the Tories. Labour has won both the Vale of Glamorgan and Bridgend from the Conservatives.

There was a fierce fight between the Tories and Labour in the Vale, a bellwether seat. Rishi Sunak visited on the first day of the campaign and blundered when he asked staff at a brewery in south Wales if they were looking forward to Euro 24, apparently not realising or forgetting that Wales had not qualified for the tournament.

Keir Starmer had a more successful visit, serving ice cream in a parlour at Barry Island.

It is turning into a bad night for former and current Tory Welsh secretaries of state. Alun Cairns, who held the post between 2016 and 2019, was the Vale MP.

Sir Robert Buckland, who served in 2022, was beaten in South Swindon while the latest incumbent, David TC Davies, earlier said there “isn’t a chance” he’ll win in Monmouthshire.

Updated

Labour win Swindon North

Labour have gained a seat in Swindon North from the Conservatives. Turnout was 60.3%.

Here are the results, via PA:

Will Stone (Lab) 17,930 (40.60%)
Justin Tomlinson (C) 13,827 (31.31%)
Les Willis (Reform) 7,557 (17.11%)
Andy Bentley (Green) 2,366 (5.36%)
Flo Clucas (LD) 2,086 (4.72%)
Debbie Hicks (Ind) 260 (0.59%)
Scott Hunter (TUSC) 139 (0.31%)

Lee Anderson re-elected as Reform UK MP for Ashfield

Lee Anderson has been re-elected in Ashfield. He is the first Reform UK MP elected tonight.

In his victory speech he calls Ashfield the capital of common sense. He says “I want my country back, and Ashfield can play its part in that.”

George Galloway from the Workers Party of Britain has lost in Rochdale, according to sources at the count. He won the seat from Labour at a byelection earlier this year.

Labour retains Barnsley, defying exit poll

Labour’s Dan Jarvis has won in Barnsley, which means that the exit poll was way off. In his victory speech, he joked: “Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

Jarvis won with a majority of almost 8,000 votes.

An exit poll predicted Jarvis was likely to lose his seat to a former Reform candidate who was dropped by the party last week over alleged racist comments.

Updated

Labour holds Barnsley North

Labour has comfortably retained its seat in Barnsley North, according to PA.

Reform has come second.

Here are the results:

Dan Jarvis (Lab) 18,610 (50.44%)
Robert Lomas (Reform) 10,799 (29.27%)
Tamas Kovacs (C) 3,083 (8.36%)
Tom Heyes (Green) 1,805 (4.89%)
Penny Baker (LD) 1,336 (3.62%)
Neil Fisher (Ind) 616 (1.67%)
Tony Devoy (Yorkshire) 603 (1.63%)
Janus Polenceusz (Eng Dem) 42 (0.11%)

Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, has been re-elected as MP for Leeds West and Pudsey. In her she victory speech, she said she did not want to pre-empt the results, but that “if what we have seen so far holds out”, it was clear people had voted for change.

She said

We have promised to the end of the chaos, to turn the page and to get to work on rebuilding our country. And we will do so.

We have sought the opportunity to govern not for self interest, but to serve in the national interest and to make work pay.

Updated

Antony Higginbotham, Burnley’s first Tory MP for over a century when he was elected in 2019, says the seat is a “genuine three way battle” tonight. A Labour source also said the seat dubbed Labour’s “most winnable” was “close”.

Labour are still the favourites, but the Liberal Democrats have outperformed the 100/1 odds they were given at the start of the campaign, and the Conservatives are still claiming to be in the picture.

Higginbotham cuts quite a downbeat figure in the election count centre – a large pentecostal church on the edge of the town – as he surveys the votes being counted.

He told me the exit poll was “disappointing to say the least” and that the low turnout and support for Reform shows “the public are sending a message”.

He added: “It’s entirely possible in Burnley that we see a result where the winning candidate gets under 40% of the vote.

“The last four and a half years of politics has been - sometimes through circumstances not in our control, like Covid - not what people want it to be.

“Far too often politicians, and my own side particularly, we talk to ourselves. The frustration when we see colleagues briefing journalists and leaking messages from Whatsapp groups - that doesn’t fill voters with confidence. We need to get the discipline back.

“Too many people have been in politics far too long and the public have sent a resounding message that you don’t have a right to be there. But sadly that means many hard-working colleagues are going to pay the price.”

Labour win Knowsley and Telford

Labour’s Anneliese Midgley has won in Knowsley and Shaun Davies has won in Telford, according to PA.

Andrea Leadsom, the Tory former cabinet minister who is standing down, has said she would like to see Penny Mordaunt as the next party leader.

Asked who should should replace Rishi Sunak, she said:

I’m a big fan of Penny …

I do think it will need to be someone from the centre right.

Our country is a country of thoughtful and honourable people who are extremely tolerant until pushed and clearly in recent months and possibly years they have felt pushed, but centre right is where we need to be.

Mark Francois, chair of the Tory European Research Group, has retained his seat, Rayleigh and Wickford in Essex. But his majority has been cut from 30,348 to 5,621. And his share of the vote is down 36 points. Here are the results from PA Media.

C win - notional hold
+Mark Francois (C) 17,756 (37.01%)
Grant Randall (Reform) 12,135 (25.29%)
James Hedges (Lab) 11,823 (24.64%)
Stewart Mott (LD) 4,068 (8.48%)
Chris Taylor (Green) 2,196 (4.58%)
C maj 5,621 (11.72%)

3.50% boundary change

Electorate 76,576; Turnout 47,978 (62.65%)
2019 notional: C maj 30,348 (57.26%) - Turnout 52,997 (69.35%)
C 38,652 (72.93%); Lab 8,304 (15.67%); LD 4,081 (7.70%); Green 1,960
(3.70%)

Conservative party leader in Scotland, Douglas Ross, has admitted tonight “is historically bad” with “no shying away from that at all”.

“There will be a huge amount of reflection on the campaign and also, clearly, the last few years,” he told the BBC.

In Basildon and Billericay, where Richard Holden, the Conservative chair, is the party’s candidate, a full recount is taking place. Holden was selected for the seat, from a shortlist of one (he did not have any competition) after his North West Durham seat disappeared in the boundary review. He was widely accused of lining up a safe seat for himself, because John Baron had a majority of 20,412 at the last election. The boundary changes made the seat a bit more Labour, but only marginally.

Updated

Lib Dems claim they have won Chichester, beating education secretary Gillian Keegan

This is what a Lib Dem spokesperson is saying about Chichester, where the party is confident it has beaten Gillian Keegan, the education secretary.

Chichester is going Lib Dem orange, as Gillian Keegan becomes the first Cabinet Minister of the night to lose her seat.

The Conservatives have let down the people of Chichester for too long. This seat has been Conservative for 100 years and a win here for the Liberal Democrats is an extraordinary achievement which has unseated the education secretary.

Keegan had a majority of 21,490 at the last election over the Lib Dems. Since then the boundaries have changed, but the new boundaries were marginally more favourable to the Tories, not less. Under the new boundaries, it is estimated the Tories would have been on 59% at the last election (not 58% – its actual share of the vote) and the Lib Dems would have been on 20% (not 23%), according to the Guardian’s guide to the boundary changes.

Lib Dems win first seat from Conservatives

The Liberal Democrats’ Tom Gordon has won Harrogate & Knaresborough, the party’s first victory of the night.

The full results from PA media are:

Tom Gordon (LD) 23,976 (46.05%)
Andrew Jones (C) 15,738 (30.23%)
Jonathan Swales (Reform) 5,679 (10.91%)
Conrad Whitcroft (Lab) 4,153 (7.98%)
Shan Oakes (Green) 1,762 (3.38%)
Paul Haslam (Ind) 620 (1.19%)
Stephen Metcalfe (ND) 136 (0.26%)
LD maj 8,238 (15.82%)

Notional 15.82% swing C to LD

6.20% boundary change

Electorate 77,970; Turnout 52,064 (66.77%)
2019 notional: C maj 8,787 (15.82%) - Turnout 55,543 (73.28%)
C 28,873 (51.98%); LD 20,086 (36.16%); Lab 5,349 (9.63%); Others
1,208 (2.17%); Green 27 (0.05%)

Updated

Here’s a look at our front page for Friday:

The Liberal Democrats are claiming to have beaten Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, in Chichester.

Labour sources tell the BBC they are quietly confident of four of the five seats in Fife.

Former leader of Labour in Scotland Jim Murphy says the projected results for Scotland overall are “double jeopardy” for the SNP “because not only have they lost votes to Labour directly but they lost votes to non voters. And in politics, it’s much harder to re-energise people who have left and gone to be non voters.”

I’m in Burnley, in the heart of Lancashire’s red wall, where Labour is on course to regain a seat it lost to the Tories in 2019 – the first time the town had elected a Conservative MP since 1910.

Throughout the campaign Burnley was billed as Labour’s most winnable seat. It needed the tiniest of swings to sweep away Tory incumbent Antony Higginbotham’s fragile majority of 1,532.

But on the ground – far removed from the opinion polls – the mood was rather different. As I reported four weeks ago, the Liberal Democrats sensed a huge upset as it won the backing of a large portion of Burnley’s Muslim community which had deserted Labour in significant numbers over Sir Keir Starmer’s position on Gaza.

A Labour source told me earlier today that the result in Burnley was looking “close”, with Labour’s candidate Oliver Ryan on around 33% of the vote with the rest split equally among the rest.

Gordon Birtwistle, the Liberal Democrat candidate (and former MP), just told me that the result “seems positive”. He believes he has hoovered up the vast majority of votes from the Muslim community, which could total around 11,000. “I’ve just watched one box being opened when I had all the votes bar four,” he said.

Another Liberal Democrat source said the Conservatives “are doing better than you would expect” in Burnley, and Reform were also picking up votes from Labour.

With at least an hour to go until the result, we’ve just been given the official turnout for Burnley: it’s a very low 53.2% – about seven percentage points down from 2019. That’s similar to what has happened across England so far and is a story in itself.

Turnout on course to be one of lowest in postwar history, says John Curtice

Prof Sir John Curtice, the psephologist who led the team that produced the exit poll, said early results are consistent with widespread expectations of a low turnout.

Speaking to the BBC, Curtice said:

We may discover we are heading towards one of the lower turnouts of general elections in postwar electoral history.

He noted that there was “not that much difference between Conservative and Labour in much of what they were offering the electorate”.

The lowest general election turnout since 1918 was in 2001, when it was 59.4%. The highest was in 1950, when it was 83.9%. For most of the postwar period turnout was regularly in the 70s, or higher, and in 1997 it was 71.4%. But it has never returned to those levels since the sharp fall in 2001. At the last election it was 67.3%, down by 1.5 percentage points compared with 2017 (68.8%). Full figures are available in this House of Commons library briefing paper.

Labour holds Gateshead Central & Whickham, and once again Reform has come second.

Here are full results, from PA media:

Lab win - notional hold
Mark Ferguson (Lab) 18,245 (45.37%)
Damian Heslop (Reform) 8,601 (21.39%)
Ron Beadle (LD) 4,987 (12.40%)
Nicholas Oliver (C) 4,628 (11.51%)
Rachel Cabral (Green) 3,217 (8.00%)
Norman Hall (TUSC) 369 (0.92%)
Graham Steele (Save) 170 (0.42%)
Lab maj 9,644 (23.98%)

50.60% boundary change

Electorate 68,779; Turnout 40,217 (58.47%)
2019 notional: Lab maj 5,911 (14.07%) - Turnout 42,021 (59.19%)
Lab 19,787 (47.09%); C 13,876 (33.02%); LD 5,138 (12.23%); Brexit
1,629 (3.88%); Green 1,591 (3.79%)

Updated

Polling guru John Curtice cautioned that the exit poll projections for Scotland should be taken with a “great deal of caution”.

On the BBC website he said the poll only included a few sample points in Scotland leaving projections less robust there. He wrote on the BBC website:

If the poll has even slightly overestimated Labour’s advantage over the SNP, the latter’s tally could end up being higher.

The forecast for the SNP – and for Scotland in general, where the exit poll is pointing to substantial Labour gains – must thus be treated with a great deal of caution.

Updated

Reform UK supporters in Ashfield say they are “confident” that Lee Anderson will be re-elected there, PA Media reports. Elected as a Tory in 2019, he defected to Reform UK. Labour says it thinks the contest is “too close to call”.

Here are the full figures for Newcastle upon Tyne Central & West, from PA Media:

Lab win - notional hold
Chi Onwurah (Lab) 18,875 (45.64%)
Ashton Muncaster (Reform) 7,815 (18.90%)
Frances Lasok (C) 4,228 (10.22%)
Yvonne Ridley (Ind) 3,627 (8.77%)
John Pearson (Green) 3,228 (7.81%)
Ali Avaei (LD) 1,946 (4.71%)
Habib Rahman (Ind) 1,636 (3.96%)
Lab maj 11,060 (26.74%)
74.70% boundary change
Electorate 76,822; Turnout 41,355 (53.83%)
2019 notional: Lab maj 15,731 (32.68%) - Turnout 48,135 (62.95%)
Lab 28,520 (59.25%); C 12,789 (26.57%); Brexit 3,934 (8.17%); Green
1,462 (3.04%); LD 1,430 (2.97%)

It’s looking increasingly like a near-wipeout for the Tories in Wales. Labour insiders are – cautiously – saying they believe they are on course to take seats from the Tories such as Wrexham in north Wales and the Vale of Glamorgan in the south.

The leader of the Tories in the Senedd, the Welsh parliament, Andrew RT Davies, has expressed anger at the timing of the election. The chair of the party in Wales, Tomos Dafydd Davies, has suggested the Tories need to develop a “robust brand” of their own in Wales.

Craig Williams, who was embroiled in the scandal over the placing of bets on the date of the election, may just win in Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr. However the Tories withdrew support from him so he will sit as an independent.

It isn’t all good news for Labour. The exit poll suggests its share of the vote in Wales is down by 2%, perhaps a sign that controversies that have swirled around the first minister, Vaughan Gething, are cutting through.

Plaid Cymru has had a good campaign with the profile of its leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth, boosted by impressive appearances on television and radio debates and interviews. But its members are playing down its prospects, believing it may end up with only two MPs. It had hoped for four.

Reform UK is not expected to win any seats in Wales but it thinks its vote share will be large in some areas, which could provide it with a foothold for the 2026 Senedd elections where there will be proportional representation rather than first-past-the-post.

Updated

According to Jeremy Vine, who has been presenting the latest analysis of the results on the BBC, although the swing to Labour in the seats so far declared is 11%, the party is on course to win some seats where it will need of up to 18, 19, 20% to win.

The Liberal Democrats have listed some of the seats they are confident of winning tonight. They are: Torbay; North Cornwall; Yeovil; Eastleigh; Wimbledon; Woking; Guildford; South Cambridgeshire; ⁠Cheadle; Hazel Grove; Wokingham; Lewes and Tunbridge Wells.

They say the Liberals have not won Tunbridge Wells since 1906. At the last election the Tories were on 55% and the Lib Dems 28%. The boundaries have not changed.

Jeremy Corbyn is on course for a narrow victory in Islington, according to a Labour source.

Corbyn is standing as an independent candidate.

Jacob Rees-Mogg suggested earlier the Tories were losing so badly partly because they ditched Boris Johnson. (See 11.46pm.) In the speech at his count following his defeat by Labour’s Heidi Alexander (a former MP for Lewisham East, who left parliament in 2018 to take a job with Sadiq Khan), Robert Buckland, the former justice secretary, implied that people like Johnson were part of the problem. He said:

Our very political system is at a crossroads. Do we value those who work to bring people together and who come into politics to do something rather than be someone? Or do we shrug our shoulders and accept that politics is a media circus where people compete for attention by saying things that they either know to be untrue, or which raise hopes and expectations in a way that further erodes trust?

I know what side I’m on. I know what choice I would make. And I believe with sincere and fierce conviction that my party has to make the right choice too if we are to inspire a new generation with the real promise of a better future.

Buckland did not say anything like this when he was serving in Johnson’s cabinet. And his concerns about politicians making unrealistic promises did not stop him switching his support from Rishi Sunak to Liz Truss in the summer of 2022, a decision that led to him being retained in cabinet as Welsh secretary.

In an interview with the BBC a moment ago, asked who he was referring to in his speech, Buckland did not name anyone, but he criticised colleagues writing newspaper articles implying disloyalty during the campaign.

When it was put to him that he was talking about Suella Braverman, who wrote an article in the Telegraph this week saying the party was on course to lose, Buckland did not deny that.

Updated

Labour holds Newcastle upon Tyne Central & West.

Reform has come second again.

Labour has held on to Washington & Gateshead South. The full results, according to PA media:

Lab win - notional hold
+Sharon Hodgson (Lab) 17,682 (47.76%)
Paul Donaghy (Reform) 10,769 (29.09%)
Shaun Parsons (C) 4,654 (12.57%)
Michal Chantkowski (Green) 1,687 (4.56%)
Ciaran Morrissey (LD) 1,602 (4.33%)
Sharon McLafferty (Ind) 627 (1.69%)
Lab maj 6,913 (18.67%)


32.10% boundary change
Electorate 70,972; Turnout 37,021 (52.16%)
2019 notional: Lab maj 3,938 (9.39%) - Turnout 41,954 (58.45%)
Lab 18,090 (43.12%); C 14,152 (33.73%); Brexit 5,784 (13.79%); LD
2,067 (4.93%); Green 1,122 (2.67%); Others 739 (1.76%)

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage posted a video statement on X where he predicted his party would receive more than six million votes.

“This, folks, is huge,” Farage said, noting that there were two results in the north-east of England that put Reform on 30% of the vote. “It is almost unbelievable.”

It means we’re going to win seats, many many seats I think right now across the country.

Labour sources have told the BBC they think they have snatched four of the six Glasgow seats from the SNP with two constituencies, Glasgow North and Glasgow South too close to call.

We’ve had three results now from safeish Labour seats in the north-east of England where Reform UK has come second. In all three, the Brexit party (the predecessor party of Reform UK) came third last time, behind the Tories.

And their share of the vote has risen sharply.

In Houghton and Sunderland, a 16% Brexit party vote in 2019 has become a 29% Reform UK vote.

In Blyth and Ashington, a 9% Brexit party vote in 2019 has become a 27% Reform UK vote.

And in Sunderland Central, a 12% Brexit party vote has become a 27% Reform UK vote.

Here are the full results for Swindon South, from PA Media:

Lab win - gain from notional C
Heidi Alexander (Lab) 21,676 (48.39%)
+Sir Robert Buckland (C) 12,070 (26.95%)
Catherine Kosidowski (Reform) 6,194 (13.83%)
Rod Hebden (Green) 2,539 (5.67%)
Matt McCabe (LD) 1,843 (4.11%)
Martin Costello (Ind) 472 (1.05%)
Lab maj 9,606 (21.44%)
Notional 16.43% swing C to Lab
29.20% boundary change
Electorate 72,596; Turnout 44,794 (61.70%)
2019 notional: C maj 5,650 (11.41%) - Turnout 49,527 (68.34%)
C 25,564 (51.62%); Lab 19,914 (40.21%); LD 3,788 (7.65%); Green 261
(0.53%)

Labour wins Swindon South taking seat from former justice secretary Robert Buckland

Labour’s Heidi Alexander has won Swindon South, taking the seat from the former Conservative justice secretary Robert Buckland.

It marks the first Labour gain from the Conservatives.

Updated

Six seats are in play in Glasgow, down from seven in 2019 and results will not be in until at least 3am.

A walk around the Glasgow Emirates Arena indicates it is a close run between SNP and Labour which used to dominate the city before 2015.

Labour volunteers say they have been surprised by the number of votes for Reform showing in Glasgow north while Conservatives are dismissing exit polls suggestions that the party might double its six seats in Scotland, saying it didn’t even target some of them.

Third result of the night is in – Labour’s Lewis Atkinson has won Sunderland Central.

Reform UK has once again come second. Here are the full figures from PA Media:

Labour hold

Lewis Atkinson (Lab) 16,852 (42.18%) Chris Eynon (Reform) 10,779 (26.98%)
Greg Peacock (C) 5,731 (14.34%)
Niall Hodson (LD) 3,602 (9.01%)
Rachel Featherstone (Green) 2,993 (7.49%)

Earlier this week Rishi Sunak seemed to hint that, if the Tories lost, he would stay on as leader for a period to provide stability while the party assesses the way forward. Some Tories are hoping he will do this, following the example of Michael Howard, whose decision to hang on for six months after the 2005 election, overseeing changes to the leadership election process and a lengthy leadership contest, was generally seen as good for the party.

But Tim Shipman, the Sunday Times’ chief political commentator, has told Times Radio he thinks Sunak will resign on Friday. This is from Calum Macdonald at Times Radio.

. @ShippersUnbound tells @TimesRadio‘s Election night that his understanding is that Rishi Sunak will announce his resignation as Conservative leader on Friday morning

At the last leadership contest, following the resignation of Liz Truss, the Conservative 1922 Committe imposed a threshold saying any candidate would need to be nominated by 100 MPs to go forward to the ballot of members. This was designed to avoid the need for ballot of members. Sunak passed the threshold, Boris Johnson reportedly passed the threshold, but pulled out, and Sunak was elected unopposed.

If the Tories do get only 131 seats, as the exit poll suggests, then it would be impossible for more than one candidate to pass the 100-MP threshold. If the Tories want their members to have the final say, the rules will need a rethink.

David Bull, deputy leader of Reform UK, said it is an “historic moment” after the exit polls predicted his party gaining 13 seats.

“I think what you’re seeing is the shy ‘Reformers’ coming out in droves,” Bull told the BBC.

Jacob Rees-Mogg suggests Tory defeat partly explained by decision to ditch Boris Johnson as leader

Rightwingers in the Conservative party think a major cause of the party’s defeat was the decision to get rid of Boris Johnson, and Jacob Rees-Mogg, who was leader of the Commons and then Brexit minister under Johnson, became one of the first Tories to make that case tonight.

Speaking on the BBC, he said it had been “a terrible night” for the party.

Asked what went wrong for the party, Rees-Mogg said there were “issues with changing the leader”. He went on:

Voters expect the prime minister they have chosen to remain the prime minister and for it to be the voters who decide when that person is changed …

I’m afraid I think the Conservative party took it’s core vote for granted, which is why you see so many people who may have voted Conservative previously, going off to Reform.

In the first result of the night, the Labour shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has won the Houghton and Sunderland South constituency.

Phillipson, in her victory speech, said the British people had “chosen a brighter future”.

Tonight the British people have spoken, and if the exit poll this evening is again a guide to results across our country as it so often is, then after 14 years the British people have chosen change.

They have chosen Labour and they have chosen the leadership of Keir Starmer. Today our country with its proud history has chosen a brighter future. The British people have decided that they believe as Labour believes that our best days lie ahead of us – hope and unity, not decline and division, stability over chaos.

A government powered by hope, by the belief that tomorrow cannot just be different from today, but better. A government of service, a government with purpose above all to change our society for good.

Updated

Rishi Sunak’s U-turns and reversals on net zero had proved “as popular with voters as a root canal”, said Greenpeace as the exit poll showed Labour on course for a landslide victory.

Ami McCarthy, political campaigner at Greenpeace, said:

A strong majority of voters seem to have rejected the Conservatives’ divisive approach to the climate and nature crises and backed parties willing to tackle them.

Sunak signalled his sharp change in direction last September, ahead of the party conference season, vowing to roll back key policies. He stepped up his anti-green rhetoric repeatedly in the following months, culminating in an attack on “environmental dogma” when he called the election in the rain on the steps of Downing Street.

But this approach had been clearly rejected, if the exit poll was correct, green experts said. Ed Matthew, campaigns director at the E3G thinktank, said:

Dependence on oil and gas has driven the cost-of-living crisis. By delaying and damaging the clean energy policies that could cut energy bills, Rishi Sunak pitched the Conservatives against every UK household. It was a catastrophic political blunder.

Shaun Spiers, executive director at the Green Alliance thinktank, said:

British people want a credible plan to make their lives better, and they’ve emphatically backed a party that promises to help the economy grow, create jobs in clean industries and take the climate crisis seriously. Voters have rejected a party which backtracked on its commitments, campaigned against its own record in government, and tried to draw dividing lines around the environment. The new government has a clear mandate from the public to invest in Britain, and to take decisive action towards a greener, fairer and more prosperous country.

Second result - Labour holds Blyth and Ashington

The second result of the night has been announced – Labour’s Ian Lavery has won in Blyth and Ashington.

Reform has come second. The full results are:

  • Labour – 20,030 (49.6%)

  • Reform UK – 10,857 (26.9%)

  • Conservative – 6,121 (15.2%)

  • Green Party – 1,960 (4.9%)

  • Lib Dems – 1,433 (3.6%)

Updated

Full results for Houghton and Sunderland South

And here are the full figures for Houghton and Sunderland South, from PA Media.

Labour hold

Bridget Phillipson (Lab) 18,837 (47.05%)

Sam Woods-Brass (Reform) 11,668 (29.15%)

Chris Burnicle (C) 5,514 (13.77%)

Paul Edgeworth (LD) 2,290 (5.72%)

Richard Bradley (Green) 1,723 (4.30%)

Lab maj 7,169 (17.91%)

11.50% boundary change

Electorate 78,448; Turnout 40,032 (51.03%)

2019 notional: Lab maj 3,271 (7.47%) - Turnout 43,798 (56.97%)
Lab 17,696 (40.40%); C 14,425 (32.94%); Brexit 6,895 (15.74%); LD
2,602 (5.94%); Green 1,183 (2.70%); Others 997 (2.28%)

Reform UK is the new version of the Brexit party, and, on that basis, its share of the vote is up 13 points. Labour’s share is up 7 points, and the Tories’ share is down 19 points.

In Barnsley North, the exit poll predicts that Labour’s Dan Jarvis is likely to lose his seat to a former Reform candidate who was dropped by the party last week over alleged racist comments.

On an episode of BBC Question Time on Friday, Reform party leader Nigel Farage disowned three candidates, including Barnsley North’s Robert Lomas.

According to a report in the Times, Lomas had reportedly said that “black people of Britain should get off their lazy arses and stop acting like savages”, and that asylum seekers had it “in their DNA to lie.”

On Saturday, Reform confirmed it had withdrawn support from Lomas and two other candidates. It is understood Lomas would sit as an independent MP.

Jarvis, a former army officer and a shadow minister under Ed Miliband, has been an MP since 2011, when he was elected in a byelection. In 2019, in the previous constituency, Barnsley Central, the Brexit Party came in second place, with Jarvis winning a majority of just 3,500.

Updated

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said he was “delighted” by the “remarkable” exit poll results. He told the BBC:

If we have won this general election, that is historic for the Labour party, but even more importantly, is an opportunity for the country, for us to rebuild our economy and our public services and rebuild trust in politics.

Streeting praised Keir Starmer’s “steel and the determination”, adding that he didn’t think the Labour leader has nearly enough credit for having grabbed the party “by the scruff”.

Although the exit poll suggests Labour is on course to more than double the number of seats it wins, compared to 2019, it seems to be achieving this without a dramatic increase in its share of the vote.

The BBC has shown figures comparing how vote share has changed in seats won by the Tories in 2019, compared to seats won by Labour in 2019, and in the 2019 Labour seats the party’s share of the vote is down 1 percentage point. The Tories are down 17 points, and Reform UK up 10.

In seats the Tories won in 2019, Labour is up 5 points, and the Tories down 28 points. Again, Reform UK is the big winner in these seats – up 18 points.

First result of the night - Labour wins Houghton and Sunderland South

Labour’s Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, has won Houghton and Sunderland South.

The Scottish National Party is facing a near wipeout in Westminster after dominating politics north of the border for a decade, as an exit poll suggested it would be left with just 10 MPs.

Scotland’s former first minister Nicola Sturgeon told ITV that the survey showing they would lose 38 constituencies would translate into a “seismic” night for Labour – if it proves accurate. Sturgeon said she believed the results of the exit poll would turn out to be “broadly right”.

The SNP had been expecting a bad night, with first minster John Swinney warning that votes in many constituencies were on a knife-edge. Privately it been hoping for about 20 seats, but the projected 10 would be the worst result since 2010 – prior to the independence referendum.

However, Labour is expecting a Lazarus-style recovery from 2019, its worst result in Scotland since 2010 when it had only one MP.

Polls ahead of tonight predicted Labour would take between 25 and 26 seats, winning seats in the central belt of Edinburgh, Glasgow and their surrounding constituencies.

Jeremy Hunt to become first chancellor to lose seat, exit poll suggests

Jeremy Hunt is projected to lose his seat, according to the exit poll. He would be the first chancellor in modern history to lose his seat.

There is an 81% chance that the Lib Dems will gain Hunt’s seat in Godalming and Ash, according to the poll.

Hunt is the most high-profile cabinet minister predicted to lose his seat – but he is by no means the only one.

Grant Shapps, the defence minister, and Johnny Mercer, the veterans minister, could also lose their seats.

Transport secretary Mark Harper, Work and pensions secretary Mel Stride, Environment secretary Steve Barclay and Commons leader Penny Mordaunt are all “too close to call”, according to the poll.

Updated

Prof Sir John Curtice, the psephologist who led the team that produced the exit poll, has just told the BBC that they are least confident about the seat figures for Reform UK (13) and for the SNP (10).

With the SNP, he says they have fewer sampling points in Scotland, making it harder to get a firm forecast. But he says he is confident about Labour being the larger party in Scotland.

And he says, with Reform UK, there are seats where they are ahead, but the margin is very tight. He says they could end up with quite a lot less seats, or perhaps even more.

Updated

Welsh secretary says he has lost his seat

The Welsh secretary, David TC Davies, has said the exit poll suggests there “isn’t a chance” he’ll retain his seat.

Speaking to the BBC, he said:

On the basis of the exit poll, there isn’t a chance that I’ll be winning, which is disappointing. I’ve had great support from the local association, but the fact is, people wanted a change.

That’s the way it goes in democracy. I’ll be the first to acknowledge there’s going to be a massive Labour victory and I certainly won’t be in parliament at the end of the evening.

Davies had stood for the new seat of Monmouthshire in south-east Wales.

Tory strategists are worried that they could face a wipeout in Wales. They won 14 of the 40 seats at the 2019 election. In 1997 and 2001 they were left with zero seats in Wales but had steadily clambered back.

Updated

Peter Mandelson, the Labour peer, said he was “gobsmacked” by the exit poll results and the projected Labour win was an “extraordinary achievement for Keir Starmer and his team”.

“An electoral meteor has now struck planet Earth,” he told the BBC, adding:

In a sense, it’s not surprising given everything the country has gone through in the last 10 years.

Updated

William Hague, the former Tory leader and former foreign secretary, has said it will take the Conservative party “a long time” to recover from this defeat.

Speaking on Times Radio, he said the result implied by the exit poll was “catastrophic”, but not as bad as some of the forecasts. One projection said it would get only 64 seats, he said.

With 131 seats, the Tories would “just about” be able to mount an effective opposition, he said. He went on:

The answer will be to build again for the future. The Conservative party at its greatest – as it has been over 200 years, usually the governing party of the country – because it could command the centre ground of politics, people of all walks of life, people of all age groups, and it will have to be able to do that. It will take a long time to be able to do that, but it will have to be able to do that.

Updated

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said the exit poll numbers are “encouraging” but noted that an “exit poll is a poll so we haven’t had any results yet”.

Rayner, speaking to BBC News, noted that a number of seats were on a “knife-edge”, adding:

I also know that all of our activists and our candidates have been going out there not taking anything for granted and speaking to the electorate about what matters to them.

She added that it would be “an absolute honour and a privilege to be re-elected” as an MP for Ashton-under-Lyne and to be able to serve as deputy prime minister.

Rayner also took a moment to thank those who voted for Labour, telling Sky News:

We understand the weight on our shoulders ... and I would say to the people of this country, I will always put you first, and I will fight really hard every day to turn things around.

Some candidates suffered 'unacceptable abuse and intimidation' during campaign, says Electoral Commission

Some candidates suffered “unacceptable abuse and intimidation” at this election, the Electoral Commission said.

In a statement issued as polls closed, the commission’s chief executive, Vijay Rangarajan, said:

Today, tens of millions of people exercised their democratic right and had their say at the ballot box. Overall, our initial assessment is that polling day ran smoothly and people were able to cast their votes securely. We continue to support administrators as they undertake counts tonight.

Millions of people were able to have their say, but we know there is room to improve the experience for some. A record number of postal votes were successfully returned, but some couldn’t vote both in the UK and abroad because of the late arrival of postal votes.

There was a robust and vibrant campaign, but unacceptable abuse and intimidation of candidates. We will collect evidence from people who participated in these elections as voters, candidates, campaigners and administrators, to better understand their experiences. We will recommend improvements to the systems where necessary.

'This is a massacre': former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson on exit poll projection

Ruth Davidson, the former Scottish Tory leader, has described the exit poll as projecting a “massacre” for her party. But it was not as bad as it might have been, she told Sky News. She said:

So actually 131 – while, there is no dressing it up, this is a massacre – they’ve actually, if this is right, pulled a few back from where they thought they were.

Updated

Here are some images from the newswires showing reactions to the exit poll predicting a Labour landslide win.

Updated

'Politically seismic' - Reform UK welcomes exit poll suggesting it will win 13 seats

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK appeared to be on course for a dramatic breakthrough according to an exit poll which showed it was on course to win as many as 13 seats.

While there was caution about how exit poll would ultimately translate into seats, it was clear that millions of people had voted for the hard-right anti-immigration party, which has stated that it is out to destroy the Conservative party.

Ben Habib, Reform’s deputy leader, said: “This is a huge bridgehead. This is politically seismic.”

The poll results suggest that Farage, who sparked a political earthquake on the right after he returned as leader of the party last month and announced he had changed his mind about running, is on course to win the Essex seat of Clacton.

Richard Tice, Reform’s chair and the man who stepped aside so that Farage could come back, appeared to be in a strong position to win in Boston and Skegness.

Others who were in a strong position included the former Southampton football club chairman Rupert Lowe, who was running in Great Yarmouth.

Updated

Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, is celebrating the results of the exit poll, which predicts that his party “are on course for our best results in a century”.

The Lib Dems are on course to win 61 seats, according to the exit poll.

If the Conservatives do get just 131 seats, it will be their worst result in terms of seats since they started calling themselves the Conservative party in the 1830s, under Robert Peel. Previously their lowest total was in 1906, when they had 156 seats.

Reacting to the exit poll, Scotland’s former first minister Nicola Sturgeon told ITV:

This is not a good night for the SNP on those numbers.

The Scottish National party are projected to only have 10 seats, according to the poll. Sturgeon said:

This is at the grimmer end of the expectations for the SNP if the exit poll is right.

The SNP privately had been hoping for about 20 seats, which they felt would reflect a stabilisation of the party’s declines since Sturgeon last March.

Updated

This chart, from a post on the Comment is Freed Substack by Dylan Difford, shows how a majority of 170 would compare with other majorities since 1885.

Although huge, and an unthinkable target when Keir Starmer became Labour leader in 2020, the exit poll seat numbers are not as high for Labour as the MRP polls were suggesting, but higher for the Tories. (See 8.50pm.) If Keir Starmer does get a majority of 170, he will just miss beating the record Tony Blair set for a Labour majority (179) in 1997.

Keir Starmer, in a post on X published shortly after the exit polls were announced, thanked everyone who has “put their trust in our changed Labour party”.

Reform to win 13 seats, exit poll suggests

The Reform UK party are projected to win 13 seats, according to the 10pm exit polls.

How reliable are exit polls?

Broadcasters have been commissioning exit polls since the 1970s and in the past there have been some spectacular misses. In October 1974 a BBC exit poll said Labour would win by a landslide, when in fact Harold Wilson won by a tiny majority. In 1987 the BBC and ITV (which produced rival exit polls in those days) both badly underestimated how big Margaret Thatcher’s majority would be, and they both forecast a hung parliament in 1992 when John Major won a small majority.

But in 2005 the methodology changed, and since then exit polls have generally been very accurate. Prof Sir John Curtice is in charge of the team and the work is jointly commissioned by the BBC, ITV and Sky News. Of the five previous exit polls calculated using this method, two got the majority exactly right, two were out by less than 10, and one was out by 22. Here are the details.

2005 – accurate: It predicted a Labour majority of 66, which was correct.

2010 – accurate: It said the Conservatives would be 19 seats short of a majority, and they were.

2015 – out by 22: It said the Conservatives would be 10 seats short of a majority, but they got a majority of 12.

2017 – out by 4: It said the Conservatives would be 12 seats short of a majority, but they were eight seats short.

2019 – out by 6: It forecast a Tory majority of 86, but it was 80.

There is more on how the exit polls works on this Channel 4 News fact check blog.

Labour heading for majority of 170, exit poll suggests

If these figures are accurate, Keir Starmer will have a majority of 170.

Here are the full figures, showing how many seats each party has gained and lost.

Exit poll suggests Labour has won 410 seats, and the Tories 131

Clive Myrie is reading out the exit poll.

Conservatives: 131

Labour: 410

Liberal Democrats: 61

SNP: 10

Reform UK: 13

Plaid Cymru: 4

Greens: 2

Updated

Clive Myrie is opening the BBC’s election night coverage. He is co-presenting with Laura Kuenssberg.

Oliver Dowden among five Tories getting knighthoods and damehoods in dissolution honours

No 10 has also announced knightoods for four Tories in the dissolution honours – Oliver Dowden, the deputy PM; Julian Smith, the former chief whip and Northern Ireland secretary; Ben Wallace, the former defence secretary; and Alister Jack, the outgoing Scottish secretary – and one damehood, for Thérèse Coffey, the former deputy PM.

As Michael Savage from the Observer reports, Jack had been tipped for a peerage:

Updated

There are many memorable moments on election night, but it is hard to beat hearing the exit poll being read out. For those actively involved in the campaign, this is the moment of agony or joy. It’s coming soon.

For years David Dimbleby read the results out on the BBC. As a broadcaster, it is one of the biggest tasks you can be given. But, surprisingly, Dimbleby thinks exit polls are a bit of a waste of time, and that they spoil the drama. This is what he writes about them in his memoir, Keep Talking.

The glory of a British election is that 650 constituencies have to give their result individually and do so within a few hours of the polls closing. So what is the point of exit polls? As they become more accurate they drain the drama from the night, like revealing the denoument of what should be a play in five acts. I see no point in spending money predicting what is going to happen in a few hours’ time rather than waiting for it to happen. The exit poll adds nothing and spoils the fun. If it is accurate and is confirmed by the actual results it makes the reality a dull affair, simply confirmation of what has been predicted.

Full list of people getting peerages in dissolution honours list

And here is the full list of people getting peerages in the dissolution honours list.

Nominations from Conservative party

Sir Graham Brady, outgoing chair of the 1922 committee

Chris Grayling, who served in cabinet as transport secretary, justice secretary and leader of the Commons

Eleanor Laing, former deputy speaker of the Commons

Craig Mackinlay, the former MP for South Thanet who returned to the Commons recently having had his hands and feet amputated due to sepsis

Theresa May, the former PM

Alok Sharma, the former Cop26 president and former business secretary

Liam Booth-Smith, who has been Rishi Sunak’s chief of staff.

Nominations from Labour party

Margaret Beckett, former foreign secretary, former deputy Labour leader, and acting leader between the death of John Smith and the election of Tony Blair

John Cryer, a former chair of the parliamentary Labour party (PLP)

Harriet Harman, a former deputy Labour leader and acting leader between the resignation of Ed Miliband and the election of Jeremy Corbyn

Margaret Hodge, a former culture minister and former chair of the public accounts committee

Kevan Jones, a former defence minister

Barbara Keeley, a former deputy leader of the Commons

John Spellar, a former whip

Rosie Winterton, a former deputy speaker

Nomination from the Liberal Democrats

Caroline Pidgeon, former Lib Dem leader in the London assembly

Nomination from the Ulster Unionist party

Thomas Elliott, former UUP leader

Nominations for crossbench peerages

Minette Batters, former president of the NFU

Dr Hilary Cass, former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and chair of the recently published review into gender identity services for children and young people.

Updated

With just half an hour until the results of the exit poll are out, the opinion polls have consistently put Labour on course for a victory with one of the largest ever parliamentary majorities. Conversely, the Conservatives are projected to suffer one of their worst ever losses.

Here’s how the prediction of a dramatic Labour win compares with other landslide victories in British history.

Updated

Theresa May and Graham Brady given peerages in surprise dissolution honours list

Downing Street has made the surprise decision to release a dissolution honours list tonight. It includes peerages for the former prime minister Theresa May and former chairman of the Conservative backbench 1922 committee Sir Graham Brady.

Earlier this week we reported that Rishi Sunak was worried about losing his seat. He represents Richmond and Northallerton in Yorkshire, where at the last election (when the seat was called Richmond, and the boundaries were slightly different) he had a majority of 27,210.

Like almost every other candidate, Sunak may have been taking a look at this website, created by the Oxford University data scientist Peter Inglesby. It aggregate all the MRP polls carried out during the campaign, as well as other forecasts from election models, and shows what they are predicting for every seat in the country. Of the 14 models included, 12 of them have Sunak holding his seat (with varying degrees of certainty) and two of them have Labour on course to win there.

This is from the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire, who is outside the PM’s constituency home in Yorkshire.

Updated

Even if nothing much happens, in news terms, on polling day until 10pm, it is a glorious day for those who cherish our democracy. Esther Addley captures what has been happening here. And, yes, it features dogs at polling stations.

Election results night: opening summary

Good evening. Britain’s first past the post (FPTP) electoral system is flawed in many respects – it is not fair to small parties, it means many people feel that their votes never count, it does not guarantee stable governments – but in one respect at least it performs brilliantly. When the nation is truly fed up with a government, and when the public is determined to “throw the rascals out”, FPTP delivers. As in 1906, or 1945, or 1997, it can lead to an unpopular governing party being crushed by a landslide that reshapes the political landscape. We’re expecting another tonight.

There is no particular mystery about why the Conservative party is on course to lose so badly. Last month Cambrige University Press published a new book about the record of the party in government over the past 14 years. It concluded that, measured by its performance, this has been the worst government in postwar history. Nobody has seriously tried to argue that this assessment is wrong.

And there does not seem to be anyone in the political world who is not expecting a Labour landslide victory tonight. Election nights often produce surprises, but they came in two categories. Some elections produce an unexpected shock (like John Major winning in 1992, or David Cameron getting an outright majority in 2015, or Theresa May throwing it away in 2017.) But there are also elections that produce an expected shock; a result that that is in line with what pollsters were predicting, but yet is still a surprise because the numbers seemed too outlandish to be true. This happened in 1997, when hardly anyone believed regular polls suggesting Tony Blair was on course for a majority heading for the 200 mark (including the papers that paid for them). And it seems likely to happen again tonight.

But there is still huge uncertainty as to how well Labour might do. The Elections Etc website has published a round-up of the different results forecast by different methods (simple modelling, based on opinion polls; more complex modelling based on the same polls; MRP polls; and the betting markets). On average these models are predicting a Labour majority of 194. The lowest projected figure for the Labour majority (from simple model forecasting) is 88.

But pollsters regard their MRP surveys as particularly reliable, and the numbers these polls are producing are astonishing. Here is the summary from Elections Etc.

Some of these predictions are certain to be very badly wrong. (There is a big difference between Labour getting a majority of 210 and 382.) Perhaps the MRP pollsters have all got it wrong? But, as we go into election night, they have created an extraordinary situation where Keir Starmer could end up with a majority of 100, which would still be a landslide, or even 150 – an astonishing result for a party that lost very badly less than five years ago – and still feel a tad disappointed.

Anyway, we will have a much better idea at 10pm, when the results of the exit poll are out. For the last 20 years it has mostly been very reliable. And by tomorrow we will know for sure. Unless election 2024 has produced the greatest failure since people started trying to measure electoral opinion in the democratic age, Keir Starmer will become prime minister (around lunchtime?) and he will start forming a new government.

Here is an hour-by-hour guide to what results we are expecting an when.

And here is a guide from Rob Ford, a psephologist, to the trends we should be looking out for.

I’m Andrew Sparrow and I’ll be blogging through the night with Léonie Chao-Fong. We will be covering results here, but we also have a seperate results page here. And of course we will be bringing you reaction and analsyis into the night and all through Friday. I am unlikely to have much time to look at the comments tonight but if you want to flag something up to me, try using X; I’ll see something addressed to @AndrewSparrow very quickly.

Updated

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