Boris Johnson is on course to secure a Tory majority in the Commons, according to the exit poll for the General Election.
The evidence of the swing to the Conservatives could be seen in the second seat to be declared with the party taking Blyth Valley from Labour for the first time in 69 years.
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Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom – who just a few years ago came close to leading the Tory party herself – has claimed a little credit for that surprise Blyth Valley result.
Blyth Valley was ranked 85th on a list of Labour seats most vulnerable to the Tories.
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Although some seats have already declared, it could still be a long night in some counting centres.
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Counting under way in Esher and Walton where Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has been fighting to hold his seat.
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RESULT: Following close behind in the race to be the first seat counted, Blyth Valley has changed from Labour to the Conservatives, with a majority of 712. This is a big shock as the seat had been held by Labour since 1950.
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RESULT: Labour have held Newcastle Central, the first result to be announced in the 2019 General Election.
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Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said he will not be “either as a temporary or a permanent” leader of the Labour Party if Jeremy Corbyn stands down.
Speaking on Sky News, he said: “The poll itself, I think it looks as though it’s Brexit-dominated, a lot of this I think was Brexit fatigue, people just wanted it over and done with and it put Labour in a very difficult position.”
He added that this was because some Labour constituencies voted to leave the European Union.
“It was always going to be difficult for us to straddle those positions,” he said, adding: “But also, it is about installing what is generally seen as the most right-wing extreme cabinet that we’ve seen in our history, and it means therefore, if they have a large majority like this, they will have, therefore, the opportunity to introduce some quite reactionary policies.
“If the electorate have decided this way, that’s democracy, you have to respect it. But I don’t think it will bring the country together, I think it will be divided still,” he said.
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Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage said his decision to stand down in Tory-held seats prevented a hung parliament.
Speaking to BBC News, Mr Farage said: “I can tell you that if we had stood in every seat in the country it would have been a hung parliament.
“That would have been a disaster … I think the Liberal Democrats would have won an awful lot of seats.”
On Mr Johnson’s Brexit deal, Mr Farage said: “If the current treaty on the table with the political declaration passes unamended I can’t bring myself to support it.
“Look, I’ve spent my political career trying to get Brexit, alright. We’re going to get Brexit. Are we going to get the right one? Maybe not.”
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Health Secretary Matt Hancock – who featured prominently in the closing days of the campaign when he was dispatched to Leeds General Infirmary over the child photographed lying on a ward floor – has added his thanks to that from the PM.
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Ex-Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson told ITV News it is too early to write off seats held by Scottish Tory MPs.
She added: “I think that before we start writing off half of the Scottish seats we probably want to see just how close this is.”
She added: “Either way these seats are so, so tight.”
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Understandable disappointment from Labour candidates as they react to the exit poll predictions:
Labour’s Don Valley candidate Caroline Flint tweeted: “We’re going to hear the Corbynistas blaming it on Brexit and the Labour Uber Remainers blaming Corbyn. Both are to blame for what looks like a terrible night for Labour. Both have taking for granted Labour’s heartlands. Sorry we couldn’t give you a Labour Party you could trust.”
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Former Labour spin doctor for Tony Blair, Alastair Campbell tweeted: “Dreadful result if true but in some ways all too predictable. The country decided some time ago Jeremy Corbyn not going to be PM and Boris Johnson made a promise on Brexit which enough people were prepared to believe.
“No doubt that he has a mandate for his withdrawal agreement now. The hard stuff then starts. But meanwhile, Labour has to face some hard truths – this was not just about Corbyn but the broader worldview and an economic plan that so many people did not believe.”
Brexit Party MEP and Westminster candidate Richard Tice, who set up the pro-Brexit campaign groups Leave Means Leave, tweeted:
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The first ballot box has arrived for counting in Peterborough:
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The Prime Minister has tweeted his thanks
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Further Labour reaction from former Blair cabinet member Andrew Adonis, who is now in the Lords:
And from high-profile Labour candidate Jess Phillips:
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Conservative Party chairman James Cleverly told Sky News: “I’ve always felt polls should be taken with a degree of caution.”
He added: “Maths is maths, but if, and it’s a big if, the numbers play out as per that exit poll, then yes, that is numerically a big majority.”
Speaking about possible Labour losses in northern England and the Midlands, he said: “In long-standing Labour constituencies there was fury, not anger, fury, at both Labour and Jeremy Corbyn.”
Meanwhile, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the results were “extremely disappointing” and the “appropriate decisions” will be taken on the future of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership once the official results are known.
Speaking to BBC News, Mr McDonnell said: “I think Brexit has dominated, it has dominated everything by the looks of it.
“We thought other issues could cut through and there would be a wider debate, from this evidence there clearly wasn’t.”
On the future of Mr Corbyn’s leadership, Mr McDonnell said: “Let’s see the results themselves, as I say, the appropriate decisions will be made and we’ll always make the decisions in the best interests of our party.”
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If the exit poll is correct, Labour is on course for its worst performance at a general election in terms of seats since 1935.
Former Labour MP and independent adviser to the UK government on anti-Semitism, John Mann, blamed his former party leader for the predicted result:
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First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon tweeted that the exit poll suggested it had been a good night for her party.
Green Party candidate Caroline Lucas had a less optimistic response:
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Polling expert Michael Thrasher said Jeremy Corbyn will go down as “one of the worst leaders in Labour’s history”.
Mr Thrasher, from the School of Sociology, Politics & Law at the University of Plymouth, told Sky News “the Conservatives have been heading for a clear majority all day long”.
He said: “It really is a remarkable election victory for Boris Johnson, a majority of 86 seats.
“For Labour it really is an appalling election result and possibly its worst performance in any general election since the second world war.
“So Jeremy Corbyn, I’m afraid, will go down as one of the worst leaders in Labour’s history.”
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As in previous years, the exit poll has been commissioned jointly by the BBC, ITN and Sky News. It is different from other opinion polls because instead of asking people how they intend to vote, it asks people how they voted.
The current system of calculating the exit poll has been developed since the 2001 general election and has a very impressive track record of forecasting the result.
In 2017, the exit poll predicted the Tories would end up with 314 seats, just four short of the 318 the party actually won. Labour was forecast to win 266 (they finished on 262), the Lib Dems 14 (12), the SNP 34 (35), Plaid Cymru 3 (4), Ukip 0 (0), the Greens 1 (1) and others 18 (18).
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Actor Hugh Grant who campaigned for Lib Dem candidates and was outspoken against the Tories had this reaction to the exit poll results on Twitter:
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The pound soared against the dollar and the euro as the exit poll predicted a Conservative majority.
A pound was up 1.85% to 1.342 dollars and up 1.09% to 1.202 euros within minutes of the announcement.
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The exit poll predicts Tories on 368; Labour on 191; SNP on 55; Lib Dems on 13, with others taking 22 seats.
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Here’s an estimation of when the results could be expected.
Earlier the party leaders cast their votes – except for the Brexit Party’s Nigel Farage who had a postal ballot.
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