Boris Johnson is on course to secure a Tory majority in the Commons, according to the exit poll for the General Election.

  • Tories - 8
  • Labour - 12
  • SNP - 1
  • Lib Dems -
  • Others -

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.

General Election 2019 exit poll
(PA Graphics)

1.40am

The new Speaker of the House Sir Lindsay Hoyle has held his Chorley seat with 67.30% of the vote)

Traditionally the Speaker stands unopposed, and in the vote he faced only a Green candidate and an Independent, although that independent Mark Brexit-Smith got 23% of the vote in the Lancashire seat.

1.26am

Arron Banks, the co-founder of the Leave.EU campaign, said it was “job done” after Tory Remainer MPs were “purged” from the party.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: “This has always been about pressure. What we’ve tried to do is return the Conservative party to its core roots which I think we have done.”

He said: “Let’s say 40 or so strong Remainers in parliament, 30 are gone.”

Mr Banks was sitting in the studio next to former Liberal Democrat MP Heidi Allen, who quit the Tories over Brexit, who chipped in and said the word “purged”.

Mr Banks agreed and said: “Purged, I would say,” adding: “We set out to make the Conservative party conservative again and I think it’s job done. Well done to Boris.”

1.23am

Outgoing Labour MP for Vauxhall Kate Hoey, who campaigned for Leave in the EU referendum, tweeted:

Meanwhile, another Labour MP who has stepped down – former deputy leader Tom Watson – was asked on Channel 4 if Jeremy Corbyn had to go and he replied: “No I don’t think he has to go. I think more importantly before you have any talk of a leadership election in the Labour Party, first of all let’s find out if these exit polls are correct.

“But if they do represent a big defeat for us, we have to have a proper analysis of why this has happened.

“We’ve stood on two manifestos that are broadly similar in the last two elections. Many of the policies within them the polls told us were popular with voters. We need to find out what went wrong.”

He added: “Boris Johnson is going to rule this country for five years. The Labour Party can find some space for itself to understand what it has to do to reconnect with the millions of voters it’s lost in the last decade, otherwise it won’t have a future.”

1.20am

Ken Livingstone, the former Labour MP and Mayor of London, predicts Jeremy Corbyn will resign.

He said his friend and ally had paid the price for several aspects of his campaign, including not taking more action against anti-Semitism.

“The Jewish vote wasn’t very helpful,” Mr Livingstone told PA news agency.

“Jeremy should have tackled that issue far earlier than he did. It looks like the end for Jeremy, which is disappointing for me since I’m a close ally. I’m sure he’ll have to resign tomorrow.”

1.14am

It is now 49 days until Britain is scheduled to leave the EU – made all the more likely by the predicted Tory gains tonight.

1.06am

1.04am

Political rivals Lord Buckethead and Count Binface have clashed in the Prime Minister’s constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip.

With Boris Johnson not expected to appear in Uxbridge for some time, it was left to the fringe candidates to take centre stage as the election count got under way,

Independent Count Binface told the PA news agency: “If I get a big fat zero that would be a record.”

Comedian Jon Harvey, who plays the Count, was seen mocking Lord Buckethead – making a thumbs down behind his back, shouting “Fake news” and singing the American national anthem.

Mr Harvey previously ran as Lord Buckethead in Theresa May’s constituency in 2017, but cited “an unpleasant battle on the planet Copyright” as the reason behind the switch to Count Binface.

12.58am

Democratic Unionist Party East Antrim candidate Sammy Wilson has denied his party has been left dismayed by exit poll indications that the Conservatives will be returned with a sizeable majority.

The Democratic Unionists became kingmakers in the last Parliament when Tory governments under Theresa May and Boris Johnson relied on their 10 votes through a confidence and supply deal.

General Election 2019
DUP candidate for East Antrim Sammy Wilson as the counting continues at the Titanic exhibition centre, Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA)

Mr Wilson told the PA news agency that he was not surprised at the exit poll results, claiming Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had had a “toxic effect”.

“Obviously we’d have preferred to be in a situation we were in the last Parliament where we did have the influence and where it was fairly marginal, however for the country it probably wasn’t a great thing because no decisions could be made,” he said.

“I still wouldn’t be totally dismayed insofar as a big majority could actually mean that Boris Johnson can go in and be fairly bullish with the EU when it comes to negotiations, and if he does do that then many of the problems the current deal is going to cause Northern Ireland could disappear.”

12.53am

General Election 2019
The scene at the Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh (Lesley Martin/PA)

12.48am

New European Council President Charles Michel said EU leaders would discuss the results of the election later on Friday.

He said: “We will see what will be the official results but there is a strong message.

“We will have the discussion tomorrow in the European Council, Article 50, you know that we are ready for the next steps.

“We will see if it’s possible for the British Parliament to accept the Withdrawal Agreement to take a decision, and if it is the case, we are ready for the next steps.”

Ursula von der Leyen, the new president of the European Commission, added: “Of course we have to wait for the final result, but then we will congratulate the winner of the election and show our respect to all those who have participated.

“I think we will immediately listen to the prime minister just to be reassured and we have reaffirmed what the pathway is.”

12.41am

Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove is surprised his party gained Blyth Valley.

Mr Gove said he was “delighted” for Ian Levy, a mental health worker and the new Tory MP for Blyth Valley, but added: “But I’ll be honest, I didn’t necessarily expect that we would win that seat.”

Speaking on Sky News, Mr Gove added: “Well, I think it’s still too soon, we’ve only had a limited number of results, to be prepared to be confident that the exit poll is right in all its particulars, but I do think it points to the fact that Jeremy Corbyn appears to have been decisively rejected by Labour voters.”

Mr Gove added that Mr Corbyn’s “failure to honour his manifesto commitment in 2017 to get Brexit done”, has damaged Labour’s vote, and that “the more that voters saw of Corbyn and his approach both on national security and on economics, the more they felt he was not the right person to be prime minister”.

12.40am

12.37am

Police in Glasgow are investigating three cases of suspected voter fraud.

Glasgow City Council reported three cases of alleged “personation” following Thursday’s poll.

The offence occurs when a person votes as someone else.

It is understood one instance is being investigated in each of the Glasgow North, Central and South seats.

A Glasgow City Council spokesman said the authority is “co-operating with the police” on the matter.

BBC Scotland reported further possible cases of voter fraud in the Stirling and Paisley and Renfrewshire North constituencies.

12.32am

The Liberal Democrats are “quietly confident” Sarah Olney will retake Richmond Park from Conservative Zac Goldsmith.

A senior party source said: “There aren’t going to be multiple recounts and I doubt there will be any recounts at all.”

12.27am

Anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller said if the exit poll is correct then the UK “will be out” of the EU and there will not be a second referendum.

Speaking to ITV, Ms Miller, a lawyer who has campaigned against the government’s Brexit strategy, said: “I don’t think there’ll be another vote. It will get passed as an Act of Parliament, it will then be ratified as an international treaty and we will be out.”

12.18am

Jon Lansman, the founder of Labour campaign group Momentum, said the decision about whether the Labour Party should replace Jeremy Corbyn as party leader doesn’t need to be taken “until the New Year”.

Mr Lansam said that Mr Corbyn has “achieved a great deal” on issues such as austerity, and that the election was “incredibly polarised because of Brexit”.

Speaking on ITV, Mr Lansam said: “I think maybe the manifesto was too long and too detailed, it’s a programme actually not for a government, but for 10 years. I think it’s a good programme, but maybe we need to have shorter, snappier manifestos.”

Mr Lansman continued: “The result is a disastrous result because millions of people in this country who are suffering from the affects of austerity are going to suffer badly.”

On whether Mr Corbyn should be replaced, he added: “I think Jeremy has to make those decisions himself. You know Jeremy has always been a reluctant leader, I don’t think he’ll overstay his welcome.

“But I think he should be able to make decisions. And I don’t think we should rush into these things. Christmas is not far away, I don’t think decisions really need to be taken about this until the New Year.”

12.15am

The joint-leader of East Dunbartonshire council has said “it is on a knife edge” whether Liberal Dem leader Jo Swinson will lose her seat to the SNP.

Andrew Polson, a Conservative councillor, said: “My gut reaction is that she might scrape through, but it’s on a knife edge.”

Mr Polson revealed that – according to his figures – Jo Swinson is polling 44% in his Bearsden South ward, which he described “strong Tory” area.

“You would really expect her to be polling 50%,” he said.

“She’s holding up in Bearsden, but the SNP have increased their vote. They’re polling 23% there, when you’d be expecting around 15%, so it’s on a knife edge.”

12.09am

General Election 2019
One of Boris Johnson’s more colourful competitors in his Uxbridge and Ruislip South seat – Count Binface – waits for the result (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

12.05am

Former Tory MP Sir Nicholas Soames said the Tories winning in former Labour heartlands could “build a new Conservative majority across Britain for a generation”.

Sir Nicholas, the grandson of Sir Winston Churchill, lost the Tory whip earlier this year for supporting efforts to stop a no-deal Brexit but later had it restored, however, he is not standing in the General Election.

Speaking to BBC News, he said: “I don’t think the Prime Minister is solely a Brexit prime minister, I think he is a proper one-nation Tory.

“But it’s quite clear he persuaded – in a lot of seats in the North and the Midlands, I think, and elsewhere – that the Labour Party, the Corbyn Labour Party, was not the Labour Party they knew.”

He added: “This is a big change, it is a political watershed and it will be a different party but it is no bad thing for being that.

“This could build a new Conservative majority across Britain for another generation.”

12.03am

General Election 2019
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas for the Conservatives as counting continues (Peter Byrne/PA)

11.58pm

Counting under way in Boris Johnson’s constituency

11.50pm

11.42pm

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.

11.38pm

Although some seats have already declared, it could still be a long night in some counting centres.

11.33pm

Counting under way in Esher and Walton where Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has been fighting to hold his seat.

11.31pm

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.

11.29pm

RESULT: Labour have held Newcastle Central, the first result to be announced in the 2019 General Election.

11.25pm

General Election 2019
Millions of ballot papers will be verified and counted throughout the night (Joe Giddens/PA)

11.15pm

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.

11.10pm

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.”

11.05pm

General Election 2019
Ballot boxes arrive at the Guildhall in Hull for counting (Danny Lawson/PA)

11pm

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.

10.55pm

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.”

10.50pm

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.”

10.40pm

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:

10.35pm

The first ballot box has arrived for counting in Peterborough:

10.30pm

The Prime Minister has tweeted his thanks

10.28pm

Further Labour reaction from former Blair cabinet member Andrew Adonis, who is now in the Lords:

And from high-profile Labour candidate Jess Phillips:

10.25pm

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.”

General Election 2019 exit poll.
(PA Graphics)

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.”

10.21pm

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:

10.17pm

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:

10.15pm

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.”

10.14pm

10.12pm

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).

10.08pm

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:

10.05pm

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.

10pm

The exit poll predicts Tories on 368; Labour on 191; SNP on 55; Lib Dems on 13, with others taking 22 seats.

9.50pm

Here’s an estimation of when the results could be expected.

General Election estimated declaration times
(PA Graphics)

Earlier the party leaders cast their votes – except for the Brexit Party’s Nigel Farage who had a postal ballot.