2010 general election result – hung parliament.
Conservatives – 306
Labour – 258
Lib Dems – 57
Other – 28
9.40pm: A BBC TV news report this evening has shown us William Hague leaving the Cabinet Office and saying nothing more than there has been “an initial meeting”. It’s believed he’s referring to a meeting between top Tory and Lib Dem MPs. Neither party leader attended. Separately, Nick Clegg is at a meeting at Lib Dem HQ with top party officials. David Cameron, we are told, has gone to his west London home to put his kids to bed.
5.11pm: It is being reported that Cameron and Clegg agreed to "explore further" plans for economic and political reform.
4.59pm: Conservative William Hague tells Sky News that David Cameron and Nick Clegg have had talks within the last half hour.
4.45pm: Final result: Conservatives 306, Labour 258, Lib Dems 57, Other 28.
4.34pm: The final seat, Torridge and West Devon, is held by the Conservatives. There is one more constituency to come, but voting will not take place in Thirsk and Malton until 27 May, due to the death of a candidate during the campaign.
4.25pm: The Lib Dems are understood to be considering David Cameron’s offer and are likely to make a statement later on today. It’s also being reported that talks are going on between Labour and the SNP.
4.14pm: Former Conservative PM John Major says that handing cabinet seats to key Liberal Democrats is a price worth paying for providing the Tories with a platform to form a stable government.
3.48pm: Talks between the Tories and the Lib Dems are likely to start this evening. It’ll be a busy weekend for David Cameron and Nick Clegg.
3.42pm: The Conservative Party gains Lancaster and Fleetwood from Labour with a 4.8% swing. Conservatives 305, Labour 258, Lib Dems 57.
3.32pm: Labour hold Dudley North.
3.15pm: Conservatives gain Amber Valley from Labour. The Tories also take Morecambe and Lunesdale from Labour. Conservatives 304, Labour 257, Lib Dems 57.
3.09pm: Lib Dems hold St Ives. Sinn Fein hold Fermanagh and South Tyrone with Michelle Gildernew winning by just four votes over independent candidate Rodney Connor.
2.57pm: Labour’s Diane Abbott holds Hackney North and Stoke Newington. Conservatives 302, Labour 256, Lib Dems 56.
2.53pm: Conservative leader David Cameron has urged the Lib Dems to work with him saying that "Britain needs a strong, stable, decisive government." Cameron said he wanted to make a "big, open and comprehensive offer to the Liberal Democrats" and that working together in the national interest means "compromise." On the topic of electoral reform, Cameron said he’d welcome an all-party inquiry. He stressed that dealing with the budget deficit this year was "essential." It’s not clear at this stage whether Cameron was hinting at a coalition with the Lib Dems or just an agreement, but he referred to the Labour government as "outgoing".
2.32pm: Penrith and The Border – Conservative hold.
2.18pm: The Lib Dems hold Westmorland.
2.11pm: Just 12 more seats to declare. David Cameron due to speak in just under 20 minutes.
2.04pm: More results in: Labour holds Blyth Valley and speaker John Bercow holds his Buckingham seat, while the Lib Dems hold Cheltenham. The Tories are on 301, Labour 255 and Lib Dems 55.
1.55pm: Gordon Brown gave a five-minute speech outside 10 Downing Street and dangled a carrot in front of the Lib Dems by saying he considers electoral reform as not only important but essential. Brown, who said he was speaking as prime minister and not as leader of the Labour Party, claimed he understood Nick Clegg’s position and was happy for the Tories and Lib Dems to take as much time for their talks as they feel necessary. However, should the Lib Dem/Tory talks amount to nothing, Brown said he’d be willing to see any of the party leaders. The PM didn’t elaborate on what he might discuss with Cameron, but he said areas of common interest he’d be willing to talk to Clegg about included instant electoral reform and economic stability. A ‘fairer voting system is central,’ according to Brown and he said the British people should have a referendum on changes to the voting system.
Read Gordon Brown’s statement in full.
1.36pm: The Conservatives hold Broadland. The win takes them to the brink of 300 seats – they have 299.
1.32pm: Gordon Brown is due to speak outside Number 10 any second now.
1.24pm: All three main parties pick up an extra seat. The scores are: Tories 298, Labour 253 and Lib Dems 54.
1.06pm: The Tories move up to 297 seats with wins in Norwich North and Kenilworth and Southam.
12.50pm: With 23 seats still left to declare, the Conservatives have 295 seats, Labour 252, the Lib Dems 53 and other parties 27. In terms of share of the vote, the Tories have 36.1%, Labour 29.2% and the Lib Dems 22.9%.
12.36pm: Labour gain Bethnal Green and Bow. It’s the third Labour gain of this election. Respect no longer has a seat in the House of Commons.
12.27pm: The Tories gain Warwick and Leamington from Labour with a swing of 8.8%. The turnout was very high at 84%. The win takes the Conservatives to 294 seats. Labour have 251 and the Lib Dems 52.
12.22pm: The Conservatives hold Hampshire North East.
12.10pm: We’re hearing reports that Tory sources aren’t ruling out offering proportional representaion to the Lib Dems as part of a deal.
11.55am: There are 29 constituencies still to declare a winner but the focus has shifted back to Westminster and what the politicans are getting up to.
11.30am: Conservative MP Sir Malcolm Rifkind has said that an agreement between his party and the Lib Dems is a possibility but that an official coalition is unrealistic.
11.13am: David Cameron will make a statement at 2.30pm and is expected to explain how he plans to form a strong and stable government.
11.10am: Lib Dems gain Brent Central from Labour.
11.01am: Confirming Nick Clegg’s stance, former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown explains that it is up to the Conservatives to rule the country in the national interest and not in the interests of the Conservative Party.
10.58am: Respect’s George Galloway has failed in his efforts to become MP for Poplar and Limehouse in east London. Labour’s Jim Fitzpatrick was voted in.
10.53am: At Lib Dem party HQ in London, Nick Clegg expressed his disappointment that even though his party won a higher proprtion of the vote than ever before they’ve returned to parliament with fewer seats.Clegg suggested that when people came to vote they decided to ‘stick with what they knew best’. He said that in this time of ‘economic uncertainty’ he ‘totally understands those feelings’.
Clegg said the country is now in a ‘very fluid political situation’ and that it ‘is vital that all political leaders act in the national interest’. The Lib Dem leader confirmed his pre-election belief that whichever party secured the most seats should have the ‘first right to govern’ and said ‘it is for the Conservative Party to prove it’s capable of seeking to govern in the national interest’.
Clegg finished by saying that ‘our electoral system is broken’ and he vowed to argue for greater fairness and the extensive reforms ‘we need to fix our broken political system’.
Read Nick Clegg’tatement in full.
10.40am: Labour hold Brent North.
10.31am: We’ve just seen the PM’s statement, which was a mere formality and didn’t reveal anything about his intentions. It amounted to little more than giving official authority for the civil service to support the political parties in their discussions on how to form a government. Nick Clegg is due to speak soon, hopefully he’ll have a little more substance in his speech.
10.17am: Downing Street is due to issue a statement from Gordon Brown shortly. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has arrived back in London and is due to speak soon.
10.14am: The Conservatives gain Thurrock from Labour, taking their tally to 291 seats. Foreign secretary David Miliband has just tweeted denying reports he’s been talking with Lib Dem Vince Cable. According to his tweet he’s ‘been having a kip’.
10.05am: Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is due back in London shortly after a disappointing night for his party. He’s expected to arrive on the train from Sheffield and head straight to the Lib Dem headquarters for some pretty urgent talks.
9.42am: It’s official, as if we didn’t already know, the general election has resulted in a hung parliament. Labour’s victory in Erith and Thamesmead means it’s now mathematically impossible for any party to win an overall majority. The Conservatives have 290, Labour 247, the Lib Dems 51 and other parties 27. There are just 35 more seats to be declared. It’s the first time we’ve seen a hung parliament since the general election of 1974.
9.35am: The Conservatives now have 290 MPs with 36 seats left to declare. As soon as a seat is called that the Conservatives do not win it will officially be a hung parliament.
9.32am: We are potentially just one result away from being able to declare it is definitely a hung parliament. There are 37 seats left to declare and unless the Conservatives win all of them they cannot have a majority of MPs. The maths works like this: the Conservatives have 289 seats right now and if they win the remaining 37 seats they will have 326 MPs which would be a majority of 2 (because the total number of MPs is 650). So as soon as a seat is declared for any party other than the Conservatives, the best they can achieve is 235 MPs which is exactly half of the house.
7.30am: Nick Clegg acknowledged it has been a disappointing result for the Liberal Democrats as he is finally declared winner of his Sheffield Hallam seat. Commenting on the national result of a hung parliament, he says that he believes people should "take a little time" to get the sort of "good government" they deserve.
6.10am: That’s where I’m going to head off into the sunset folks, but please stay tuned for further updates. It has been an unusual, and at times bemusing, night in British politics. We are heading for a hung parliament, and it will be fascinating to see what deals can be done over the hours and days to come. Good Morning to you.
5.58am: Margaret Hodge wins handsomely for the Labour party in Barking. She registers more than 24,000 votes, with the Tories second on 8,000 votes. BNP leader Nick Griffin can only manage slightly more than 6,000 votes.
5.54am: Zac Goldsmith wins for the Conservative party in Richmond Park.
5.51am: A bit of a moment here (at last I hear you cry). Caroline Lucas has won the Green Party’s first seat in Brighton Pavilion.
5.44am: "Saint Vince", or Vince Cable to give him his full and proper name, has been re-elected by the good folk of Twickenham.
5.35am: The BBC have come out and forecast there will be a hung parliament. That’s the way we’re heading on this Friday morning folks.
5.30am: The Conservativehome website believes it is no longer possible for the Tories to win a majority. They do still expect around 310 seats however, which could be more than Labour and the Liberal Democrats combined.
5.27am: Labour make a significant hold, with Andy Slaughter holding on to win Hammersmith.
5.14am: We’ve finally had a result in the seat of Birmingham Edgbaston after several recounts, and Labour hold on to the seat they famously claimed from the Tories in their landslide victory of 1997.
5.08am: ICM has produced an estimate for the final share of the vote, based on the figures already in. The Conservatives have been projected to win 37.7 per cent of the vote, with Labour on 28.2 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on 23.1 per cent. The Labour party would be down to Michael Foot 1983 levels, while critics of first-past-the-post will surely be given more ammunition.
5.00am: Dawn begins to break over Britain, and we’re still no nearer to knowing what on earth will happen at this General Election. It seems increasingly likely that we are heading for a hung parliament. The Prime Minister has strongly indicated that he will try to forge a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.
4.57pm: Another former Home Secretary Charles Clarke bites the dust, losing out to the Tories in Norwich South.
4.52am: Labour’s Ed Balls narrowly holds on to his Morley and Outwood seat despite a strong challenge from the Tories.
4.45am: The Conservatives gain Pudsey from Labour. The Prime Minister is making his way from Stansted to central London, apparently repeating his assertion to reporters that it was his duty to give Britain a strong and principled government.
4.38am: Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has lost her seat in Redditch – and she has been trounced by the Tories, with a swing of 9.2 per cent.
4.35am: A couple of other important results have come in over the past half hour. Labour have lost Redcar, with the Liberal Democrats taking the seat with a huge swing of 20 per cent. There was less good for the Liberals in Oxford West and Abingdon, where the Conservatives have won.
4.28am: Labour hold Luton South. Former ‘That’s Life’ presenter Esther Rantzen does terribly, with less than 2,000 votes.
4.25am: Former deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is on form with his Tweeting, saying "Great to see that endorsement of the Lib Dems by the Guardian and the Observer swayed the Great British public".
4.19am: The Conservatives have gained Swindon South. The BBC’s political editor Nick Robinson reminds viewers that the party has made plenty of significant gains this evening, although it looks like they will fall short of an outright victory.
4.14am: David Davies, who lest we forget could have been the Tory leader fighting this election, still believes the Tories could win an overall majority.
4.10am: We’re half-way through in terms of seats declared. This is certainly the oddest election night I can recall, and it does seem we’re heading to a hung parliament.
4.02am: Schools Secretary Ed Balls says: "The voters have spoken, but we have not quite heard what they have said yet."
3.55am: Labour stalwart Jack Straw wins in Blackburn, while the Liberal Democrats take Redcar.
3.47am: Alistair Darling says the result of the election is stil uncertain, but people will expect a stable government. Interestingly, Labour hang on to Rochdale. We surely will long remember what happened in Rochdale last week.
3.41am: The Tories have taken Carlisle off Labour. The Conservatives are still taking important seats here and there, but seemingly not enough of them to secure an overall majority.
3.32am: Plenty of results are coming through, and the Tories are holding seats around England. The Conservatives now lead Labour in seats won.
3.25am: Gordon Brown is boarding a flight in Edinburgh, headed for London.
3.17am: This really is a most strange night, and in a funny kind of way we’re still waiting for the drama. There hasn’t even been one of those flashpoints at any of the counts that are so often part of election nights.
3.09am: Chancellor Alistair Darling wins in Edinburgh South West, and gives nothing away with his short and sharp speech.
3.02am: Mr Cameron says Labour have "lost their chance to govern" but certainly suggests the future is uncertain. He sayd: "It’s clear the country wants change and that change is going to require new leadership", adding that "whatever happens, we will do all we can to bring about that leadership."
2.59am: Labour’s David Miliband wins again in South Shields. Currently Labour have 76 seats, and the Tories 73.
2.57am: Tory leader David Cameron wins in Witney.
2.48am: William Hague claims it would be "shameless" for Gordon Brown to try and stay in Downing Street. He also claims the Liberal Democrats would be going back on their word if they backed Labour in a coalition.
2.44am: The Conservatives gain Harrogate and Knaresborough, which will delight Central Office.
2.38am: The Liberal Democrats hold Somerton and Frome, and claim Eastbourne. That’s better news for the party.
2.28am: All smiles for Stephen Metcalfe (no relation) in Basildon, as he wins the Essex seat for the Tories.
2.23am: The Tories gain the Vale of Glamorgan, one of their top targets. They also win Montgomeryshire, with Liberal Democrat Lempit Opik beaten.
2.18am: SNP leader Alex Salmond admits his party haven’t made the breakthrough he was hoping for so far on this election night.
2.12am: Labour have won Glasgow East, and the SNP have done rather badly. The last half hour has seen a fair few heartening results for the Government.
2.05am: I wonder if the Liberals have suffered from "wobbly pencil syndrome" because their success in the polls is not being replicated here.
1.59am: Bad news for the Liberal Democrats, who fail to win their top target seat of Guildford, with the Tories claiming victory.
1.57am: David Dimbleby says everyone seems to be "at sixes and sevens", and I think that sums the current situation up rather nicely.
1.51am: Labour’s Ed Miliband has told the BBC that if we face a hung parliament situation, the position is clear – it is the job of the other parties to form a Government, and the Prime Minister will "get the first go".
1.44am: The Conservatives gain a crucial seat in Battersea, but Labour’s Sadiq Khan holds on in nearby Tooting. "Yes, he Khan" chant the crowd. I see what they’ve done there.
1.40am: The Prime Minister says the "result of the election is not yet known" but it was his duty to play his part in a "strong and principled Government". In other words, he’s leaving the door open for a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. However, the tone of the speech was a touch flat if I’m being honest – and possibly a sign that defeat could still be on the cards.
1.37am: Labour hold on to the City of Durham despite a strong challenge from the Liberal Democrats.
1.35am: Least surprising result yet: the Prime Minister wins Kirkcaldy.
1.30am: David Blunkett says he fears Labour have lost the General Election.
1.28am: The Labour party currently have 11 seats, the Tories four seats, and the Liberal Democrats two. The phrase "early days" takes on a whole new meaning.
1.22am: The Press Association are reporting Downing Street sources that the Prime Minister will try to enter into coalition with the Liberal Democrats in the event of a hung parliament.
1.17am: Justine Greening wins again for the Tories in Putney, and in thumping fashion. A 9.9 per cent swing to the Tories in the south London constituency.
1.15am: The Liberal Democrats hold Torbay. This was seen as a key seat, and shows again how powerful the Liberals remain in the south west.
1.10am: Great Freudian slip from Jeremy Paxman, teasing Baroness Warsi about controversial Tory donor Lord Ashdown. He means Lord Ashcroft of course. Former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy is also on the panel and takes it in good spirits.
1.07am: There is talk that the Tories have snatched Basildon South from Labour – this would be another huge win for them.
1.05am: The Tories have won Kingswood from Labour with a swing of 9.4 per cent. Are we seeing signs that the earlier exit poll sold the Conservative party short?
1.02am: The Prime Minister says he is "very concerned" about people being turned away from polling stations without voting.
0.55am: Labour win seats in Darlington and Durham, but there are big swings to the Tories in both – again, enough for an overall majority if the results were repeated across the country.
0.49am: Northern Ireland First Minister and DUP leader Peter Robinson has lost in Belfast East, with the Alliance party taking his seat. You may recall the scandal involving him and his wife earlier in the year.
0.48am: Hundreds of postal ballots have apparently gone missing in York. It’s a farce, I tell you.
0.43am: A couple of results have been declared in Northern Ireland, with Sinn Fein and the DUP winning one each.
0.35am: There is talk that the Green Party’s leader Caroline Lucas could well have won in Brighton Pavillion. I’m not sure what i think of that. The last time I heard her, she was promising motherhood and apple pie with policies that didn’t seem particularly mature.
0.30: I’ve just been dipping into radio coverage of tonight’s drama, and I’m hearing a lot of angry people calling in to recount their experiences of not being able to vote.
0.25am: There are reports from the Press Association and elsewhere that the Tories are expected to win the key south London seat of Battersea.
0.22am: Ken Clarke criticises what he describes as a "television celebrity contest" of a campaign, and then hits out at the BBC’s decision to interrupt an interview with him to show pictures of the Prime Minister arriving at his count. He insists that Mr Brown has "lost his office".
00.20am: The London School of Economics have an interesing new exit poll: Conservatives on 317 seats, Labour on 239 and the Liberal Democrats on 64.
00.10am: The Electoral Commission has said there will be an enquiry into the farcical scenes of this election night, with many people unable to vote.
Midnight Thank you for joining our coverage of this dramatic General Election. The major headlines so far are:
Labour have won the three seats declared so far, but there has been a percentage swing to the Tories.
An exit poll shows we are heading for a hung parliament, with the Tories being the largest party.
Lord Mandelson has indicated Labour could form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, but the Tories have dismissed the idea as outrageous.
Hundreds of people have been turned away from polling stations across the country, having been unable to vote.
11.55pm: Foreign Secretary David Milliband claims that if no party has a majority then none has the moral right to have a monopoly on power.
11.50pm: There are reports from the BBC that people couldn’t vote because polling stations ran out of ballot papers.
11.45pm: Shadow Chancellor George Osborne dismisses the prospect of Labour trying to stay in power in the event of a hung parliament, with the Tories being the largest party. He claims the British people have decided it is time for a change, and they would find it ridiculous if Labour tried to do any deal.
11.43pm: The whispers were ludicrous, with Labour holding on and the swing in favour of the Tories only 4.8 per cent. That’s hung parliament territory for sure.
11.38pm: Sunderland Central is next and there are whispers of a possible Tory win. I wonder if this is something specific to the town. Readers of our blog may recall that last weekend I mentioned being in the town and disillusionment with the Government there being striking.
11.35pm: That old Tory bruiser Ken Clarke has tried to pull the rug from underneath Lord Mandelson. He has told Sky: "Peter with his usual cunning has already been making noises that he hopes will seduce the Liberal Democrats to keep Gordon Brown in power." Mr Clarke insists that the Prime Minister would be in a worse position than Ted Heath in 1974.
11.30pm: Labour have held Washington and Sunderland West Coast, but the swing to the Tories is 11.6 per cent. That is a big swing, and if it is repeated nationally the Conservative party will certainly be heading for a majority.
11.25pm: There are continuing reports of people being turned away from polling stations. It has emerged that Mr Clegg has personally travelled to a polling station in Sheffield to apologise to some voters. David Dimbleby has hit out angrily at the situation, saying it is an "absolute disgrace" more than once. I’ve rarely known such anger from the man. He’s quite right though – it’s outrageous and I can’t remember it happening before.
11.20pm: The BBC have gone gimmick crazy. At the moment I’m watching Jeremy Vince pushing over a load of dominos. There’s quite a lot of filling to be done during the early stages of this election night before the rush of results come in.
11.15pm: Senior figures from the Liberal Democrats, including Vince Cable, are doing their level best to dismiss the exit polls. That’s hardly a surprise, because after all the talk of three party politics (and despite our first past the post system) a result as predicted would be dreadful for the party.
11.10pm: A new exit poll suggests the Tories will have 305 seats, Labour 255 and the Liberal Democrats 61.
11.00pm: So it’s 1-0 to Labour. There are still a few more results to come though. This really is going to be a hugely long night.
10.52pm: Houghton and Sunderland South Coast are the first to declare. Labour win, which is no great surprise. Bridget Phillipson is only 26, but she is now an MP. Labour’s vote s down 12 per cent, with the Tories up five per cent. The turnout is only 55 per cent, which is poor indeed.
10.50pm: There are still reports of people being turned away from counts without having had the chance to vote. It seems to have happened in Mr Clegg’s Sheffield constituency, as well as Manchester. This would seem to open the door to a potential legal challenge.
10.48pm: I’m delighted to see the BBC in my home parish of Wandsworth. And with good reason – there are three closely fought seats up fo grabs in the shape of Battersea, Tooting and Putney. I must say my local polling station was doing a roaring trade earlier this evening.
10.45pm: Home Secretary Alan Johnson leaves the door more than ajar for Labour to do a deal with the Liberal Democrats. In fact he has flung it wide open, saying that he has "no problem at all" working with Mr Clegg’s party.
10.40pm: There are reports that some people were turned away without having had the chance to vote at 10pm. Sorry, but that just can’t be right. I was similarly put out earlier when a friend reported to me that her local polling station wasn’t ready to open at 7am. Cue scenes of people arriving struggling with keys to open the building.
10.35pm: Former Mirror editor Piers Morgan has dismissed the exit polls. "I just don’t believe them," claims the Britain’s Got Talent judge. As for veteran entertainer Bruce Forsyth? He’s also part of the BBC’s coverage. It’s difficult not to like or admire Bruce for his extraordinary career in showbusiness but he wins the early ‘you’ve brought nothing to the table’ award with his "Anything could happen" claim.
10.30pm: Peter Mandelson is on fire already, and he claims this will be a "cliffhanger" of a night, and "if you had told me a few months ago that there would be a hung parliament, I wouldn’t have believed you". He certainly isn’t ruling out a deal with the Liberal Democrats either, and he would be foolish to do so.
10.25pm: They’re running around like lunatics in Sunderland, lugging around ballot boxes. They want to be the first to declare, you see.
10.15pm: So what to make of the exit polls? My first impression is that if the Tories should only be a handful of seats short of a majority, they may not have the greatest trouble crawling over the line with a little help from their friends. The other number that jumps out is 59 seats for the Liberal Democrats. That would be a shocking result for the party when you consider how much success their leader Nick Clegg apparently had during the campaign. The traditional third party may have a say however, with a pact between Labour and the Liberal Democrats also a possibility.
10.05pm: So the polls have closed, the great British public have spoken. Goodness only knows what the next four, five, six, seven, eight (you get my drift) have in store for us.
10.00pm: Oh what a night. Not just one of my favourite songs but the only way I can introduce what should be a truly dramatic British election.
The State of Play 