Labor secured its first victory of the night, with Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson retaining Houghton and Sunderland South.
Phillipson increased his majority to more than 7,000 as the party expected similar results across the country.
But it was also the first blow for the Tories, who were pushed into second place by Reform UK – their rivals polled 11,668 votes compared to just 5,514 for the Tories.
Politics live: Conservatives will collapse with worst result ever, exit poll predicts
It turns out Sir Keir Starmer’s party looks set for a landslide victory after the exit poll projected that it would win 410 seats overnight – with an overall majority of 170 in the House of Commons.
That compares with a prediction of just 131 seats for Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives – which would be the lowest number of seats in the party’s history – along with the expected loss of some big guns, including Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
Labour’s deputy leader – and possibly the next deputy prime minister – Angela Rayner told Sky News that Sir Keir “has done a tremendous job in transforming the Labor Party and delivering a program for government that the country can get behind”.
Meanwhile, a Conservative Party spokesman said: “If these results are correct, it is clear that Starmer and Angela Rayner will be in Downing Street tomorrow – that means their taxes will rise and our country will be less safe.”
The Liberal Democrats also look set to have a strong night, moving from 11 to 61 seats in the polls, while the SNP could fall to just 10 seats – swapping with the Liberal Democrats as the third largest party.
The reform’s first real electoral test could see them win up to 13 seats, according to the poll – with Nigel Farage almost certain to take Clacton.
And the Green Party could gain an extra seat, bringing the total to two.
The results began to arrive after a six-week campaign, launched by the prime minister in torrential rain in Downing Street.
He faced a series of setbacks throughout the campaign, from his decision to leave D-Day early to his party becoming embroiled in a betting scandal.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
