Election results – live: Boris Johnson says NHS will be priority as he reaches out to Remainers following historic win
Follow all the latest updates
Your support helps us to tell the story
My recent work focusing on Latino voters in Arizona has shown me how crucial independent journalism is in giving voice to underrepresented communities.
Your support is what allows us to tell these stories, bringing attention to the issues that are often overlooked. Without your contributions, these voices might not be heard.
Every dollar you give helps us continue to shine a light on these critical issues in the run up to the election and beyond
Eric Garcia
Washington Bureau Chief
Boris Johnson has said he will make the NHS an "overwhelming priority" during his renewed tenure in No. 10 following a political “earthquake” which which saw Labour support give way top a comfortable Tory majority.
However he has not extended the same olive branch to voters north of the border - telling Nicola Sturgeon he would not lend any support to a second independence referendum.
Meanwhile Jeremy Corbyn has refused to take responsibility for the worst Labour showing since 1935 - blaming Brexit for the party’s devastating defeat.
Sinn Fein holds Fermanagh & South Tyrone
Sinn Fein has held the Fermanagh & South Tyrone seat in Northern Ireland, with a reduced majority of only 57. It leaves us with only a few seats to go.
Conservatives hold Northamptonshire South
Business secretary Andrea Leadsom has held her seat with a very comfortable majority of more than 27,000. The full national picture is almost in place.
Dominic Cummings: Remainers ‘didn’t understand what was going on’
The PM’s right-hand man Dominic Cummings if he could take any credit for the Conservative election victory. “No, not at all,” he replied.
He added: “After the shock of the referendum MPs and journalists should have taken a deep breath and had a lot of self-reflection of why they misunderstood what was going on in the country but instead a lot of people just doubled down on their own ideas and f***** it up even more.
“That’s why something like this happens against expectations.
“All these better than average educated Remainer campaigner types who have waved around for eight weeks, for the last four months and didn’t understand what was going on and didn’t understand they were driving everyone mad.”
Cummings continued: “Hopefully now they’ll learn because it’s not good for the country, the whole dynamic to carry on.
“MPs need to reflect, the media needs to reflect and they need to realise that the conversations they have in London are a million miles away from reality.”
Dominic Cummings arrives for the PM's victory speech (AFP)
Conservatives hold Arundel & South Downs
The Tories have held the second last seat to declare, with Andrew Griffith winning a 22,000-plus majority in Arundel & South Downs.
Bad night for independents and centrist defectors
It wasn’t a good night for the independents. David Gauke and Dominic Grieve, the former Tories who rebelled over Brexit, failed to keep their seats.
And every centrist MP who defected from Labour and the Tories looks to have lost their seat at the general election.
The three most high-profile Lib Dem defectors – Chuka Umunna, Sam Gyimah and Lucinia Berger – failed to win their London target seats, as did the other defectors.
More details here:
Sturgeon gesticulates wildly at Swinson’s defeat
If you missed it, Nicola Sturgeon was filmed celebrating as she learned an SNP candidate had beaten Jo Swinson in the general election.
Scotland’s first minister was seen letting out a lengthy cheer and shaking her fists in jubilation live on Sky News as the East Dunbartonshire was announced.
‘Please stand down’: Labour figures want Corbyn to go now
Labour figures are piling pressure on Jeremy Corbyn to quit immediately. Corbyn said he would not lead the party into the next election, but would stay on for a “period of reflection”.
Margaret Hodge who held her London seat, tweeted: “Corbyn talking about a period of reflection. I’ve reflected. You failed. Please stand down.”
Ian Murray, who held his Edinburgh South seat, said: “Every door I knocked on, and my team and I spoke to 11,000 people, mentioned Corbyn … we must change course and fast.”
Ruth Smeeth was among the several defeated candidates blaming the leader for the humiliation. “Corbyn’s actions on antisemitism have made us the nasty party,” she said. “We are the racist party.”
Phil Wilson, who lost Tony Blair's former seat of Sedgefield to the Tories, was highly critical. “Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership was a bigger problem. To say otherwise is delusional,” he tweeted. “The party's leadership went down like a lead balloon on the doorstep.”
Labour’s Jess Phillips was asked if it was Brexit, Corbyn or policies that were too far to the left which caused the Labour defeat and she said it was “all of those things and many other things”.
Corbyn just one ‘factor’ in Labour defeat, says Momentum
Laura Parker, the national coordinator of Momentum, has reluctantly conceded Jeremy Corbyn was “a factor” in the Labour party’s crushing defeat.
“But what we’ve seen here really is Labour beaten by Brexit,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“I do believe that we have broadly speaking got the right policies but clearly something needs to change because we’ve just lost an election,” she added. “In a way, we had such a broad and ambitious policy offering that I do wonder whether some of it got a little bit lost.”
The former Labour minister Alan Johnson raged at the Corbyn “cult” Momentum during Sky News’ election night coverage, telling its co-founder Jon Lansman to “go back to your student politics”.
The veteran of the Blair–Brown governments raged: “Everyone knew that [Corbyn] couldn’t lead the working class out of a paper bag.”
More than 50 per cent of voters backed Final Say parties
Millions of people who wanted to have a final say on Brexit will be devastated this morning. They can, perhaps, take some comfort in looking at the vote share.
According to ITV, the combined share for parties backing a second EU referendum is 50.3 per cent, compared to the Tories and the Brexit Party on 45.6 per cent.
Voter fraud allegations investigated by police
Cases of suspected voter fraud in several constituencies have been reported to police.
Glasgow City Council reported three cases of alleged “personation” – when a person votes as someone else – following Thursday’s poll while one incident was reported in Paisley and Renfrewshire North.
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, and Renfrewshire Council has also reported an incident to police.
A council spokesman said: “We have been made aware of an incident earlier today (Thursday) in the Paisley and Renfrewshire North constituency where a member of the public arrived at a polling station to place a vote to find that it had already been cast by another member of the public.”
BBC Scotland reported a further possible case of voter fraud in Stirling.
Police arrive at the Glasgow count to investigate (Getty)
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments