Election results – live: Boris Johnson says NHS will be priority as he reaches out to Remainers following historic win

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General election 2019: Boris Johnson arrives at Downing Street

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.

Key Points

• Johnson vows to get Brexit done 'no ifs, no buts'
• Labour figures call on Corbyn to quit immediately
• ...but Corbyn says he won't leave until 'early part of next year'
• Swinson loses seat, leading Sturgeon to celebrate wildly
• 'End of Corbynism,' claims David Cameron
• PM promises 'permanent break from talking about Brexit' in Downing Street speech
• ...while adding the 'overwhelming priority of the British people' is a 'focus... on the NHS'.

[13 December 2019 16:18 · Chris Baynes]

Tory 'health tourism' crackdown linked to deaths of three pregnant women

Conservative measures to stop health tourism in the NHS have been linked to the deaths of three pregnant women in a major report that was delayed until after the election.

The women all died after delays in seeking help because they mistakenly believed that they would have to pay for care under the government’s strict charging regime, reports The Independent's health correspondent Shaun Lintern:

[13 December 2019 16:26 · Chris Baynes]

Labour voters jumped ship over Corbyn, poll says 

Jeremy Corbyn was the main reason Labour voters defected to the Conservatives in yesterday's election, according to an Opinium poll.

Forty-five per cent of those surveyed cited Labour's leadership as their reason for the turning their backs on the party, followed by 31 per cent who objected to its stance on Brexit.

The leadership was also the leading reason for Labour voters opting for the Lib Dems, the poll found.

[13 December 2019 16:34 · Chris Baynes]

Defeated Goldsmith feels 'like he won the lottery'

Zac Goldsmith, the former Conservative minister who lost his Richmond Park seat to the Lib Dems' Sarah Olney last night, says he still feels "like I won the lottery" after his party's landslide victory.

[13 December 2019 16:48 · Chris Baynes]

Investors splash out as Tory win takes nationalisation off table

Utility investors have splashed out in a post-election bonanza after Labour defeat's slashed the likelihood of their industry being nationalised.

Alongside housebuilders, energy companies and other utilities were some of the highest risers on the FTSE 100 today, as the sector jumped on the election result.

Severn Trent was the biggest gainer among the utilities in the late afternoon, rising 182p or 8.19 per cent to 2,402p.

But Centrica, SSE, United Utilities, National Grid and BT Group all rose by more than 5 per cent, putting them in the top 20 best performers on the index.

Energy and telecoms investors had been worried by the Labour leadership's plans to take them back into national ownership if they won the election.

David Cheetham, chief market analyst at XTB, an online trading platform, said: "If the aforementioned stocks are rising on Brexit-related hopes, the gains seen in the utility sector can be attributed more to the avoidance of a Labour government and the proposed renationalisation that would have likely ensued.

"A relief rally can be seen in SSE, Centrica, United Utilities and BT as the threat of nationalisation disappears for the foreseeable future."

[13 December 2019 17:05 · Chris Baynes]

Lammy may run for Labour leadership

Labour MP David Lammy, who was re-elected in Tottenham last night, has said he is "thinking about" running for the Labour leadership.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live's Emma Barnett: "Of course I'm thinking about it, because people like me that have been in the party for 20 years have got now to do a lot of heavy lifting to get us into the right place.

"But I'll be talking to people, listening to people, and also reflecting on the other candidates.“I want the best person that the country thinks can lead the country, not just someone that makes the party feel good for a few months or a few weeks. If that's me, I'll do it, of course.”

On when Jeremy Corbyn should stand down, Lammy said:“I don’t think he should outstay his welcome … We do need a new leader in the early spring, after the Christmas period."

Corbyn has said he will step down "in the early part of next year".

[13 December 2019 17:20 · Chris Baynes]

52% of votes go to pro-referendum parties

More than half of voters in the election backed parties who offered a second referendum, final vote share figures show.

While Boris Johnson has hailed the Tories' landslide victory as an "overwhelming mandate" to deliver Brexit, 52 per cent of the electorate voted for either Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens or the SNP.

Only 47 per cent supported Brexit-backing parties, such as the Tories and the DUP, reports my colleague Lizzy Buchan:

[13 December 2019 17:48 · Chris Baynes]

Progressives must join forces, says Green MP

Caroline Lucas, who was last night re-elected as Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, has called for "all progressive forces in our country to regroup" and fight for "a new voting system in which every single vote counts, every single time".

"We can’t afford to let the Tories divide us, and leave this country exposed to years of continuing austerity," she writes in a piece for The Independent:

[13 December 2019 17:58 · Chris Baynes]

Angry Labour backlash after Corbyn refuses to take blame for election disaster or set departure date

Jeremy Corbyn is facing a furious Labour backlash after refusing to take the blame for the party’s most disastrous general election defeat for 80 years or set a date for his departure, reports my colleague Rob Merrick:

[13 December 2019 18:29 · Vincent Wood]

Former Labour MP: I lost my Redcar seat thanks to Jeremy Corbyn and I’m furious

Former Redcar MP Anne Turley has described the result as "failure on an epic scale, and a betrayal of those communities that need Labour most".

Writing for the Independent, she said her heart sank when she first heard Jeremy Corbyn's rallying cry of "bring it on" ahead of the election.

She added: "The sense of hubris coming from the shadow cabinet was excruciating when I knew from my weekly door-knocking just how frustrated and angry the public were at the paralysis in politics, and how low Labour had sunk in their estimation."

More below:

[13 December 2019 18:43 · Vincent Wood]

Former deputy leader says daily policy announcements confused and harmed Labour campaign

Labour's former deputy party leader Dame Margaret Beckett has said the regular policy announcements from the party throughout the campaign became "confusing" and "harmful" as the race ran on.

"I have to admit, as the campaign went on, I got more and more concerned that every day there seemed to be something" she told BBC Radio 4. 

"And this isn't to attack. A lot of policies were excellent, I thought. And I supported them. But we seemed to be trying to say something new every day.

"I understand that that's a theory about how you catch the news agenda and so on.

"But it was really confusing and it more and more fuelled the impression - and I don't think it was accurate - of 'where is all the money coming from for this?'."

"There was no sense of priority and that was harmful, unfortunately."