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'.

[12 December 2019 15:00 · Ashley Cowburn]

Chancellor Sajid Javid votes in general election 

Sajid Javid, who the prime minister guaranteed would remain at the Treasury if he wins the general election tonight, has posted an image of himself voting this afternoon in the general election. 

[12 December 2019 15:15 · Ashley Cowburn]

The effects of austerity will ripple on for years to come - May Bulman

On the stage of the Conservative conference last year, Theresa May pledged to end the Conservatives’ austerity measures, declaring: “The British people need to know that the end is in sight. And our message to them must be this: we get it.”

The then prime minster vowed that Brexit would bring an end to the public spending cuts introduced in the wake of the financial crash a decade ago. Whether austerity can be ended quite so easily is in itself a matter of debate, but when Ms May told the crowds in Birmingham that Britons’ “hard work had paid off”, what she didn’t acknowledge was that for many in the country it isn’t possible to move on from the damage wrought by her government’s policies.

[12 December 2019 15:31 · Ashley Cowburn]

Leo Varadkar hopes for a parliament that isn't hung

Arriving at the EU summit in Brussels - the one the UK is not attending - the Irish prime minister said: "The best thing for Ireland, for the UK and for Europe would be an end to the uncertainty, so whether that’s prime minister Johnson winning with a large majority, or Remain parties winning a majority, we’ll work with whatever the outcome is.

What has been very hard to work with was a hung parliament that wasn’t able to come to a majority decision on anything. “I just hope we’re not in that position tomorrow.”

[12 December 2019 15:50 · Ashley Cowburn]

US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez backs Labour at election

The left-wing US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has shared a video from Jeremy Corbyn's twitter feed, saying: "This video is about the UK, but it might as well have been produced about the United States. 

"The hoarding of wealth by the few is coming at the cost of peoples' lives. The only way we change is with a massive surge of *new* voters at the polls. UK, Vote!"

[12 December 2019 16:10 · Ashley Cowburn]

Dogs at polling stations cheer election watchers

[12 December 2019 16:21 · Ashley Cowburn]

Woman dressed as Elmo gets into bizarre confrontation with Jeremy Corbyn

[12 December 2019 16:30 · Ashley Cowburn]

The election isn’t a done deal - John Rentoul

"If I were Isaac Levido, the Conservative election campaign chief, I would be worried about one graph produced by the team behind YouGov’s MRP poll yesterday. On page 54 of the notes on the methodology of the poll, there is a scatter plot of the team’s estimates of the number of seats the Conservatives are likely to win tomorrow."

[12 December 2019 16:45 · Lizzy Buchan]

Long queues reported at polling stations as voters turn out for 'election of a lifetime'

Voters have reported long queues outside polling stations, with some members of the public walking away without casting their ballots.

As voting got underway for one of the most important elections in a generation, waits of more than half an hour were reported at schools, community centres and churches across England, with queueing appearing widespread in places such as London, Manchester and Cambridge.

Images of voters forming long lines in the cold weather prompted speculation about whether there had been a spike in turnout compared to the 2017 general election.

[12 December 2019 17:01 · Lizzy Buchan]

What I learnt about northern voters from five weeks on the campaign trail

Labour’s red wall may fall on the Brexit altar – but progressivism remains in the blood, writes Colin Drury.

Read his piece here:

[12 December 2019 17:16 · Lizzy Buchan]

PM's Brexit plan would shrink economy by nearly 2%, say trade experts

The UK Trade Policy Observatory (UKTPO) says its analysis of the impact of leaving the EU and switching from frictionless trade to a free trade agreement indicates an economic downturn of 1.8%.

Even if mitigating trade deals with the US, Australia and New Zealand were agreed at the same time as writing a Brussels deal, the Conservative Party leader's withdrawal plans would still see UK output decline by 1.4%, the academics said.

Such a hit would slice £28bn off the economy and mean every household in the country would be £1,000 worse off, according to the BBC's Newsnight, which first published the research.

Michael Gasiorek, a professor of economics and a fellow of UKTPO, said the relatively low tariffs Britain enjoys on most US goods meant a free trade agreement with Donald Trump would not offset the damage done by leaving the European single market and customs union.

"Nearly 43% of UK trade is currently with the EU, while under 12% is with the US," Prof Gasiorek said.

"Reducing barriers on 12% of trade simply cannot compensate for increasing barriers on 43% of trade.

"For every 1% reduction in trade with the EU, in order to compensate for this, a deal with the US would have to increase trade by three to four times as much. This is not feasible."

A Conservative spokesman said: "The prime minister's fantastic deal makes clear that we will have a future relationship based on free trade and friendly co-operation.

"By striking trade deals around the world we will create exciting new opportunities for British businesses."

The Tory manifesto claims free trade is the "best way" to increase exports, cut prices and increase investment.