Liberal Democrats face prospect of being reduced to 'single figures' following 'devastating' results

Early results and exit polls suggest Clegg's leadership is to come under pressure

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and wife Miriam Gonzalez Durantez leave after winning his Sheffield Hallam seat in Britain's general election in Sheffield (Lynne Cameron/AP)

Nick Clegg is facing the prospect of the Liberal Democrats being reduced to just single figures in the Commons, with the party possibly losing dozes of seats, including a number of high profile casualties.

Results throughout the morning have suggested Clegg's leadership is to come under pressure as voters swing to the Conservatives in England and SNP in Scotland.

Business secretary Vince Cable became the highest-profile scalp as after five years of coalition government with the Tories, voters deserted the party.

Energy Secretay Ed Davey also lost his Kingston and Surbiton constituency to the Conservatives., while sources at the count in Inverness have confirmed to The Independent that Cabinet minister Danny Alexander has accepted he has lost his seat to the SNP.

Lib Dem business minister Jo Swinson lost the East Dunbartonshire seat she had held since 2006 to the SNP, while former Lib Dem Deputy Leader Simon Hughes lost his seat to Labour.

An exit poll suggested the party could be reduced to ten seats, but party sources indicated to PA that figure could be optimistic.

A source said: "The exit poll is accurate. It may be even worse than that."

Speaking at Mr Clegg's count in Sheffield, a spokesman for the party admitted the Lib Dems were facing a difficult night.

The spokesman said: "I'm not going to pretend the Liberal Democrats are going to have anything other than a bad night."

Referring with grim irony to "these joyous circumstances," he added: "Clearly anybody who is a Liberal Democrat – and that includes the leader of our party – anybody who believes in moderate centre ground politics will be disappointed, because the voices of the extremes appear to be having a better night."

Asked to provide a prediction about whether Mr Clegg would hold on to his own Sheffield Hallam seat, the source would only say: "I haven’t got the numbers to do that at this stage. I am confident, but not complacent."

Challenged about earlier Lib Dem optimism, he insisted that his party members weren't the only ones who appeared to have been wrong in their predictions about what would happen on election night.

"Lots of people were wrong in the run-up to this election. Look at every single pollster in the country. Did any single pollster predict what we would see in the exit polls tonight? Did Sky? Did the BBC?"

Refusing to admit defeat completely, he added: "Clearly these [exit polls] are at the lower end of what we expected and hoped, but let’s see if they are borne out by the facts."

Perhaps anticipating the recriminations and blame game to come, the source said: "It seems that in the latter part of the campaign particularly, the Conservatives - with their money, their backing, and their fear factor over the Scottish Nationalists potentially holding the balance of power – it looks like that message has worked."

Additional reporting by PA