Live: General election 2019 Corbyn breaks post-election silence
Follow the results live with The Week’s general election live blog
12:59pm Corbyn breaks silence, SNP confirms calls for indy referendum
Jeremy Corbyn has broken his post-election silence saying that he is very sad at the result and for “many of the poorest communities” who would suffer.
He added that he is still proud of the Labour manifesto but said the election was “taken over by Brexit”.
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Asked when he would quit as Labour leader, Corbyn said: “The National Executive will have to meet, of course, in the very near future and it is up to them. It will be in the early part of next year.”
Meanwhile, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed that the Scottish government will next week published “detailed democratic case” for a transfer of power to enable a second referendum on Scottish independence.
Speaking in Edinburgh, she said: “This is not about asking Boris Johnson or any other Westminster politician for permission. It is an assertion of the democratic right of the people of Scotland to determine their own future.
“In an independent Scotland we will always get the governments we vote for. We will have full control of the powers and levers needed to build a truly fair and more prosperous country. We can take our place as an equal partner with our closest friends in the rest of the UK and across Europe.”
The SNP won 48 seats after securing 45% of the vote - 8.1% more than in the last general election in 2017, when it won 35 seats.
The proposal is likely to receive a cold response from Johnson’s majority government - which has positioned itself against a second vote.
11:06am - Jewish Labour Movement calls for Corbyn to resign now
The Jewish Labour Movement has this morning called on Corbyn to resign immediately after the Labour leader said he would only step down after a “period of reflection”.
In an open letter, the group said: “Labour’s failure in this election lies squarely with the Party’s leadership. The public’s rejection of Corbyn as Prime Minister, the confused position on Brexit and its total failure to tackle anti-Jewish racism, mean that the party must truely listen.
“After this historic election defeat, Jeremy Corbyn must stand down immediately. His team and his supporters who are responsible for Labour’s moral and political failures must take responsibility themselves for allowing five more years of Tory rule.”
Margret Hodge, who resigned the Labour party over anti-Semisitism, tweeted:
Elsewhere, Boris Johnson has arrived at Buckingham Palace for his meeting with the Queen.
And, according to analysis of the incoming parliament, 34% of MPs are now women, while Labour and the Lib Dems both have more female MPs than male.
08:43am - Dominic Cummings not surprised by election success
Boris Johnson’s controversial special adviser Dominic Cummings has accused MPs and the media of being out of touch with people outside London.
Cummings - who led the campaign to leave the EU during the referendum - told PA Media that he cannot take credit for the landslide victory because “after the shock of the referendum MPs and journalists should have taken a deep breath and had a lot of self-reflection”.
Instead of trying to understand what is going on in the country, he added that “a lot of people just doubled down on their own ideas and fucked it up even more”.
“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.”
There is one seat left to declare, with the Tories set to win a 79-80 majority.
As the Labour party begins to analyse is electoral devastation, Gideon Falter, chief executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “The British public has watched the once proudly anti-racist Labour Party become infested with Jew-hatred and it has resoundingly decided to stand with its Jewish community and give the antisemites a crushing rebuke.”
By contrast, Harun Khan, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain said: “Mr Johnson commands a majority, but there is a palpable sense of fear amongst Muslim communities around the country… Now we worry that Islamophobia is “oven-ready” for government.”
#CORBYNRESIGN is currently trending on Twitter, as the full gravity of Labour’s losses begins to sink in.
07.37 Boris Johnson pledges to ‘get Brexit done’ in victory speech
As the results continue to trickle in, Boris Johnson has delivered his victory speech at a rally in central London.
Standing against a backdrop featuring the word’s “the people’s government” Johnson pledged to follow through on his promise to “get Brexit done”.
It is now the “irrefutable, inarguable” decision of the British people, the prime minister said.
Johnson added that he was humbled so many people switched to vote Conservative, adding that he “will never take your support for granted”.
The scale of that swing to the Tories is enormous. The Times’s Matt Chorley posted a graphic to Twitter this morning showing how the vote changed between 2017 and 2019.
Johnson ended his speech saying “Let’s get Brexit done. But first let’s get breakfast done.”
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06.43 Jo Swinson steps down
Having lost her seat in a disappointing night for her party, the leader of the Liberal Democrats Jo Swinson has stepped down.
Baroness Sal Brinton and Ed Davey MP will take over as joint interim leaders of the Lib Dems. A fresh leadership election is now planned for the new year.
As she annoucned her departure, Swinson said: “Tonight’s result is obviously hugely disappointing, in East Dunbartonshire, and across the whole country with Boris Johnson winning a majority.
“I am proud that in this campaign, the Liberal Democrats have stood up for openness, generosity and hope. We were honest about what we believe in and what we were trying to achieve.
“This is clearly a setback for liberal values. But there are millions of people across the country who believe in them. By coming together to fight for them, we can create a positive future.”
Rounding up the results, polling expert Ian Warren has two charts that show how the country voted.
Warren describes the result as “the worst election campaign I've seen. On every level.”
05.55 Johnson’s political ‘earthquake’
In a private speech to his aides, Buzzfeed reports that Boris Johnson has described his election win as an “earthquake”.
“We must understand now what an earthquake we have created,” the prime minister said. “The way in which we have changed the political map in this country. We have to grapple with the consequences of that. We have to change our own party. We have to rise to the level of events. We have to rise to the challenge that the British people have given us.”
The results bear out Johnson’s claim. Veteran Conservative campaigner Graham Robb has pointed out that Labour’s red wall - the block of traditional Labour seats in the Midlands and the North which have been Labour for generations - has now been replaced by a blue route running from Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland on the north-east coast, through Redcar, Stockton South, Sedgefield, Bishop Auckland, Penrith and the Border, and Workington. All of those but two were Labour held before the election.
As Johnson listed his party’s gains to aides this morning, he joked: “We made Redcar Bluecar.”
The BBC has also released its estimate for the eventual GB vote share.
Conservatives: 45%Labour: 33%Lib Dems: 12%Greens: 3%Brexit party: 2%
As The Guardian says, if Johnson does end up with a 45% vote share, “that would be higher than Tony Blair’s in 1997 (he was on 44.3%), higher than Margaret Thatcher’s in any of her three victories (44.9%, 43.5% and 43.2%) and the highest since Edward Heath’s in 1970 (46.2%).”
05:13am - Conservatives win overall majority
The Conservatives have formally won the general election, winning their 326th seat.
The Tories held Worthing West to confirm their victory, following an impressive performance in which they decimated the Labour Party in its former “red wall” heartland.
Boris Johnson is now predicted to be on course for a majority of 70.
Downing Street has already been plotting its post-election plans, and is looking to organise a small cabinet reshuffle on Monday followed by a second reading of Johnson‘s withdrawal agreement bill next Friday (20 December).
In February 2020, after the deadline for leaving the EU on the 31st January has passed, Johnson will do a major reshuffle of his cabinet before tabelling a budget in March.
Elsewhere, Luciana Berger has not won for the Lib Dems in Finchley and Golders Green. The former Labour MP fell short by over 6,500 votes, with the Tories’ Mike Freer winning out.
In another mark of the Conservatives’ success in Labour’s traditional strongholds, Dennis Skinner - who was set to become the father of the house - has lost his seat. Skinner saw his vote share fall by 16.0%, as he was squeezed by the Brexit Party and the Tories.
Farage’s party took 9% of the vote, while the Conservatives saw their vote share rise by 6.9%.
Labour has thus far lost 57 seats - 51 to the Tories and 6 to the SNP.
04:31am - Trump tweets about Johnson majority
It was always going to happen eventually. President Donald Trump has tweeted his thoughts on the election and he seems pretty happy with the projected outcome:
Meanwhile, the Conservatives have continued their obliteration of the Labour’s “red wall”, taking Leave-voting Warrington South. The Tories have also won in Kensington, a Labour victory that was seen as a mark of Corbyn’s success in 2017.
Former Tory MP Sam Gymiah ran for the Lib Dem’s in the marginal seat and appears to have split the Remain vote, netting 9,312 votes that would have comfortably seen Labour over the line.
The Green Party has failed to win its target seat, Bristol West, but has retained Brighton Pavilion, which is held by former party leader Caroline Lucas. Speaking on Sky News, John Bercow described Lucas as “a model MP”.
Across the Irish Sea, the DUP has lost two seats, meaning that the party is set to see its representation at Westminster fall from 10 to eight. The SDLP are on course to win two seats and Sinn Fein seven.
This will mean that unionist parties will only have eight MPs at Westminster, giving nationalist MPs a numerical advantage. With that in mind, Scotland might not be the only place where the union comes under threat.
Luciana Berger is soon to find out whether she has won for the Lib Dems in Finchley and Golders Green. After the Lib Dem leader Swinson lost her seat in Scotland, a Lib Dem gain could see Berger touted as her successor.
03:59 - Johnson retains his seat as Jo Swinson falls short
Johnson has retained his seat, after reports had suggested that Labour could cause an upset in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.
The prime minister won 25,351 votes, comfortably beating the Labour candidate on 18,141.
In a far closer race, Lib Dem leader Swinson lost her seat to the SNP. Swinson lost by just 149 votes to the SNP’s Amy Callaghan. She made no comment about her future as Lib Dem leader in her resignation speech.
The result compounds a successful evening for the SNP, with party leader Nicola Sturgeon telling Sky News that the evening’s results shows that it is “not Boris Johnson’s place to decide Scotland’s future.”
Meanwhile, the Conservatives have continued to pick up seats across former Labour heartlands, including Rother Valley, Bury South, Lincoln, Penistone and Great Grimsby.
The SNP has also won Glasgow North East from Labour, with Sturgeon saying that “Labour has lost touch with people in Scotland” and “found itself floundering on independence and on Brexit”.
Former Labour leader Ed Miliband has hung on in Doncaster, despite a huge 13.5% swing against him. He has, however, seen his majority slashed from around 14,000 last time around, to 2,370.
Miliband’s is another seat that Labour have held onto this time, but with a massively reduced majority that will mean it is in play for the Tories at the next election.
Laura Pidcock - tipped as a future Labour leader from the Corbyn-wing of the party - has not been so lucky, losing her seat in North West Durham to the Conservatives.
03:24 - Jeremy Corbyn to resign as leader of the Labour Party
Corbyn has effectively announced his intention to resign as leader of the Labour Party, but said that he will stay on in the top job for a “period of reflection”.
He did not confirm a timescale for his resignation, but did say that he will not lead the Labour into the next general election.
Corbyn, who described the election result as “very disappointing”, said: “I want to make it clear that I will not lead the party in any future election campaign. I will discuss with my party to ensure that there is a process of reflection this result.”
Corbyn and McDonnell will make an announcement tomorrow setting out a timescale for the resignation.
The Labour leader retained his Islington North seat, winning 34,603 votes but seeing his share of the vote fall by 8.7%.
Corbyn said: “The fundamental Labour message about justice and equality in our society… is the very core of what my party believes in.
“In the election campaign we put forward a manifesto of hope, a manifesto of unity and a manifesto that would help to right the wrongs and injustices that exist in this country.”
He also blamed his party’s performance on the vote to leave the EU, adding: “Brexit has so polarised and divided the vote in this country, it has overridden so much of a normal political debate. That has contributed to the result the labour party has received all across the country.”
In a barbed attack on the media, he also said: “Media intrusion on people’s lives is very high indeed.” He also thanked his wife for “all that she puts up with because of the way the media behave towards me, towards her and towards my party”.
Next Labour leader odds: who will replace Jeremy Corbyn? Read more here.
02:42am - Tory continue to rack up gains as “red wall” crumbles
Tory heavyweights Dominic Raab and Iain Duncan Smith have held their seats following reports that suggested the Lib Dems and Labour were just two points behind them in the polls.
Duncan Smith’s success is an example of the pro-Remain parties failing to coordinate their electoral strategy. The Lib Dems won 2,744 votes, enough to have delivered the constituency for Labour.
Elsewhere, the Conservatives have gained seats from Labour in Wolverhampton South West, Ipswich, Redcar, Burnley, Ynes Môn, Stockton South, Blackpool South, West Bromwich West and Bishop Auckland.
Ruth Smeeth, the Labour candidate in Leave-voting Stoke-on-Trent North, declared that she believes that she has lost her seat before the count was complete and called for Jeremy Corbyn to “announce that he is resigning at his count today”.
Smeeth added: “He should have gone many, many, many months ago… His personal actions have delivered this result.”
Ian Murray, who again may end up the only Labour MP in Scotland, also said that Corbyn must resign, saying: “The buck always stops with the leadership. I knocked on 11,000 doors [in Edinburgh South] and he has been the problem.”
Rosie Duffield has hung on for Labour in Canterbury. The seat was also contentious among Remain supporters, after the Lib Dems refused to stand down their candidate in the marginal constituency.
In Northern Ireland, the DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds has lost his seat to Sinn Fein. In Cities of London and Westminster, Chuka Umunna has failed in his bid to unseat the Conservatives.
02:14am - Brexit Party fail to take Hartlepool as Labour leadership questions swirl
Brexit Party chairman and MEP Richard Tice has failed to win Hartlepool in the party’s best chance of winning a seat in their debut general election.
Tice came in third place, with 10,603 votes, but was beaten to the post by Labour candidate Mike Hill (15,464 votes) and Conservative candidate Stefan Houghton (11,869 votes).
Earlier in the evening, Tice tweeted: “The BXP has clearly played a massive role in reducing Labour votes and seats, thus changing the course of political history. Sky already recognise this.”
While Farage’s newly fledged party has inflicted damage on Labour so far this evening, in Hartlepool the Brexit Party split the Leave vote, winning 25% of the vote share.
Labour has made a gain in Putney, South London, a remain-voting Conservative seat since 2001. Stella Creasy has also retained her seat in remain-supporting Walthamstow.
Creasy said: “I am sure there will be questions asked about all sorts of things, including leadership, including policy and campaigning.”
Asked if would resign by journalists in his North London constituency, Jeremy Corbyn said: “Thank you very much for coming, lovely to see you.”
In a candid Sky News interview, Labour candidate Jess Philips said that she was not there to write headlines about Corbyn’s future. She added: “I don’t think there is much for the Labour Party to be glad about tonight - clapping and cheering. But you know what it is like, it is for the cameras isn’t it.”
The Lib Dems have so far lost deposits in 12 seats, while the Brexit Party have lost 10 deposits. The two parties are not fighting in all of the same seats.
01:50am - Corbyn loyalists double down on Labour manifesto as loses continue
Despite the bleak national outlook, Corbyn supporters are doubling down in their support for the party’s manifesto. Corbyn supporters have instead cited Brexit as the reason behind the party’s poor performance.
Shadow justice secretary, Richard Burgeon, told Sky News: “Some people did say things about Jeremy that they had read in the Daily Mail… or read in The Sun newspaper. If these things didn’t have traction, the Murdoch press would not push them.”
“But people on the doorstep were not complaining about the policy. The only difference it seems to me at this stage is that it was a Brexit election. The next election will not be a Brexit election.”
Meanwhile, national coordinator for pro-Corbyn activism group Momentum, Laura Parker, added: “It’s unquestionable that Labour’s policies are popular. Every poll shows it, and there is absolutely no appetite to go back to the centrist policies of old.”
In the latest Labour loss, Peterborough has fallen to the Conservatives, with Labour’s Lisa Forbes winning 19,744 votes and the Tories Paul Bristow taking home 22,343. Leigh, Manchester - the former seat of Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham - has also swung to the Tories, with Labour losing 15% of its vote share.
Elsewhere, Home Secretary Priti Patel has said that the government will act swiftly to “get Brexit done”, while in Chorley - the uncontested seat held by the speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle - an independent called Mark Brexit-Smith has won 9,439 votes.
Read more: Will a Conservative majority government ‘get Brexit done’?
01:24am - Workington turns blue as Tories slash Labour majorities
Workington - a constituency which has been Labour for 98 out of the last 100 years - has turned blue, as the Tories have continued to batter Labour majorities in their former heartlands.
Tory candidate Mark Jenkinson was the UKIP candidate in 2015 and won 20,488 votes. Labour won 16,312 votes, a 11.9% fall in its vote share. The Labour party did have a majority of around 4,000.
The “Workington Man” became a symbol of the older, white, non-graduate men who voted Leave demographic that the Conservatives were looking to attract.
Darlington has also fallen to the Tories, with Peter Gibson overturning a majority of around 3,000 in the first Tory victory there since 1992.
Elsewhere, Ian Lavery, the Labour party chairman, has held onto his seat in Wansbeck, Northumberland by a slim majority. His majority fell from 10,000 to 814.
Deputy chairman of the Conservative Party Paul Scully told Sky News: “Testament to the simple message… that getting brexit done means we will have a parliament that better represents the people.”
“The process is complex but the message was that we need to get on with it. Now hopefully… we can come down to a narrower focus about getting that negotiation right with the EU.”
The SNP also made its first gain of the evening, taking Rutherglen and Hamilton from Labour.
00:48am - Conservatives already plotting post-election manoeuvres
According to Downing Street sources, the Tories are already plotting their post-election manoeuvres.
ITV political reporter, Shehab Khan, reports that an emboldened Boris Johnson is planning a minor cabinet reshuffle on Monday followed by a second reading of his withdrawal agreement bill next Friday (20 December).
In February 2020, after the deadline for leaving the EU on the 31st January has passed, Johnson will do a major reshuffle of his cabinet before tabelling a budget in March.
Read more: Five reasons why the Conservatives will (probably) win the election
Read more: Will Jeremy Corbyn resign following election defeat?
Meanwhile, at Labour HQ, bottles of “Corbynista Victory Ale” have been left unopened and staffers sent home. One said: “People are being sent home so that we don’t take notes or leak anything.”
News of Labour’s devastating exit poll and calls for Corbyn to step down as leader do not appear to have perturbed close ally of the Labour leader and founder of the activist group Momentum, Jon Lansman.
Lansman told ITV:
Picking up on the trouble brewing for Johnson north of the border, the Financial Time’s Jim Pickard has highlighted that “the exit poll is sending out a big message that Scotland is heading away from the rest of the UK”.
“We have a constitutional crisis on the horizon”, Pickard added.
00:17am - Brexit Party seems to be inflicting damage in Labour heartlands
The Brexit Party’s decision to stand candidates in Labour seats, rather than standing aside to not split the leave vote, seems to have paid off so far.
In Sunderland Central, Labour held the seat but saw its vote share fall by 12%. At the same time, the Brexit Party took 13% of the vote in its debut election.
Likewise, in leave-voting Blyth Valley, a seat which the Tories have won from Labour for the first time, the Brexit Party took 8.3% of the vote. At the same time, Labour saw its vote share fall by 15%.
On the BBC, Gareth Snell, the Labour candidate for Stoke-on-Trent, called for Corbyn and McDonnell to resign while admitting that he thinks he has lost his seat before the vote count is complete.
Elsewhere, the BBC exit poll suggests that there is a 95% chance that Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson is set to lose her seat in a disastrous end to her campaign. The SNP have thrown the kitchen sink at taking her East Dunbartonshire constituency.
There is also a 52% chance of Laura Pidcock - viewed by many as a potential future Labour leader - losing her seat in North West Durham.
In a blow to the party’s early hopes, the exit poll also suggests that Brexit big beasts Dominic Raab, Iain Duncan Smith and Theresa Villiers will all hold their seats.
23:30pm - Blame game underway as Labour loses Blyth Valley
Labour has held Newcastle-upon-Tyne Central, with Chi Onwurch winning a majority of 12,278 in the first seat to declare.
However, the party has lost Blyth Valley, a seat it has held since 1974, which has elected its first ever Conservative MP. The Labour vote share fell by 15% in a result described as “unimaginable” by BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg.
In a small consolation, the party also held Sunderland South - which declared shortly after Newcastle - with Bridget Phillipson winning 16,210 votes to the Tories 13,095. Philipson’s majority fell by almost 19%, with the Brexit Party taking 15.5% of the vote.
The blame game is underway, with Labour's “red wall” looking set to crumble tonight. Based on the first three seats, the Brexit Party looks to have stolen voters from Labour in a shift that could explain the exit poll result.
Alan Johnson, former Labour home secretary, said: “It’s Corbyn… We knew he was incapable of leading. We knew he was worse than useless and lacked all the qualities to lead a party.”
Labour candidate for Don Valley, Caroline Flint, tweeted: “We’re going to hear the Corbynistas blame it on Brexit and the Labour Uber Remainers blaming Corbyn. Both are to blame for what looks like a terrible night for Labour.”
Read more: Next Labour leader odds: who will replace Jeremy Corbyn?
Will a Conservative majority government ‘get Brexit done’?
23:07pm - who could replace Corbyn? And the battle for the union.
We are yet to hear the results of even a single seat, but Corbyn is under intense pressure to resign as leader of the Labour party.
The bookmakers have him on 2/1 to resign before the end of the year, with the Evening Standard’s political editor Joe Murphy describing the exit poll result as “the end of Corbyn”. Daily Mirror associate editor, Kevin Maguire, tweeted that Corbyn is “finished”.
According to Andrew Neil, Labour is briefing the shadow cabinet to blame the defeat “entirely on Brexit”. PoliticsHome editor, Kevin Schofield, said: “Battle lines already being drawn for the coming leadership campaign.”
Read more: Next Labour leader odds: who will replace Jeremy Corbyn?
While the exit poll is undoubtedly a boost for Johnson’s Brexit plan, the SNP’s performance could now trigger a battle for the union. The exit poll indicates that the SNP has increased its number of seats by 20, suggesting that the Tories may have struggled north of the border.
While the prime minister may have freed up his hand on leaving the EU, he could face a battle over Scottish independence sooner rather than later.
The SNP’s Humza Yousaf suggested to the BBC that the party will now push a second referendum, saying: “The SNP and Scotland absolutely have that mandate.”
Read more: GE 2019: Where do the main parties stand on a second Scottish referendum vote?
10:32pm - exit poll reaction
Labour is heading for its worst election performance since 1935 according to the exit poll, with the Tories projected to win 368 seats and a majority of 86. The Conservatives have not won a majority this big since Margaret Thatcher’s 100+ wins in 1983 and 1987.
The majority will bolster prime minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit plans and could prompt a scramble of activity before Christmas as he seeks to hit his deadline to “get Brexit done” before 31 January.
Calls are already being made for the resignation of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn after his second general election defeat in four years. Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Neil, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said: “We will see the results in the morning and decisions will be made then. We will make the appropriate decisions.”
Shadow minister for international trade, Barry Gardiner, described the result as “devastating”, adding that the result is damaging for “all the people who were needing a Labour victory to improve their lives”.
What are the pros and cons of Brexit? Follow this link to find out more.
Will Corbyn resign if he loses the general election? Read more here.
10pm - exit poll predicts big Conservative majority
The exit poll has just been released and is predicting a Conservative majority of 86, with Boris Johnson’s Tories set to win 368 seats.
Labour is second on 191 seats, while the Liberal Democrats are on 13. The Scottish National Party are on 55, while the Green Party looks to have retained its 1 seat.
Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party is not on course to win any seats.
The figures are based on tens of thousands of interviews, conducted by polling company Ipsos MORI at 144 polling stations across Britain. The results are then analysed by a team of experts at a secret location in London, according to the BBC.
Remember, the exit poll is not 100% accurate, but have called the results of three out of the last four elections correctly.
The exit poll predicted the result of the election correctly in 2017 and 2010. However, the poll predicted a hung parliament in 2015 - when in fact David Cameron had won the first Conservative majority since 1992.
According to the University of Warwick’s Department of Statistics, a “House of Commons majority prediction that is within 20 seats of the actual outcome is a reasonable aspiration from a well-conducted exit poll”.
Stay with us for more news and analysis as the night unfolds.
Read more about the exit poll result and how exit polls work here.
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9:30pm
This is it. In half an hour’s time, polling stations up and down the country will close their doors and vote counting will begin in one of the most important general elections of a generation.
Will Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party have secured a majority, or has a last-minute surge in support for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party punctured the prime minister’s plans to “get Brexit done” as soon as possible?
Both parties have said that today’s vote offers a stark choice, but what will the electorate decide?
The Week will be covering all of the night’s drama as it happens, with results and analysis from across the British media here on our election live blog.
Join us at 10pm, for up-to-the-minute coverage of the exit poll - our best indication to date of what the future holds for Britain and Brexit.
In the meantime, give our hour-by-hour election guide a read for an insight into all the details of what is happening on this momentous night. Alternatively, you can read our election news and analysis from the past few weeks, as well as all the latest polling results and betting odds here, on our general election 2019 hub.
For a refresher on what you may have voted for today, here are The Week’s guides to the main parties’ policies:
The Labour manifestoThe Liberal Democrat manifestoThe Brexit Party manifestoThe Green Party manifestoThe general election manifestos at a glance
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