Ahoy hoy! Welcome to Paddy Power News’ live coverage of the UK General Election as the results come thick and fast.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak triggered the vote in the pouring rain outside Downing Street six weeks ago and after plenty of campaigning from the political parties, millions of people across the four nations have headed to their local polling station to cast their vote.
A total of 650 seats in the House of Commons – the place with the green benches, FYI – are up for grabs and a party needs to win 326 to form a majority government.
The metaphorical keys to 10 Downing Street are up for grabs so stick with us for all the betting fallout, reaction plus some fun and games throughout the night.
05:10: State of play
Labour: 339
Conservative: 72
Lib Dems: 46
Sinn Fein: 6
Reform: 4
Other: 18
05:00: Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
It’s official. Labour have won the 2024 General Election after passing the 326-seat mark needed to form a majority in the House of Commons.
Keir Starmer will replace Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He will become the country’s 58th PM.
He looks happy.
04:45: Sunak survives… as an MP
He’s conceded defeat to Labour in the grand scheme of things but Rishi Sunak can take some cheer from the fact he’s held his seat in Richmond and Northallerton.
The Conservatives’ other big hitter, Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has rather surprisingly held onto his seat in Godalming and Ash by 891 votes.
04:25: ‘Ello Elmo!
04:00: State of play
Labour: 182
Conservative: 29
Lib Dems: 22
SNP: 4
Reform: 3
Others: 8
Labour are well on track to bag a massive majority and send Keir Starmer to 10 Downing Street. The Conservatives look set to hold off the Liberal Democrat challenge for second place.
03:30: Some big names winning…
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn scores a stonking victory against his old party in Islington North before Reform leader Nigel Farage wins Clacton at a canter and becomes an MP at the eighth time of asking.
03:10: Get your Schapps out!
Well, well, well! We have our biggest scalp of the night. Grant Schapps is gone after losing Welwyn Hatfield to Labour candidate Andrew Lewin. Woof!
He follows hot on the heels of fellow Cabinet minister Alex Chalk, who was beaten by the Liberal Democrats in Cheltenham.
02:55: The next Labour leader?
Keir Starmer’s heading for 10 Downing Street but our traders have already priced up a market for the next Labour leader. They’re eager beavers!
Wes Streeting – 15/2
Rachel Reeves – 8/1
Andy Burnham – 9/1
Yvette Cooper – 9/1
*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change
02:25: A few results…
The Liberal Democrats are making gains with Eastleigh and Harrogate and Knaresborough being captured from the Conservatives.
Reform have won their first seat in the form of Lee Anderson in Ashfield.
Labour, meanwhile, continue to make a whole host of gains at the expensive of the Conservatives.
There’s still a long way to go but it looks like Keir Starmer’s heading for Downing Street…
01:40: Austin Powers?
01:20: What are the parties saying?
Defeated Conservative Robert Buckland has blasted his – now former – colleagues.
“I’ve watched colleagues in the Conservative Party strike poses, write inflammatory op-eds, and say stupid things they know they have no evidence for, instead of concentrating on doing the job,” he told the BBC.
Former Labour leader Lord Neil Kinnock seems to be a happy bunny as he said to the BBC: “Rejoice, rejoice. But even the rejoicing is tinged with concern about what our new government will face. And that’s a sobering thought.
“I’m going to give myself an evening of pure ecstasy and nothing gets in the way of that. I’ll be singing and dancing.
“But then the singing and dancing will stop and the governing will start.”
01:10: Brucey bonus
Fiona Bruce has just revealed there are some crisps on the table among the broadcast crew down at Keir Starmer’s count in London.
It’s pretty obvious there’s not much going on right about now… hurry up with tallying the votes!
00:45: Scores on the doors!
Labour are leading every other party 6-0 after a couple of hours of counting.
If Gareth Southgate was in charge, he’d no doubt he chucking a couple of defenders on at this point to shore things up!
00:20: Buckland out!
We have our first (relatively) high-profile defeat of the night as Tory Robert Buckland – the former Secretary of State for Justice – is beaten by Labour candidate Heidi Alexander in Swindon South.
A swing of 16 per cent. Huge!
00:05 – Reform loving the silver
We’ve had results from three seats – please, hurry up – but there is a clear trend emerging from the north. Labour retaining seats but there is a small swing to Reform, who are beating the Conservatives to second place.
23:30 – 410 seats, Keir? 410? That’s insane
23:15 – THE FIRST RESULT
The good folk in Sunderland South are quick at counting bits of paper. Seriously quick. We have our first result of the night and the seat’s gone to… Labour!
Labour – 18,847
Reform – 11,668
Conservative – 5,5134
Lib Dems – 2,290
Green – 1,723
23:00 – NEXT TORY LEADER?
The Tories are on course for their worst election result in living memory, which means Rishi Sunak is surely set to be booted from his position as party leader.
Surely?
Paddy’s politics traders have already priced up a Next Conservative Leader odds market and the favourite to succeed the current PM is Kemi Badenoch.
Kemi Badenoch – 11/4
Tom Tugendhat – 5/1
Priti Patel – 5/1
Suella Braverman – 17/2
Nigel Farage – 17/2
*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change
22:10 – EXIT POLL!
Well, there we have it! Labour are set to return to Government after 14 years on the sidelines if the exit poll is to be believed.
The Tories are set to crash to a record defeat and the Lib Dems are on course to return to their status as the third party… that’s if the exit poll is correct, of course.
Labour: 410, +209
Conservative: 131, -241
Lib Dems: 61, +53
Reform: 13, +13
SNP: 10, -38
PC: 4, +2
Green: 2, +1
Other: 19
22:00 – POLLS CLOSE!
What’s that? Why it’s the sound of staff at polling stations across the UK shutting the doors as the polls have closed. Voting is over, folks.
Who will emerge as the winner of the 2024 UK General Election? Are Labour set to retake power after 14 years in opposition? What big names are set to suffer humiliating defeats in run down leisure centres?
The answers to the those questions will become clear over the coming hours – and the first clue will be in place when the famous exit poll is revealed by the BBC and other broadcasters in a matter of moments…
Before that, pop the kettle on because it’s going to be a long night. You can have a coffee or a tea as you’ll probably become sleepy if you have a hot chocolate!
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