Exit poll suggests Labour has won 410 seats, and the Tories 131 Clive Myrie is reading out the exit poll. Conservatives: 131 Labour: 410 Liberal Democrats: 61 SNP: 10 Reform UK: 13 Plaid Cymru: 4 Greens: 2 Jeremy Corbyn is on course for a narrow victory in Islington, according to a Labour source. Corbyn is standing as an independent candidate. Jacob Rees-Mogg suggested earlier the Tories were losing so badly partly because they ditched Boris Johnson. (See 11.46pm.) In the speech at his count following his defeat by Labour’s Heidi Alexander (a former MP for Lewisham East, who left parliament in 2018 to take a job with Sadiq Khan), Robert Buckland, the former justice secretary, implied that people like Johnson were part of the problem. He said: Our very political system is at a crossroads. Do we value those who work to bring people together and who come into politics to do something rather than be someone? Or do we shrug our shoulders and accept that politics is a media circus where people compete for attention by saying things that they either know to be untrue, or which raise hopes and expectations in a way that further erodes trust? I know what side I’m on. I know what choice I would make. And I believe with sincere and fierce conviction that my party has to make the right choice too if if we are to inspire a new generation with the real promise of a better future. Buckland did not say anything like this when he was serving in Johnson’s cabinet. And his concerns about politicians making unrealistic promises did not stop him switching his support from Rishi Sunak to Liz Truss in the summer of 2022, a decision that led to him being retained in cabinet as Welsh secretary. In an interview with the BBC a moment ago, asked who he was referring to in his speech, Buckland did not name anyone, but he criticised colleagues wriing newspaper articles implying disloyalty during the campaign. When it was put to him that he was talking about Suella Braverman, who wrote an article in the Telegraph this week saying the party was on course to lose, Buckland did not deny that. Labour holds Newcastle upon Tyne Central & West. Reform has come second again. Labour has held on to Washington & Gateshead South. The full results, according to PA media: Lab win - notional hold +Sharon Hodgson (Lab) 17,682 (47.76%) Paul Donaghy (Reform) 10,769 (29.09%) Shaun Parsons (C) 4,654 (12.57%) Michal Chantkowski (Green) 1,687 (4.56%) Ciaran Morrissey (LD) 1,602 (4.33%) Sharon McLafferty (Ind) 627 (1.69%) Lab maj 6,913 (18.67%) 32.10% boundary change Electorate 70,972; Turnout 37,021 (52.16%) 2019 notional: Lab maj 3,938 (9.39%) - Turnout 41,954 (58.45%) Lab 18,090 (43.12%); C 14,152 (33.73%); Brexit 5,784 (13.79%); LD 2,067 (4.93%); Green 1,122 (2.67%); Others 739 (1.76%) Reform UK leader Nigel Farage posted a video statement on X where he predicted his party would receive more than six million votes. “This, folks, is huge,” Farage said, noting that there were two results in the north-east of England that put Reform on 30% of the vote. “It is almost unbelievable.” It means we’re going to win seats, many many seats I think right now across the country. Labour sources have told the BBC they think they have snatched four of the six Glasgow seats from the SNP with two constituencies, Glasgow North and Glasgow South too close to call. We’ve had three results now from safeish Labour seats in the north-east of England where Reform UK has come second. In all three, the Brexit party (the predecessor party of Reform UK) came third last time, behind the Tories. And their share of the vote has risen sharply. In Houghton and Sunderland, a 16% Brexit party vote in 2019 has become a 29% Reform UK vote. In Blyth and Ashington, a 9% Brexit party vote in 2019 has become a 27% Reform UK vote. And in Sunderland Central, a 12% Brexit party vote has become a 27% Reform UK vote. Here are the full results for Swindon South, from PA Media: Lab win - gain from notional C Heidi Alexander (Lab) 21,676 (48.39%) +Sir Robert Buckland (C) 12,070 (26.95%) Catherine Kosidowski (Reform) 6,194 (13.83%) Rod Hebden (Green) 2,539 (5.67%) Matt McCabe (LD) 1,843 (4.11%) Martin Costello (Ind) 472 (1.05%) Lab maj 9,606 (21.44%) Notional 16.43% swing C to Lab 29.20% boundary change Electorate 72,596; Turnout 44,794 (61.70%) 2019 notional: C maj 5,650 (11.41%) - Turnout 49,527 (68.34%) C 25,564 (51.62%); Lab 19,914 (40.21%); LD 3,788 (7.65%); Green 261 (0.53%) Labour wins Swindon South taking seat from former justice secretary Robert Buckland Labour’s Heidi Alexander has won Swindon South, taking the seat from the former Conservative justice secretary Robert Buckland. It marks the first Labour gain from the Conservatives. Six seats are in play in Glasgow, down from seven in 2019 and results will not be in until at least 3am. A walk around the Glasgow Emirates Arena indicates it is a close run between SNP and Labour which used to dominate the city before 2015. Labour volunteers say they have been surprised by the number of votes for Reform showing in Glasgow north while Conservatives are dismissing exit polls suggestions that the party might double its six seats in Scotland, saying it didn’t even target some of them. Third result of the night is in – Labour’s Lewis Atkinson has won Sunderland Central. Reform UK has once again come second. Here are the full figures from PA Media: Labour hold Lewis Atkinson (Lab) 16,852 (42.18%) Chris Eynon (Reform) 10,779 (26.98%) Greg Peacock (C) 5,731 (14.34%) Niall Hodson (LD) 3,602 (9.01%) Rachel Featherstone (Green) 2,993 (7.49%) Earlier this week Rishi Sunak seemed to hint that, if the Tories lost, he would stay on as leader for a period to provide stability while the party assesses the way forward. Some Tories are hoping he will do this, following the example of Michael Howard, whose decision to hang on for six months after the 2005 election, overseeing changes to the leadership election process and a lengthy leadership contest, was generally seen as good for the party. But Tim Shipman, the Sunday Times’ chief political commentator, has told Times Radio he thinks Sunak will resign on Friday. This is from Calum Macdonald at Times Radio. . @ShippersUnbound tells @TimesRadio‘s Election night that his understanding is that Rishi Sunak will announce his resignation as Conservative leader on Friday morning At the last leadership contest, following the resignation of Liz Truss, the Conservative 1922 Committe imposed a threshold saying any candidate would need to be nominated by 100 MPs to go forward to the ballot of members. This was designed to avoid the need for ballot of members. Sunak passed the threshold, Boris Johnson reportedly passed the threshold, but pulled out, and Sunak was elected unopposed. If the Tories do get only 131 seats, as the exit poll suggests, then it would be impossible for more than one candidate to pass the 100-MP threshold. If the Tories want their members to have the final say, the rules will need a rethink. David Bull, deputy leader of Reform UK, said it is an “historic moment” after the exit polls predicted his party gaining 13 seats. “I think what you’re seeing is the shy ‘Reformers’ coming out in droves,” Bull told the BBC. Jacob Rees-Mogg suggests Tory defeat partly explained by decision to ditch Boris Johnson as leader Rightwingers in the Conservative party think a major cause of the party’s defeat was the decision to get rid of Boris Johnson, and Jacob Rees-Mogg, who was leader of the Commons and then Brexit minister under Johnson, became one of the first Tories to make that case tonight. Speaking on the BBC, he said it had been “a terrible night” for the party. Asked what went wrong for the party, Rees-Mogg said there were “issues with changing the leader”. He went on: Voters expect the prime minister they have chosen to remain the prime minister and for it to be the voters who decide when that person is changed … I’m afraid I think the Conservative party took it’s core vote for granted, which is why you see so many people who may have voted Conservative previously, going off to Reform.