GRANT Shapps is the first Tory big beast to lose their seat.
The former Defence Secretary was one of the most experienced Cabinet Ministers standing at the election – and had been expected to throw his hat in the ring for leader.
RexGrant Shapps has lost the seat he’s held since 2005[/caption]
RexShapps criticised the Tory party in his speech after losing[/caption]
RexShapps was scalped by 3,799 votes[/caption]
Read our general election live blog here for all the latest results
Shapps – who had held his Welwyn Hatfield since 2005 – looked shaky as he conceded defeat to Labour and was the first Tory to admit his party has lost the election to the opposition.
He was scalped by Labour by 3,799 votes.
Laying into the Conservatives, he fumed: “Today, voters have simply said, ‘If you can’t agree with each other, then we can’t agree to vote for you.’
“We’ve forgotten a fundamental rule of politics, that people do not vote for divided parties.
“Now for the sake of the United Kingdom, I very much wish this new government well.
“But for the sake of a strong democracy, the Conservative Party needs to play its part by recognising what has gone wrong and using this time in opposition to refresh and rebuild the Conservative Party.
“We should be clear about what went wrong, put it right, and create a plan to the public.
“And then we must ensure that we present it to them in a way which means we can return within five years, not 15 years or longer.”
Suella Braverman – who kept hold of her seat in Fareham and Waterlooville – was equally scathing.
She said: “I’m sorry that my party didn’t listen to you.
“The Conservative Party has let you down. You.
“The great British people voted for us over 14 years. And we did not keep our promises.
“We’ve acted as if we’re entitled to vote, regardless of what we did.
“Regardless of what we didn’t do, despite promising time after time, that we would do those things.
“And we need to learn our lesson. Because if we don’t bad as tonight has been for my party, but we’ll have many worse nights to come.
“The country deserves better And we’ve got to do better.
And I will do everything in my power to rebuild trust.
“We need to listen to you. You have spoken to us very clearly.”
Conservative seats across Britain are falling like dominoes to Sir Keir Starmer’s party as it makes unprecedented gains.
However, former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith held his Chingford and Woodford Green with the odds stacked against him.
And in a shock, Labour Shadow Paymaster General Jonathan Ashworth was ousted from Leicester South by less than 1,000 votes by pro-Gaza independent Shockat Adam.
Reform UK chief Nigel Farage was elected to parliament for the first time on his eighth attempt, taking the Clacton seat with 21,225 votes and said his party is now targeting Labour seats.
He said: “What is interesting is there’s no enthusiasm for Labour, there’s no enthusiasm for Starmer whatsoever.
“In fact, about half of the vote is simply an anti-Conservative vote. This Labour Government will be in trouble, very, very quickly.”
Elsewhere, Starmer’s party has clawed back constituencies lost to Boris Johnson in the Red Wall in 2019.
And the reds have booted out Tory mainstays, including Sir Robert Buckland in Swindon South and Justin Tomlinson in Swindon North.
Sir Keir’s party has also gained the totemic bellwether seat of Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
The leader himself has held his seat in Holborn and St Pancras – though saw his majority drop by around 18,000.
On a historic night:
Exit polls predicted a huge Labour landslide of 410 seats
Piers Morgan described it as a ‘political and social earthquake’
He told our Never Mind The Ballots election show that Sir Keir MUST deliver after the Tory disaster
A battle for the soul of the Conservative party was already underway
Cabinet Ministers including Jeremy Hunt and Penny Mordaunt were looking likely to lose their seats
Mr Farage basked in record swings to his fledgling Reform party
The Brexit champion is on course to become an MP for the first time
But Piers warned he can’t hide and must finally be held to account
Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson all-but claimed victory for Labour as she was elected
Farage boasts ‘this is huge’ as Reform brutalises Tory vote
The Lib Dems made their first gain of the election in Harrogate and Knaresborough, taking the leafy North Yorkshire seat from the Conservatives.
Results so far have also seen a huge surge in popularity for Reform UK, with the challenger party splitting the right wing vote and coming second place in most constituencies.
It has won its first seat of the evening, with the anti-woke Tory defector Lee Anderson holding on to his Ashfield constituency.
The fire-brand MP sent big thanks to his “wonderful” team who have watched him being “grumpy” over the last six weeks.
And he declared Ashfield is the “capital of common sense”.
Rachel Reeves promised to deliver change for her constituents as she celebrated holding her Leeds constituency.
The MP, who is set to be Britain’s first female Chancellor, vowed that Labour will not “squander” the trust the British public had put in them.
Despite not wanting to pre-empt results, she said: “The British people had voted for change.”
She added: “We will not let you down. I will not let you down.”
Tonight’s all-important exit poll shows Sir Keir thundering into Downing Street with a 170 seat majority.
Eclipsing even that of Tony Blair’s 1997 rout, Labour is predicted to have bagged 410 seats, with the Conservatives on 131, the Lib Dems on 61 and Reform on 13.
BRITAIN WILL WAKE UP TO A POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE
By Kate Ferguson, Political Editor Sun on Sunday
BRITAIN will wake up tomorrow to a political earthquake.
If the exit poll is right, Labour have stormed to victory with their biggest majority in their 100 year history.
It is a jaw-dropping turnaround from the dark days of the Jeremy Corbyn era of 209, when the party suffered their worst result in history.
The Tories look set to be decimated. The most successful political party in Europe has been reduced to just a rump of 131 MPs.
Be in no doubt – this is a nightmare for the Conservative Party. They now face the painful task of having to rebuild and choose a new leader.
But the big story of the night is Nigel Farage’s Reform party, who are expected to win a staggering 13 seats.
This political maverick has lobbed a grenade into Westminster – and he is only just getting started.
Reform is expected to win the key seat of Hartlepool – the Red Wall seat in Labour’s old heartlands which turned Tory under Boris Johnson.
Nigel, 60, the godfather of Brexit, is a charismatic leader well trained in waging war on ‘political elites’ from his days in the European Parliament.
He had run and failed to become an MP seven times before.
He has finally won on the eighth attempt – and looks set to have a dozen Reform MPs with him.
He has the potential to change the face of politics forever.
Sir Keir Starmer and the next leader of the Tories – whoever that may be – should brace themselves.
Responding to the exit poll on X, Sir Keir said: “To everyone who has campaigned for Labour in this election, to everyone who voted for us and put their trust in our changed Labour Party – thank you.”
Today’s election puts an end to 14 years of Tory rule after Sunak’s early election gamble failed to revive the party’s fortunes.
Among the Conservative big beasts set to lose their seats are outgoing Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, outgoing Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and outgoing sword-wielding Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt.
Meanwhile, Nigel Farage is 99 per cent certain to have won over Clacton-on-Sea.
Reacting to the rise of Reform, veteran Tory Andrea Leadsom said: “Perhaps we have not been Conservative enough.”
“A disaster for the Conservative Party which cannot be understated. Whichever way you look at this, it’s a seismic night.”
Barring a spectacular overnight upset, the PM will formally resign to King Charles on Friday morning before Sir Keir is asked by the monarch to form the next government.
He will then appoint his Cabinet before finalising a blizzard of new laws to be announced to Parliament on July 17.
EXIT POLL RESULTS
410 Labour
131 Conservatives
13 Reform UK
61 Lib Dem
10 SNP
2 Green Party
Labour’s expected victory is a significant turnaround from five years ago when the party crashed to its worst defeat since 1935 under Jeremy Corbyn.
However polls have shown Sir Keir’s own personal appeal will be among the lowest of any incoming premier.
The final results are likely to show a collapse in Tory support in both the Red Wall seats won by Johnson in 2019, as well as their traditional heartlands in the south.
Mr Sunak has been under further pressure from Nigel Farage’s Reform party and Sir Ed Davey’s resurgent Lib Dems.
The Tories have been heavily criticised for running one of the most disastrous campaigns in the party’s history.
It included a string of unforced errors including returning early from the D-Day commemorations and the betting scandal.
He did manage to land some blows on tax and immigration during a series of campaign debates.
Sir Keir has run a cautious campaign and unveiled a manifesto of “no surprises” that pledged not to raise the headline rates of national insurance, income tax or VAT.
Sunak spent the majority of his time visiting seats with sizeable Conservative majorities, where even there he took a pummelling on the NHS, immigration and MP sleaze scandals blighting his clean personal image.
RexShapps during the count in Welwyn and Hatfield[/caption]
CalyxJustin Tomlinson has been ousted in Swindon North[/caption]
BBCSir Robert Buckland loses Swindon South to Labour[/caption]
RexStarmer and wife Victoria Starmer arrive at their local polling station[/caption]
RexSunak and his wife Akshata Murty arriving to vote at Kirby Sigston Village Hall, Kirby Sigston, Northallerton[/caption]