Election latest: 'We did it': Keir Starmer hails election victory after Rishi Sunak concedes (2024)

The Liberal Democrats have equalled their highest-ever seat total of 62.

They last secured this many seats back in 2005 during the last Labour administration.

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey has been celebrating his party's results by dancing and singing to Sweet Caroline with supporters in London.

A record number of cabinet ministers have lost their seats in this election.

Here are the 11 that have been beaten:

• Grant Shapps - defence secretary
• Simon Hart - chief whip
• Gillian Keegan - education secretary
• Alex Chalk - justice secretary
• Penny Mordaunt - Commons leader
• Lucy Frazer - culture secretary
• Johnny Mercer - veterans minister
• Michelle Donelan - science, innovation and technology secretary
• David Davies - Wales secretary
• Victoria Prentis - attorney general
• Mark Harper - transport secretary

Mark Harper, the former transport secretary, has lost his seat in the Forest of Dean to Labour - by a very small margin.

Matt Bishop, the Labour candidate, holds a majority of just278 in the constituency.

This makes Mr Harper the 11th cabinet member to lose their seat in this election - a record number - on a disastrous night for the Conservatives.

It's 6am - here's the state of play as we look to confirm the last 50 or so constituency results:

Here's what else you need to know:

• Sir Keir Starmer declared "change begins now" in a speech shortly after Labour's victory was officially confirmed around 5.00am;
• Rishi Sunak had conceded defeat on behalf of the Conservatives at around 4.40am;
• Swathes of senior Tories, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, Penny Mordaunt and Johnny Mercer, were defeated. A record number of cabinet members have lost their seats (10);
  
• Labour also lost some key figures amid anger over Gaza - with shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth among those casualties;
• The SNP has been suffering huge losses and may not even reach 10 seats tonight, the party's leader said, although they did take a seat off Douglas Ross - the outgoing Scottish Tory leader;
• Reform UK has four seats so far including Nigel Farage - with the party currently third in vote share;
• It continues to be a great night for the Lib Dems, who look set to be the third-biggest party in seats;
• Sinn Fein is officially the largest Westminster party in Northern Ireland;
• The Green Party currently holds three seats;
• Jeremy Corbyn won as an independent, while George Galloway lost Rochdale.

Labour's landslide victory is impressive but not a 1997 moment, according to the party's Greater Manchester mayor.

"This is a very different world that Keir Starmer is going into as prime minister… the country has lost faith in politicians," Andy Burnham told Sky News.

Tony Blair won a similar landslide in a famous election victory in 1997 over John Major's Conservatives.

"It isn't a [1997] moment… I don't think he (Starmer) gets the honeymoon two years or whatever you might have expected - I think he'll get 100 days," he added.

Without referencing it directly, Mr Burnham appeared to be alluding to Labour's vote share - which isn't looking as impressive as their seats tally.

Here's how it stands right now, although we still have just over 100 seats still up for grabs.

That shows that, while Labour have gained a lot more seats in parliament, they have not received a correspondingly massive total number of votes.

That naturally leaves a lot of scope for disappointment among swathes of the population should Labour not deliver soon after coming into office.

He urged Sir Keir Starmer to have faith in the popular Labour mayors and use them to his advantage.

"I can tell you that we can have more change in this parliament than we've ever seen before, because of the work that the mayors have done to get ready for this moment."

Liam Fox, who had been the MP for North Somerset since 1992, has lost his seat to Labour - by a very slim margin.

The senior Conservative lost out on re-election by just639 votes to Labour candidate Sadik Al-Hassan.

Mr Fox has previously served as international trade secretary and defence secretary, and has long held his seat in Somerset.

By Joely Santa Cruz, data journalist

Labour has seen a decline in its vote share in areas with larger Muslim populations, which may be indicative of a drop in support as a result of its stance on Gaza.

In the seats declared so far, Labour's vote share is down by a massive 14 points in areas of the country where more than 15% of people are from a Muslim background.

This can be seen most dramatically in Leicester East, which has one of the highest Muslim populations in the country.

In a dramatic divergence from the broader national picture of Tory losses, the Conservatives gained a seat from Labour here.

This was possible because Labour's vote share dropped by 29 points, so despite the Conservative vote also falling by 7 points, they took the seat.

This trend has also been apparent in other seats with a large Muslim vote, including Dewsbury, Blackburn and Leicester South, where independents have gained from Labour - including the ousting of shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth.

Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, has lost his seat to the Scottish National Party.

Seamus Logan won the poll in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East with a slim majority of only942 votes - or 2.4%.

Tonight has beendisastrous for both the Conservatives and the SNP, who have - as of now - lost 211 and 38 seats respectively.

Adrian Ramsay, co-leader of the Green Party, has been elected as an MP in Waveney Valley - a gain from the Conservatives.

This means both Green leaders have now become MPs, after Carla Denyer took Bristol Central from Labour earlier.

This means the Green Party now have a total of three seats.

Meanwhile, Bim Afolami, the former Treasury minister, has officially lost his seat in Hitchin to the Labour party.

The Tories have lost all their MPs in Wales after Welsh Secretary David TC Davies lost his seat in Monmouthshire to Labour.

Catherine f*ckes won the seat with 21,010 votes - a 3,338 majority.

Mr Davies came in second with 17,672 votes.

Here's the full result:

This is the first time it has been represented by Labour since 2001.

In 2019, the Conservatives won with a 9,982 majority.