Live: General election 2019 Corbyn loyalists double down on manifesto as losses continue

01:50 – 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.

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 on 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.

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
For a round-up of the most important stories from around the world – and a concise, refreshing and balanced take on the week’s news agenda – try The Week magazine. Start your trial subscription today
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

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 manifesto
The Liberal Democrat manifesto
The Brexit Party manifesto
The Green Party manifesto
The general election manifestos at a glance

READ SOURCE