Explosive exit poll shows Labour on track for huge majority with 410 seats as Tories tumble to just 131 - with Lib Dems on 61, Reform 13 and SNP 10

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Sir Keir Starmer was on course for No 10 last night as the Tories were set to crash to their worst defeat in history.

The official exit poll at 10pm predicted Labour will secure a landslide majority of 170. It forecast a crushing defeat for Rishi Sunak, whose controversial decision to call a snap election looks set to end in disaster, with the loss of 241 seats to leave the Tories with only 131 MPs – the lowest on record.

The projected result would mean the SNP is on course for its biggest ever loss of seats in a General Election, as it plunges from 48 seats after the 2019 poll to just ten.

Nicola Sturgeon admitted the result was ‘the grimmer end of expectations’ for the SNP and condemned its election strategy.

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes also admitted the SNP ‘must listen to the voices of the voters’ when asked about her party’s push for independence.

Labour is on course to win 410 seats, according to the exit poll, with the Conservatives on 131 – its lowest tally since the party was formally established in the 1830s.

Former Tory minister Steve Baker said that it was a ‘pretty devastating night for the Conservative Party’.

The Liberal Democrats are on 61, according to the exit poll, while Reform is predicted to win 13.

The result will give Sir Keir a free hand on issues such as tax, immigration and Brexit, where Labour’s plans have been deliberately opaque.

However, some analysts have warned the exit poll could be less accurate than in recent contests because the emergence of Reform and the recovery of the Lib Dems has complicated the election, making tight contests in dozens of seats much harder to predict from a national swing.

Moments after ballot stations closed at 10pm, the dramatic exit poll was released - showing Sir Keir winning 410 of the 650 seats

Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty arrived to cast their vote at Kirby Sigston Village Hall in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, this morning

Sir Keir arrived with his wife Victoria to cast their votes this morning at a polling station in their Holborn and St Pancras constituency in north London

Allies of Mr Sunak were tight-lipped about whether he will resign as Tory leader today or stay on to oversee a leadership contest. But he will face intense pressure to quit immediately.

Former minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns said: ‘If the leader doesn’t win a General Election they step aside – that’s the normal protocol.’

One senior Tory said: ‘This is the end for Sunak, Sunakism and everyone involved in it.

Sir Keir gave a muted reaction to the bombshell on social media

Mr Sunak gave a deadbat response to the blow, merely praising activists

‘It has been comprehensively rejected by the public and his decision to force out Boris Johnson can be seen for what it was – a disastrous mistake.’

The SNP reversal would eclipse the 2017 result when the party lost 21 seats and half a million votes amid an anti-independence backlash, shortly after Nicola Sturgeon demanded another referendum.

The Scottish Conservatives are also braced for a tough night, with votes for Labour soaring in some of the Tory strongholds in the North-East and southern Scotland, as well as facing the threat from Reform UK.

It would be the first time the SNP has not been the biggest Scottish party at Westminster since Labour’s 2015 near wipeout, when 56 out of 59 seats north of the Border turned yellow.

The scale of the SNP defeat also opens up the prospect of its reign at Holyrood coming to an end in the next Scottish parliament election in 2026.

Mr Swinney will now be under pressure to take independence off the table. 

The SNP’s General Election manifesto had said that winning a majority of Scottish seats in the election should trigger negotiations on an independence referendum.

Asked by the BBC what happens to the independence debate if the SNP faces a ‘harsh defeat’, Ms Forbes said: ‘We must listen to the voices of the voters. 

We are democrats and that means we have to listen to the message that the voters are sending.

‘But the second thing is I would strongly caution anybody against dismissing the robust, resilient and significant number of people in this country that support independence, and the next Labour government will have to contend with that, will have to listen to Scottish voters.’

Mr Swinney spent much of the election campaign claiming his party would still have a mandate for a referendum even if it loses.

But he finally admitted in an interview with ITV on the eve of the election a poor election result for the SNP would ‘damage’ the independence cause.

Nigel Farage was seen driving through Clacton, the Essex seaside constituency where he is hoping to be elected the local MP, in an old military vehicle as he rallied the final support for his campaign

The massive reversal comes just after two months after Humza Yousaf announced his resignation as First Minister, following the collapse of the power-sharing agreement between his party and the Scottish Greens.

Labour’s victory represents an astonishing turnaround from 2019 when the party was left with only 203 MPs as Boris Johnson cruised to an 80-seat majority.

It is a vindication for Sir Keir, who set about dragging the party back towards the centre from the hard-Left positions adopted by his predecessor. 

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey and his wife Emily Gasson attended a polling station in Surbiton. He said: 'It's a beautiful day. I hope lots of people come out to vote'

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn posted a picture of himself at a polling station in his Islington North constituency, where he is standing as an independent candidate against his old party

But he has also benefited from public anger over high taxes and immigration – as well as Tory infighting that saw the party get through three prime ministers in 2022.

The first Labour Cabinet for 14 years will include Rachel Reeves as Britain’s first female Chancellor. Angela Rayner will be Deputy Prime Minister.

In a bid to calm fears of a lurch to the Left, Sir Keir is expected to pledge to ‘govern as changed Labour’ when he addresses the nation from the steps of No 10.