Britain votes 2010 - The Results Live

(AFP) –

LONDON — 1123: Sky News and the BBC are reporting that David Cameron will give a statement at 14:30 on plans to form a "strong and stable" government.

1112: Sarah Theather from the Liberal Democrats has snatched the Brent Central seat from Labour's Dawn Butler. Theather's win marks a massive 11% swing from Labour to the Lib Dems.

1105: With 620 of 650 seats declared, the Conservatives have 291 (+92), Labour has 251 (-86) and the Lib Dems have 51 (-6).

1050: Nick Clegg, speaking outside his party headquarters, has reached out to David Cameron.

"I've said that whichever party gets the most votes and the most seats, if not an absolute majority, has the first right to seek to govern either on its own or by reaching out to other parties, and I stick to that view," Clegg said.

"It is now for the Conservative party to prove that it is capable of seeking to govern in the national interest."

Clegg also expressed his disappointment at the election outcome, "even though more people voted for us than ever before, even though we had higher proportion of votes than ever before."

Hinting that electoral reform would be high on his list of priorities in potential talks with the Tories, Clegg added that the election campaign "has made it abundantly clear that our electoral system is broken. It simply doesn't reflect the hopes and aspirations of the British people."

1031: A statement from Gordon Brown is passed on to reporters outside no. 10.

"The election results are likely to show there is no clear major for any single party," it says.

"It is my duty as prime minister to take all steps to ensure Britain has a strong, stable and principled government."

Brown goes on to say he has asked the civil service to provide assistance in the formation of a government.

Reading between the lines, it seems the Labour leader is setting the wheels in motion for a Lib-Lab pact.

1024: Conservative candidate Jackie Doyle-Price has won the seat of Thurrock from Labour.

Doyle-Price has "ended Labour?s 18-year reign in the borough by just 92 votes after a dramatic and at times shambolic night that saw two recounts," reports the Thurrock Gazette.

1019: Labour heavyweight Harriet Harman, who has kept her Camberwell and Peckham seat, is on the BBC saying it is Gordon Brown's duty to see "whether he as prime minister can form a majority of government."

"He can't throw in the towel," she says before the BBC interrupts her to turn their attention to Downing Street, where a statement from Brown is expected shortly.

1014: Nick Clegg has arrived in central London after taking a train from Sheffield. He is expected to give a statement in the next half hour.

1008: Another pleasing result for the Conservative party in Cornwall. Sheryll Murray managed to unseat the Liberal Democrats' Karen Gillard in Cornwall South East.

The Tories have now snatched three Cornwall seats from the Lib Dems.

Voters had earlier already elected George Eustice in Camborne and Redruth; and Sarah Newton won Truro and Falmouth.

The county's two other seats remain in hands of the Liberal Democrats. Dan Rogerson was re-elected in North Cornwall and Stephen Gilbert won in the new constituency of St Austell and Newquay.

0955: With over 28 million votes counted, the BBC and PA are saying that turnout stood at 65%, up from 61.4% in 2005.

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission has been in a rush to condemn to yesterday's voting chaos, apologising and promising a full investigation.

Electoral Commission chief Jenny Watson said the system was "Victorian" and promised a review into problems around the country, including London, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle.

Speaking to GMTV earlier this morning, Watson said: "We've been calling for better co-ordination, for power of direction for us to tell people what to do, for some time. We haven't been successful in persuading government and parliament to take that up so far."

She added: "I hope that last night's experiences will persuade them there is a real need to look at our Victorian system and modernise it fit for a 21st century democracy."

0928: Climate Change Minister Joan Ruddock has retained the seat of Lewisham Deptford.

0911: It's official! With only 36 seats left to be declared, the election has produced a hung parliament. It is now impossible for the Conservatives to get an absolute majority of 326 seats.

With 614 seats counted, here's how it's looking:

Conservatives: 290 (+91)

Labour: 246 (-85)

Lib Dems: 51 (-6)

In what must surely come as a huge shock to the party after weeks of 'Cleggmania', the Lib Dems are actually headed for a worse result than in the last election. But with no party able to claim a strong victory, Clegg could still find himself in the role of kingmaker of the next government.

0855: The Sun has changed its front page headline from "Cameron wins the eXit Factor" to the angrier "Unwanted, unelected, untenable", with a picture of Gordon Brown.

0850: Justice Minister Claire Ward has lost her Watford seat to the Conservative candidate.

0843: After a recount, we learn that Labour's Glenda Jackson will return to her Hampstead and Kilburn seat with a majority of just 42 votes.

0840: Business Secretary Peter Mandelson tells Sky News his party "always knew it was going to be an uphill struggle". Yet he adds the current situation is a "fairly amazing result given where we started."

He added that it was the prime minister's duty "to stay in his post" until the situation was resolved and appealed for patience.

In an analysis of his words, Sky News says Mandelson seems to believe there are two options on the table: either a minority government (ie. the Conservative party) "takes its chance" or other parties (ie. Labour and the Lib Dems) "form an arrangement".

0830: The Daily Mirror's new front page reflects the confusion and uncertainty of the past few hours. The tabloid has put both David Cameron and Gordon Brown on the cover with the headline "Stress Prime Minister", a reference to the 80s tv series "Yes, Prime Minister."

0819: The Tories are now guaranteed to be the biggest party in parliament after winning at least 286 of the 650 seats, but still look set to fall short of an overall majority.

0810: There are now just 50 seats left to declare (out of 650). Here's where we stand:

Conservatives: 286

Labour: 236

Lib Dems: 51

The Conservative swing stands at just over 5%, whereas pollsters had predicted the party would need to see a swing in its favour of at least 7% to claim an absolute majority. A hung parliament is now the likely outcome of this most unusual of election nights.

0807: The FTSE 100 index slumped 1.83 percent at the start of trade, as investors react to the Greek debt crisis and, at least in part, to the unclear election result.

0744: The BBC's Nick Robinson points out that although Labour has had a bad night, the party's "core leadership remains intact." This matters because Labour could well be heading towards a leadership contest.

0741:The pound has plunged to its lowest level against the dollar in more than a year amid uncertainty over the election outcome.

The pound hit $1.4597 dollars at 06:30 -- its lowest level since April 2009 -- as it appeared increasingly certain that the Conservatives had failed to win an absolute majority in parliament despite being on course to take the most seats.

Sterling later recovered, standing at $1.4709 dollars at about 07:30.

0736: Tessa Jowell, minister for London and the Olympics, gets to keep her Dulwich and West Norwood seat, and even gets a 2% swing in her favour.

0733: The BBC reports that the electoral commission has said it will launch an investigation into all of last night's polling problems.

Reports suggest that hundreds, if not thousands, of voters nationwide were still queuing to vote when polling stations had to close their doors at 10:00pm.

0725: Former Labour minister Tony McNulty loses his Harrow East seat to the Conservative Party's Bob Blackman.

McNulty quit as employment minister last year after being badly burnt by the MPs' expenses scandal. He was forced to apologise in the House of Commons after it emerged had been claiming expenses for a house where his parents lived

0720: A quick look at some more notable winners and losers in constituencies across the country.

Millionaire environmentalist Zac Goldsmith won Richmond Park in west London for the Conservatives, unseating Liberal Democrat MP Susan Kramer.

When asked what he thought of the Green Party win in Brighton Pavilion, Goldsmith, a former editor of the Ecologist, told the BBC: "The presence of a more green-thinking Parliament is a good thing."

Elsewhere, Home Office Minister Alan Campbell held onto his Tynemouth seat and Northern Ireland Minister Paul Goggins was re-elected to his Wythenshawe & Sale East seat.

Employment Minister Jim Knight lost his Dorset South seat to Tory candidate Richard Drax.

And in a blow to the Lib Dems, their flamboyant candidate Lembit Opik lost his seat to the Tories in Montgomeryshire, Wales. ?I didn?t expect the result and neither did my team," Opik told the BBC. ?It?s a sad time for me,? he added.

0702: Gordon Brown walked straight into number 10, ignoring questions from the assembled media. Presumably he will spend the next few hours talking to his advisors about his next move.

0700: The news cameras are trained on the front door of number 10 Downing Street, where Gordon Brown -- still the prime minister -- is expected imminently.

0653: The Lib Dems have taken Wells from the Tories but overall, they are now down eight seats from the last election. Could it be that despite all the hype and promising polls of the last four weeks, the Lib Dems might actually end up with fewer seats than they had before? It would be a crushing result for Britain's third party.

0644: Clegg uses his acceptance speech to wade into the row over the polling station chaos that saw people denied a chance to vote before closing time.

Clegg says he shares "the bitter dismay" of many of his constituents who were "not able to exercise their democratic right to vote in this election."

Clegg goes on to say that by mid-afternoon he saw hundreds of voters queuing for hours outside polling stations but found themselves unable to vote. This "should never, ever happen again in our democracy", he says to loud applause.

Touching on the national results, Clegg admits it "has been a disappointing night for the Liberal Democrats." As to what happens next, he say the final result "is still a little unpredictable... No one appears to have won emphatically."

Seemingly unwilling to make any grand statements for now, Clegg warns against making hasty decisions and suggests all main parties "take a little time so people get the good government they deserve in these very difficult and uncertain times."

0635: Clegg holds his seat with 27,324 votes to loud cheers from the audience, which includes his broadly smiling wife Miriam. Should we read anything into the fact that Clegg is wearing a red tie?

0631: Results are expected any minute now from Sheffield Hallam, Nick Clegg's constituency.

0626: The Green Party's big winner Caroline Lucas, who is to become the party's first-ever MP, tells the BBC: "We are at the start of a new political force at Westminster".

0622: The Lib Dem's Vince Cable tells Sky News that despite his own overwhelming win, he is disappointed with his party's results nationally. But he adds that his disappointment "is mixed with anger and frustration" over the "arbitrary and unfair nature of the electoral system."

0620: There are now just 100 seats left to declare (out of 650). Here's where we stand:

Conservatives: 268

Labour: 213

Lib Dems: 42

The Conservative swing stands at just over 5%, whereas pollsters had predicted the party would need to see a swing in its favour of at least 7% to claim an absolute majority. Looks like a hung parliament is all but certain now.

0615: Labour's Jon Cruddas holds Dagenham and Rainham but the BNP, in third place behind the Conservative candidate, has seen a big boost and is up 7% here.

0606: Commons leader Harriet Harman has retained the safe seat of Camberwell and Peckham.

0601: Labour's Margaret Hodge easily held on to her seat in Barking, east London, pulling in over 24,000 votes. Hodge had earlier said she saw BNP leader Nick Griffin as her biggest threat but the far-right leader failed to make an impression in the constituency, coming in third place with just over 6,600 votes.

0553: A historic win for the Green Party in Brighton Pavilion. Their candidate Caroline Lucas has gained the party's first-ever seat in the House of Commons.

Lucas thanks voters for "putting the politics of hope above the politics of fear."

0546: Vince Cable, the Lib Dem's hugely popular treasury spokesman, holds on to his Twickenham seat. No surprises there.

In his victory speech, Cable thanks his team and the constituents of Twickenham for re-electing him with a healthy majority. But he refuses to comment on the election in general. "I won't attempt any wise comments on the election nationally," he said.

0540: Waveney, the most easterly town in Britain, goes to the Tories. This seat was considered a must-win for Labour but it has instead gone to Conservative candidate Peter Aldous -- a 6% swing in favour of Cameron's party.

0537: Alok Sharma of the Conservative Party wins Reading West. It's one of the biggest swings from Labour to the Tories yet.

0524: A roundup of the results:

Conservatives -- 240 seats

Labour -- 181

Liberal Democrat -- 37

0518: David Cameron has arrived at his party's headquarters in London.

0514: All eyes are on Nick Clegg now, who has yet to give a statement to the media. It's been a rough night for the Lib Dems so far, all evidence suggests that Cleggmania has not translated into actual seats.

0510: Labour's Hazel Blears, one of the big casualties in the MPs' expenses scandal, has kept her seat in Salford and Eccles.

0500: Labour leader Gordon Brown is returning to London - still prime minister - for now at least.

After his count was completed, he flew down from Edinburgh to Stansted Airport and is now driving to London - and back into Number 10. Talking to reporters on the plane, he made clear his interest in talks with possible partners to establish a 'stable, principled' government.

The prime minister would have been cheered to hear that his ally Ed Balls had won a tough fight to keep his seat at Morley. Meanwhile, Brown critic Charles Clark lost his seat to the Lib Dems in Norfolk South. The current state of the parties is 223 to the Conservatives, against 167 for Labour and 35 for the Lib Dems, with 450 seats declared.

0444: Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith - widely criticised for her expenses and embarrassed when her husband claimed for hiring two pornographic videos - has lost her seat at Redditch.

A close result, the loss for Smith put the Conservatives on 203 seats, against 153 for Labour and 30 for the Lib Dems with 411 seats declared.

0440: A rueful Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party, admits to the BBC that the SNP has "fallen a few short" of its self-declared target of winning 20 seats in Scotland. At present the party is on 7 seats.

The pro-independence party has increased its share of the vote in seats it did hold and looked set to get its best overall number of votes for more than 30 years, he said.

0430: That's life, as they say. Veteran TV presenter Esther Rantzen has failed in her bid for election in Luton South. Rantzen, who stood as an independent on the issue of MP expenses won only 1872 votes. The Labour candidate won with a comfortable majority.

Rantzen was one of a number of independent candidates who stood on the expenses scandal, but found that it failed to take off as a major issue in the campaign.

0420: The Conservatives are eagerly targetting the Yorkshire seat of Morley and Outwood, constituency of the Schools Secretary Ed Balls.

Reports from the count say the vote is very close. The significance is personal for the Tories. The current MP is a close ally of Gordon Brown, and the Tories have the knives out for him as a result.

0415: Former GMTV reporter Gloria De Pietro has swapped the breakfast TV sofa for a seat in the Commons - but only just managed to make it.

The Labour candidate won in Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, with a majority of less than 200 over the Lib Dems.

0410: After the storm whipped up over Gordon Brown's muttered 'bigot' comment two weeks ago, many commentators thought Labour would lose Rochdale.

The episode may have cost Labour some votes, but the party held Rochdale, the results show.

0405: Results are coming in every other minute at present, with much to think about for all the parties. Labour is clearly well behind the Conservatives, and will not govern alone in the next parliament.

The Conservatives look unlikely to get the majority they once assumed they would. And the Lib Dems have failed to break through as they hoped they might. "The voters have spoken, but we have not quite heard what they have said yet," Schools Secretary Ed Balls says.

IT IS 0400 a.m. - The results are coming in across Britain a day after the closest elections in a generation.

After a hard-fought four-week election campaign, the country looks on course for a hung parliament, in which the Conservatives hold the largest number of seats, but no party has an overall majority.

Six hours after polls closed, just over three hundred seats were declared, with the Conservatives on 142, Labour on 116, the Liberal Democrats on 23, and the other parties on 25. AFP journalists will report through Friday on the remaining results, and the negotiations that follow between the leading parties.

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