The Lib Dems have ousted another former Cabinet minister, as Conservative Education Secretary Gillian Keegan loses her seat in Chichester.

It’s a big win. Keegan had enjoyed a majority of 19,000 in 2019.

The Lib Dems called the result early, issuing a statement before 2am saying “school’s out” for Keegan “for summer, autumn, winter and spring”.

Hemel Hempstead had been held by the Conservatives' Mike Penning since 2005 - he stood down at this election.

Former home secretary Suella Braverman has held on to her seat in Fareham and Waterlooville.

Addressing the count crowds, she starts by thanking people for supporting her.

Turning to Labour's success, she adds: "I'm sorry that my party didn't listen to you. The Conservative Party has let you down," she says.

Braverman continues, saying the party "need to learn our lesson", warning that they'll face "many worse nights" if they don't.

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

That's an extraordinary achievement by Jeremy Corbyn.

Bedded in, long-standing MPs have tried to run as independents without a party infrastructure before and lost - lost resoundingly.

Jeremy Corbyn has won resoundingly.

Jeremy Corbyn - who has retained his seat in Islington North as an independent by defeating his former party, Labour - says the result is a message that people there "want something different".

In the new Labour government coming in, he says, his constituents are looking for an end to things like the two-child benefit cap, for regulation of the private rented sector, and for a government that "will search for peace not war, and not allow the terrible conditions to go on that are happening in Gaza".

The co-leader of the Green Party Carla Denyer wins with 24,539 votes - taking the seat from Labour.

It means Thangam Debbonaire, the current shadow culture secretary, no longer has a seat in the Commons. She came second, with 14,132 votes - a 25.9% drop from the 2019 election.

Bristol Central was a target seat for the Greens - their first seat of the night. The party is projected to win two seats, according to the exit poll.

We can now bring you Keir Starmer's victory speech in full.

The jubilant Labour leader was tonight re-elected as the MP for Holborn and St Pancras and, if the BBC forecast's correct, is on course to be the next prime minister.

He described it as a "huge privilege" and thanked his wife and family for their "love and support".

Stephen Crabb, who was a popular Tory MP locally and former Conservative Welsh secretary, has lost his seat to Labour.

Labour's non-local candidate, Henry Tufnell, had publicly supported Wales' First Minister Vaughan Gething.

The Withyhedge landfill site, owned by a controversial donor to the first minister, is in the constituency - a fact Crabb has used repeatedly in social media advertising.

A night of a thousand storiespublished at 03:48 British Summer Time 5 July 2024

03:48 BST 5 July 2024

Chris Mason
Political editor

Image source, Getty Images

It might be the middle of the night, but this night of a thousand stories is gathering pace.

And two huge characters are heading to Westminster.

Jeremy Corbyn, more than 40 years an MP, is back - elected as an independent, beating the party he led into the last general election. And beating Labour easily.

Keir Starmer would have much rather seen the back of his predecessor properly. Instead, Corbyn is back - albeit on the opposition benches, not the government ones with Labour MPs.

And then Nigel Farage. An MP at the eighth time of trying.

Farage will have a big impact on Westminster, however many fellow Reform MPs he is sitting alongside.

Big characters have outsized influence in politics - and Corbyn and Farage are deserving of that description.