Nicola Sturgeon, the former leader of the SNP and first minister of Scotland, says: "This is not a good night for the SNP on these numbers."

The poll predicts the ruling party in the Scottish government could see its number of MPs at Westminster fall to 10, down from 48 at the last general election.

Sturgeon tells ITV: "I think there will be a question about whether there was enough in the campaign to give out, effectively, a USP to the SNP in an election that was about getting the Tories out and replacing them with Labour."

Image source, PA Media

Professor Sir John Curtice
BBC polling expert

It appears the Conservatives have suffered heavily in places where more than a third of households have a mortgage - a reflection perhaps of the damage done by former prime minister Liz Truss’s "fiscal event".

Meanwhile, Labour’s vote is up more in seats where a large part of the population say they are in bad health - a measure of relative deprivation - and in places where more people voted Leave in 2016.

The party also seems to be advancing strongly in Scotland but less well in Wales, where they're in power.

Professor Sir John Curtice
BBC polling expert

The Conservative share of the vote and seat tally, according to the exit poll, could be the lowest in the party’s history.

Its seat tally might be affected by the party’s vote falling more heavily in seats where they were previously strongest - a pattern that is largely because support for Reform has risen most there.

BBC chief economics correspondent Dharshini David is at a leisure centre in Godalming and Ash, the seat of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

She tells BBC radio the exit poll suggests there is only a 19% chance of him keeping his seat. He would be the first chancellor in modern history to lose his seat, if that is right.

There are some "pretty shocked faces" from Hunt's camp in the leisure centre this evening, she adds.

Image source, Reuters

The BBC'S Victoria Derbyshire is outside Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's house in his constituency of Richmond, Yorkshire.

She says it's been very quiet there and Sunak is inside, no doubt absorbing the news of the exit poll. "If it's accurate, he'll be contemplating the defeat, the brutal battering he has led his party to," she tells the BBC's election programme.

We're expecting a result from Sunak's constituency at about 04:00 BST.

The prime minister took to X a short while ago to say: "To the hundreds of Conservative candidates, thousands of volunteers and millions of voters: Thank you for your hard work, thank you for your support, and thank you for your vote."

The exit poll is suggesting Conservative candidate Steve Baker has a less then 1% chance of winning his Wycombe seat.

He says he thinks the dynamic in his constituency is different to what's generally expected in the exit poll and that "it is just possible that there's a path to winning narrowly".

Asked if he accepts that the Conservative Party has lost, he replies: "Oh yeah" - adding that he fully expects Labour's Angela Rayner to be deputy prime minister in the morning. She had appeared on the BBC News channel moments before Baker.

Following the exit poll, Conservative Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride tells BBC Radio 4: "This is a very difficult moment for the Conservative Party."

He says he is "very sorry" that the exit poll is projecting that a number of his colleagues will lose their seats. On keeping his own seat, he says "we will have to wait and see".

On Wednesday - the day before the election - Stride made headlines when he admitted he thought it was likely there would be a massive Labour majority, effectively conceding defeat.

Here's the moment BBC presenters Laura Kuenssberg and Clive Myrie revealed the result of the exit poll, predicting a landslide Labour win with 410 seats.

"An electoral meteor has now struck planet earth," Lord Peter Mandelson, formerly a key part of Labour under Tony Blair, tells the BBC News channel.

Reacting to the exit poll, he adds: "In a sense, it's not surprising given everything the country has gone through in the last 10 years."

He says it's an "extraordinary achievement for Keir Starmer and his team", adding no one would have imagined this would happen when the party lost in 2019.

Image source, EPA

Reaction to the exit poll - which predicts a Labour landslide - continues to come in.

Keir Starmer has now expressed his gratitude to everyone who worked and voted for his party.

In a post on X, he says: "To everyone who has campaigned for Labour in this election, to everyone who voted for us and put their trust in our changed Labour Party - thank you."

Some reaction to the exit poll now from Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, who says "it looks like this will be our best result for a generation".

"It looks like we have gained more seats than in any general election in the last 100 years," he adds in a press release.

He says that there's still a long way to go, but "I am so proud of our party".

The exit poll - which we brought you a little earlier - the Lib Dems are on course for 61 seats.

Professor Sir John Curtice
BBC polling expert

It looks as though Reform may win more seats than many polls suggested.

This is largely because, not only has the Conservative vote fallen far in seats they previously held, but also because Reform has advanced most in areas people voted Leave in the 2016 EU referendum.

However, how many seats Reform will win is highly uncertain – our model suggests there are many places where they have some - but a relatively low - chance of winning.

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

I’ve just watched Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, as he saw the exit poll announced in our Westminster studio.

His eyes welled up with tears as Rachel Burden said the words "Labour landslide".

He is part of a generation of Labour politicians who have only ever known defeat.

If this exit poll is correct, they are about to experience an extraordinary victory - a barely precedented political turnaround.

As recently as three years ago, the idea something like this was around the corner would have appeared to politicians like Streeting to be utterly fanciful.

A bit more from Angela Rayner now, who tells the BBC News channel Labour activists haven't taken anything for granted during this election.

She says people have told her party they want "change" from 14 years of "chaos" under the Conservative government.

Asked about the possibility of becoming deputy prime minister, Rayner says it would be an "honour" to be re-elected as an MP.

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner is speaking to the BBC News channel, reacting to the exit poll projecting a Labour landslide.

"The numbers are encouraging but the exit poll is a poll so we haven't had any results yet," she says.

Keir Starmer has done a "tremendous job" transforming the Labour party, Rayner says, adding that she's hopeful "people have got behind" him.

Professor Sir John Curtice
BBC polling expert

Labour has likely secured their anticipated landslide victory, though they may have fallen just short of the majority Tony Blair won in the 1997 General Election.

But the party may also achieve this on a smaller share of the vote than former leader Jeremy Corbyn secured in 2017.

Labour stands on threshold of spectacular victorypublished at 22:04 British Summer Time 4 July 2024

22:04 BST 4 July 2024

Chris Mason
Political editor

Just take a look and take in those numbers.

The Conservatives, so often an election winning machine, a powerhouse of success, are pulverised, obliterated.

Just five years ago Labour were crushed, humiliated – and reduced to their smallest number of seats since 1935.

People fell over themselves to say Labour was doomed for a decade.

Boris Johnson just two years ago was musing publicly about winning three terms, serving into the 2030s.

And yet here, if this exit poll is close to where we end up by the morning, points to an astonishing come back for Labour.

They faced a climb Himalayan in its proportions to win by a smidgen.

These figures point to them winning by a mile.

What does all this tell us?

We live in a world of unprecedented voter volatility – more people in more places are more willing to change their minds more often and more quickly about politics than ever before.

By tomorrow lunchtime it looks like we will have our fourth prime minister in under two years.

And so the whirlwind of British politics continues.

It is 27 years since Labour won a general election from opposition.

It is 19 years since they won a general election full stop.

The history books of the last century tell us one thing - they are spectacularly good at losing elections – losing far, far more than they win.

But tonight they stand on the threshold of a spectacular victory.

Spectacular given where they came from – the doldrums.

But spectacular too by any metric, at any time, in any context – it is extraordinary.

Remember, though, that a new government will confront all of the old problems that caused its predecessor so much trouble – the cost of living, the government’s finances, the tax burden, a dangerous world – no majority, however big, can erase those colossal challenges.

Labour is set to win a general election landslide with a majority of 170, according to an exit poll for the BBC, ITV and Sky.

If the forecast is accurate, it means Sir Keir Starmer will become prime minister with 410 Labour MPs – just short of Tony Blair's 1997 total.

The Conservatives are predicted to slump to 131 MPs, their lowest number in post-war history.

The Liberal Democrats are projected to come third with 61 MPs.

The Scottish National Party will see its number of MPs fall to 10 and Reform UK is forecast to get 13 MPs, according to the exit poll.

The Green Party of England and Wales is predicted to double its number of MPs to two and Plaid Cymru are set to get four MPs. Others are forecast to get 19 seats.

The exit poll, overseen by Sir John Curtice and a team of statisticians, is based on data from voters at about 130 polling stations in England, Scotland and Wales. The poll does not cover Northern Ireland.

At the past five general elections, the exit poll has been accurate to within a range of 1.5 and 7.5 seats.

We're mere moments from the finish line - in just 15 minutes, the polls will officially close.

From 22:00 we have a stellar BBC line-up poised and ready to bring you all the results, analysis and reaction - starting with the broadcasters' exit poll.

Laura Kuenssberg and Clive Myrie, along with political editor Chris Mason, head up the general election night TV coverage.

You can see that on your TV, on iPlayer, or by clicking Watch live the banner at the top of this page.

There will also be joint radio coverage on Radio 4, 5 Live and BBC Sounds hosted by Nick Robinson and Rachel Burden.

We, too, will be here through the night bringing you all of the reaction and analysis, so stick with us - it's almost time!

Image source, PA Media

Former Prime Minister Theresa May is among those who have been given peerages in the dissolution honours list.

Former cabinet ministers, Rishi Sunak's former chief of staff, and a number of Labour veterans also make up the list, which grants them seats in the House of Lords.

You can see who was given peerages here, external.