Summary

  • David Cameron considers the make-up of his Cabinet after the Conservatives' election victory

  • Michael Gove is made justice secretary and Chris Grayling, leader of the Commons

  • George Osborne, Theresa May, Philip Hammond, Michael Fallon and Nicky Morgan remain in jobs they held in coalition

  • Vacancies at the top table include business secretary, energy secretary, and treasury secretary after senior Lib Dems lost their seats

  • Harriet Harman has taken over as acting Labour leader after Ed Miliband stood down

  • The Lib Dems are also looking for a new leader after Nick Clegg said he would make way

  1. Queens' Speech possibilitiespublished at 15:02

    It's possible you may have already read much about what might be in the Queen's Speech in a couple of weeks' time in today's newspapers.

    But in case you haven't, with an outright Commons majority, David Cameron says he now has a mandate to implement the Conservatives' General Election manifesto in full.

    So here are some of the most likely measures we'll see on 27 May.

    • A pledge to eliminate the deficit over the next two years with £30bn of additional savings, including £12bn of welfare cuts

    • A referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union following a renegotiation of the terms of membership

    • Legislation to prevent any increase in the main rates of income tax, national insurance and VAT over the next five years.

    • Raises to the personal tax allowance to £12,500 for basic rate taxpayers and to £50,000 for higher rate taxpayers by 2020.

    • A rise in the inheritance tax threshold to £1m

    • Increased spending on the NHS in England rising to £8bn a-year by 2020.

    • Doubling the free childcare allowance for working parents of three and four-year-olds.

    • An extension of right to buy to housing association tenants

    • A promise to build 200,000 starter homes and create 300,000 new apprenticeships

    • Further devolution of powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and possibly something on English votes for English laws

    • The repeal of the Human Rights Act and its replacement with a British Bill of Rights

    • A redrawing of parliamentary boundaries to create "equal" constituencies and reduction in the number of MPs from 650 to 600

    • Greater powers for the police and security services for access to communications data

    • Renewal of the UK's Trident nuclear weapons programe with four replacement submarines

    • The extension of the free schools and academies programme
  2. YouGov post-mortempublished at 14:51

    YouGov has started to explore the reasons why its polling data ended up being wide of the mark, external during the election campaign and the answer is they upshot it it doesn't quite know yet.

    What it has also said is that it is "determined not to do is to jump to any hasty conclusions".

    "We will take the time to fully examine and test all the possible causes of error, work out what the underlying causes are, and then put them right," Anthony Wells, YouGov's director of political and social research, adds.

  3. Labour leadership contestpublished at 14:32 British Summer Time 9 May 2015

    Following Ed Miliband's stepping down as Labour leader, there are a number of candidates in the leadership contest. BBC News has taken a look at some of the contenders...

    Andy Burnham
    Yvette Cooper
    Chuka Umuna
    Dan Jarvis
    Liz Kendall

    ... and the outsiders.

    Labour leadership contest
  4. Milifandom meltdown?published at 14:10

    There are reports that Milifandom, the social media craze that expressed support for Ed Miliband, has been going into "meltdown" , external following his resignation as Labour Party leader.

    "Staying in bed all day because I'm too upset about Ed Miliband resigning," wrote one professed Milifan, external.

    The creator of the social media craze, 'Abby' wrote yesterday, external: "We had one chance to get that man as PM and we blew it and that really really angers me because Ed should be in Number 10."

    The Evening Standard website suggests: "The outpouring of despair was perhaps tempered by Mr Miliband's decision to name-check Milifandom - the 'most unlikely cult of the 21st century' - in his resignation speech."

  5. Miliband poses for family photopublished at 14:00

    Former Labour leader Ed Miliband has appeared in public for the first time posing for photographers outside his London home with his wife Justine and two sons.

    Ed Miliband, his wife Justine and children Daniel and SamuelImage source, Reuters
    Ed Miliband, his wife Justine and children Daniel and SamuelImage source, Reuters
  6. Send us your commentspublished at 13:49 British Summer Time 9 May 2015

    Email: politics@bbc.co.uk

    Wayne Mitchell

    A feeling of lethargy is sweeping our country and no better example of that is our recent election. Three leaders just gave up when it did not go well for them. What sort of strength is our political system going to have if we are led by the only person left. Weak Labour, weak UKIP, weak liberals.

  7. Sturgeon and Salmond 'tensions'published at 13:37

    David Torrance

    David Torrance, who has written biographies of the SNP's Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond, tells BBC News that there is tension between the pair. "It's never public, they keep that very much behind the scenes. It's quite striking that in the latter stages of the campaign he was nowhere to be seen or heard beyond his own constituency. I think he'd had a pretty firm piece of advice from the First Minister."

  8. Next Labour leader is anyone's guesspublished at 13:26 British Summer Time 9 May 2015

    Mehdi Hasan, Al Jazeera presenter

  9. Whither the Edstone?published at 13:11

    Labour"s pledges carved into a stone plinth in HastingsImage source, PA

    We here on the Election Live page were wondering what had happened to the 8ft limestone tablet dubbed "the Edstone" which was unveiled in Hastings last weekend.

    Unfortunately, a weary-sounding Labour Party spokesman was unable to shed any light on its whereabouts. "I've no idea where it is or what's happening with it," he said.

  10. Seating arrangementspublished at 13:01

    Jim Pickard, chief political correspondent for the Financial Times

  11. Send us your commentspublished at 12:48

    Email: politics@bbc.co.uk

    Sheila Torres

    Hardly anything was mentioned about pensioners during the election campaign and how they will fare in the future. No one is exempt from old age if they live long enough. So many live on meagre pensions. How would the powers that be live if the same was metered out to them? Most would prefer not to have to rely on benefits if they had a really decent pension. Just a thought.

  12. A perfect fitpublished at 12:46 British Summer Time 9 May 2015

    John Rentoul, columnist for Independent on Sunday

  13. Mail has fun with Edstone spoofspublished at 12:37

    EdstoneImage source, Ebay

    The Daily Mail , externalis enjoying the victory of the Conservative party, pointing out how several spoof posts on online auction site ebay, external are offering the now infamous "Edstone" for sale.

    You'll remember that the - now former - Labour leader Ed Miliband unveiled the stone, which set out the main priorities of a potential future government, in the last few days of the election.

    It created a fair amount of comment at the time, particularly when it was discovered that the Labour leader planned to erect the 8 foot limestone tablet in the rose garden of Downing Street.

  14. Lessons learnedpublished at 12:32 British Summer Time 9 May 2015

    David Maddox, political journalist for The Scotsman

  15. 'The bitterness of ex-lovers'published at 12:19

    Owen Jones

    Owen Jones of the Guardian said Labour alienated their core voter base in Scotland. "Clearly the implosion of Scottish Labourism in Scotland - and let's not forget, Scotland was the heartland of that party... they destroyed themselves in that country. They formed an alliance with the Tory party, in whatever you think about the referendum, in a campaign based on fear, which transformed former Labour supporters into hardline SNP supporters. They look at their old party with absolute disgust - the red Tories, they call them - and they have the zealotry of the convert and the bitterness of ex-lovers."

    A consequence of the rise of the SNP was a "fanning of English nationalism", he added.

  16. Carswell rules out UKIP leadership bidpublished at 12:10

    Nigel Farage and Douglas CarswellImage source, PA

    Douglas Carswell, the only UKIP MP, has ruled himself out of the race to be leader of the anti-European party. In an interview with The Times , externalnewspaper he said:

    Quote Message

    I am not going to be running as leader.

  17. Cameron 'had to win'published at 12:00

    Janet Daley

    Janet Daley of the Sunday Telegraph predicted a win for the Conservatives. She tells BBC News: "Looking at the comparison between the Labour leadership, which was appalling, and the prospect of a Labour government, a minority government being supported by the SNP, it seemed to me inconceivable that it could have gone any other way."

  18. Number 10 not considering full fiscal autonomy for Scotlandpublished at 11:52

    Ross Hawkins
    Political correspondent

    A Downing Street source said they were not considering offering Scotland full fiscal autonomy, after Jeremy Hunt appeared to suggest they might do so on Newsnight last night.

    Asked on the programme whether Cameron would have to offer fiscal autonomy to Scotland, Hunt said: "I think David Cameron was, in a way, saying that. I think it was very significant that in his acceptance speech in his own constituency and his speech on the steps of Number 10, he talked so much about preserving the union."

    But a senior Conservative source told the BBC: "To be very, very clear we are not considering full fiscal autonomy. We are very clear what we are proposing."

    The Conservative manifesto pledges to implement the recommendations of the Smith Commission.

    The source said Hunt was referring to this policy - which the source said would be delivered, with legislation brought forward as soon as possible - and there were no plans to go beyond what was in the manifesto.

  19. Send us your commentspublished at 11.51

    Email: politics@bbc.co.uk

    Jack in Nottingham

    I was fine with the result yesterday until I started reading about these plans for boundary changes. It seems completely undemocratic. I am sure the people who voted on Thursday including myself voted for a 5 year parliament, not for a man to lock his own party into eternal power.

  20. Pack: Lib Dems will rebuildpublished at 11:50

    Mark Pack

    Lib Dem Voice editor, Mark Pack, tells BBC News the Lib Dems will spend the next few years "always torn between wanting to defend what they have done in government compared to maybe thinking they should not try to defend their policies and move onto new territory".

    Mr Pack says it is going to be very tempting "every time this government does something right wing or controversial or extreme to say: 'Look, you see this is what happens when you don’t have Lib Dems in coalition'".

    But, he says, this is likely to be an "unfruitful strategy". The Lib Dems, he says, will need to rebuid at a local level first.

    “Let’s not forget councils have really important powers over education, devolved bodies in Scotland the London assembly... I’m absolutely sure that’s the right route to rebuilding again," he adds.