Again the overall result doesn't tell the whole story. Labour held on, but there was an 11% swing from Labour to Conservative. The Brexit Party also gained a significant number of votes, possibly denying the Conservatives another surprise gain in the North East.

Sir John Curtice says: "We were expecting the Labour vote to drop by 15 points here - in the event it's dropped by 18 points.

"We thought the Tories would be up six points and in the event they were up four.

"So the swing is very much in line with the expectations of the exit poll.

"Also of note here is the 14% vote for the Brexit Party, a little above the 12% we were expecting."

Speaking of London, BBC London correspondents are reporting higher than usual turnout in counts there.

Londoners normally turnout to vote in greater numbers than the national average. The capital saw a 70.1% of eligible voters turning out in 2017 compared to 68.8% across the UK.

Turnout in Putney is now reported as 77.4%, up from 72% in 2017.

Battersea turnout 75.8% compared to 71% in 2017.

"Feels like an angry Remain vote talking," BBC London's Political Editor Tim Donovan says.

But more votes to count normally means later results. We could be in for a long night.

BBC Radio 4

We're going to one of the interesting London seats now, which is likely to have a very close result.

Labour's majority for Kensington in 2017 was only 20 votes to the Tories.

Since then, Sam Gyimah left the Conservative Party and announced he'd be standing for the Liberal Democrats in the area - so now it's expected to be a three-way fight.

Labour's Emma Dent Coad, who is seeking re-election, speaks to us from the count.

She says she's feeling "positive" about the upcoming result, which our exit poll predicts as 97% likely to be a Labour hold - and thanks Mr Gyimah for "splitting the Tory vote".

When asked about her party's leadership, Ms Dent Coad says as a socialist she would never have stood for Parliament under any leader other than Mr Corbyn.

"For me, I hope he continues," she adds.

Nick Robinson
Presenter, Radio 4 Today

Everybody here is simply waiting to see when the Labour leader arrives. We're not expecting him for a couple of hours yet though.

When he's (very likely) re-elected, what will he say in his speech?

I don't think it's likely that he'll stand down today, but it's very likely that he'll do it in the days to come.

And the expectation from both the left and the right of the Labour Party is that within days John McDonnell will be acting leader (in the absence of the elected deputy leader Tom Watson, who decided not to stand for re-election).

Mr McDonnell could then delay the formal leadership for, potentially, months, in the hope that strong candidates can come through and gather support.

We're seeing a battle of blame already - do you blame Brexit for Labour's woes, or do you blame Mr Corbyn?

That's the row that's now taking place.

It was thought if he lost he wouldn't last the day or the week... but Team Corbyn are refusing to confirm he will make that clear today.

Jon Lansman, his close ally who set up and ran the Momentum campaign, has said Mr Corbyn will not outstay his welcome, but he will not have to make a decision until the New Year.

But in my view, he won’t be able to get away with that. He will be driven out of office.

Labour's Gareth Snell says "the exit poll is a catastrophe for the Labour Party".

"I suspect my seat will be part of the list of seats that fall to the Conservatives this evening."

He says both Brexit and Jeremy Corbyn have been issues in Labour's campaign.

"Unfortunately, some of the siren voices in the shadow cabinet - who have big Lib Dem votes in their London seats - decided that stopping Brexit was much more important than respecting the votes of Brexit voters in the Midlands and the North East.

"They have sacrificed us for their leadership ambitions."

Asked whether it's time for the Labour leadership to go, he simply replies "yes".

Image source, PA Media

See some of the best shots as they come in from a busy night in our picture gallery.

Martha Kearney
Presenter, Today

Image source, AF

If you look at what the exit poll says it is uncertain what will happen to Jo Swinson - the leader of the Liberal Democrats.

Remember, she did lose her seat to the SNP back in 2015.

I have just been talking to Conservatives and they say this whole contest is on a knife-edge.

An SNP councillor has also said their team is "quietly confident".

The Lib Dems aren't having any of it, and say they will continue to hold the seat.

But there will be a big inquest about how the Lib Dems did nationally and their strategy for this election once the results are in.

Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

The results so far add more weight to predictions this is going to be a very bad night for Labour.

Losing Blyth Valley for the first time is an obvious hammer blow.

But overall - from all of the results we’ve had so far - Labour’s vote is down 12.2% from 2017 - while the Tory vote is up.

Some candidates are already putting the blame squarely at Jeremy Corbyn’s door - though the leadership’s line is that the dominance of Brexit was the main factor.

Image source, Getty Images

Police have been pictured removing ballot papers from a counting centre in Paisley, near Glasgow.

The move comes over allegations of impersonation - where one person votes by impersonating another - in the area.

The BBC's Reeta Chakrabarti, manning the results centre here at New Broadcasting House, says Labour has come first in terms of seats and votes in Wales in the past 26 election - that's since the First World War.

That might still be these case, but we think some of these seats might be likely Conservative gains: Wrexham, Vale of Clwyd, Delyn, Alyn and Deeside.

There are also rumours that it is close in Bridgend and there may be a recount.

Follow the results in Wales here.

Chris Leslie quit Labour at the start of this year in protest at the leadership, anti-Semitism allegations and the entire direction the party was going. This is his reaction tonight...

And this below from a current Labour MP...

Andrew Neil suggests to former Conservative Sir Nicholas Soames that "it is over for your kind of Tory party." Sir Nicholas lost the Conservative Party whip after voting to stop a no-deal Brexit.

He was handed back the whip shortly before the election when he stood down as an MP.

"It will be a different party," he replies but adds "that is no bad thing."

"This could build a new Conservative majority for a generation.

"This extraordinary result has proved that this type of Toryism is extremely popular."

Another result in. Sunderland Central has been held by Labour, but that doesn't tell the whole story. They lost 13% compared with the last election - this is a traditional heartland seat, the home of the Nissan car plant among other things, and a staunchly Leave-supporting area.

The Brexit Party went from 0 to 12%, while the Tories saw a 2% rise.

The BBC's Huw Edwards says, despite the fact Labour is holding on, "it is a tale of Labour's decline and weakening".

Again though, these are early results and there is still a long way to go.

Image source, PA Media

At the last election London was the jewel in Labour’s crown, delivering the party’s largest vote share in at least 25 years.

It is also Labour's power base - home to Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn's Islington constituency, alongside the shadow chancellor, shadow home secretary, and shadow foreign secretary.

Changing demographics have seen the Conservative vote share drop by 10 points since 1992.

But the Conservatives won 21 London seats at the last election, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson's seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip.

For the Lib Dems, it was one of only two regions in which their vote share increased.

London also recorded the largest increase in turnout of all the nine English regions.

Bishop Auckland Labour candidate Helen Goodman looks on as votes are counted.

She’s told our reporter there she is expecting defeat to the Conservatives, and has done for some time.

She blames a combination of Brexit, her leader’s unpopularity, and “Tory lies” nationally and locally.

Downing Street says if the exit poll numbers are correct, there will be a minor reshuffle of necessary appointments only on Monday.

The Withdrawal Agreement Bill - Boris Johnson's Brexit plan - would then have its second reading on Friday 20 December.

A major reshuffle would take place in February, after the UK has left the EU on the deadline of 31 January.

There would be a Budget statement in March.

Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley is now giving his reaction on the BBC News Channel.

He says if the predicted results are correct it is "a very bad night for the climate and for progressive politics".

He says parties need to "learn the lessons... we need to work together".

The Greens did deals with the Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru to step aside and allow pro-Remain candidates to get more votes.

Mr Bartley says they "reached out to Labour" but they didn't join with them, leading to the predicted results.

"We didn't want this election and warned what could happen," he added. "There is no way of spinning this. It is very bad news."

Mr Bartley says it shows even more how there "desperately" needs to be electoral reform in the UK, and Labour have to back it.