While there's been a lot of focus on the former Labour strongholds in the north of England and the Midlands which turned blue, Labour lost votes in every part of the country.

Meanwhile, despite Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson losing her seat, her party increased its share of the vote across the country.

BBC News Channel

Sir John Curtice compares the Labour vote in the 1983 and 2019 general elections.

The Professor of Politics at the University of Strathclyde explaines that the party secured 28% under Michael Foot, and 33% this time, but added the "character of Labour's vote is so, so different" as it lost support in the Midlands and north of England this time.

John Pienaar
Pienaar’s Politics

The battle for the succession begins now. And before you have the battle for the succession you've got to have a battle about the timing of the succession. Because we know that Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell - chiming in with him absolutely in tune - they will want to stick around, they'll want Jeremy Corbyn to stay there until the path is laid towards a leadership contest.

And in that time, they'll want to use it to try and get some sort of successor in play that they think can carry on what Corbyn has been doing. A torchbearer for the Corbynite left, the socialist left...

I don't think there is any possible successor who is as blazingly ideological as Jeremy Corbyn. They'd be looking for someone who's vaguely at that sort of left end of the spectrum. So they'd be looking for, say, Rebecca Long-Bailey - broadly, maybe, in that category - I'm not convinced yet that she's absolutely decided she wants to be in it. They'd be looking at Angela Rayner - I've got a vague hunch that she doesn't want to be the candidate, we'll see what she has to say when she speaks on all of these things.

Then you're talking about people like Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, pro-European... who would be the choice of pro-European centrists - but that's the reason why so much of the party would not really want it.

BBC Radio 5 Live

BBC News Channel

Katya Adler
Europe Editor

EU leaders' sigh of relief at a comfortable majority for Boris Johnson has nothing to do with their political affiliations and a lot to do with "getting Brexit done", as the prime minister has so loved to repeat on a loop.

Except that - as Brussels is all too aware - Mr Johnson's intention to ratify the Brexit divorce deal in Parliament next month, legally ending the UK's EU membership, only means getting Phase One of Brexit done.

Phase Two will see the arduous task of agreeing the future relationship between the two sides. Something Boris Johnson promised voters would be signed, sealed and delivered by this time next year.

Read Katya's full blog here.

BBC Radio 5 Live

After the Conservatives win their biggest majority for 30 years, listeners to BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast called in to give their reaction.

Nicky Campbell and Rachel Burden were joined by Chris Mason to hear views from across the UK.

Click here to listen on BBC Sounds.

Image source, Getty Images

A lot has changed since the polls closed last night. If you need a quick recap, here's our latest explainers and analysis to get you up to speed:

• Firstly, a summary of the key points from the night.
• As the Conservatives secure their biggest majority since the 1980s, the political map has been completely redrawn. Here's the election result in maps and charts.
• So what drove the Tory victory? Polling expert Sir John Curtice explains.
• With a big majority, Boris Johnson's deal with the EU looks set to pass in the Commons. But what happens next for Brexit?

• Boris Johnson has just met the Queen at Buckingham Palace to ask to form a new government.
• In a speech to party activists earlier, Mr Johnson said he was "humbled" to get the support of people who may never have voted Tory before, after his party secured its biggest majority since the 1980s.
• He vowed to lead a "people's government" and fulfil the "sacred trust" placed in him. With just one seat left to declare, the Tories have a Commons majority of 78. Read our political editor's analysis of the challenges which still lie ahead for Mr Johnson here.
• Meanwhile, Labour has been reflecting on a disastrous night for the party. It lost 59 seats - including in traditional industrial heartlands in northern England and the Midlands which it has held for decades.

• Jeremy Corbyn says he won't lead his party into the next election but will stay on during a "process of reflection". Mr Corbyn's allies have blamed Brexit for the defeat but critics of the Labour leader say his leadership has also been a huge problem on the doorstep. Read our analysis of how Labour's "red wall" turned blue here.

• In one of the biggest political casualties of the night, Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson has lost her seat, as her party failed to make gains. Ms Swinson is no longer the party's leader with two interim co-leaders appointed.

• The results are all in for Scotland and it's been a good night for the SNP, who've gained 13 seats. Leader Nicola Sturgeon says Scotland has sent a "clear message" and the result gives her a "mandate" for a second independence referendum.

• In Wales, all the seats are declared too and the first three female Conservative MPs have been elected as the party claimed six key seats from Labour. Labour remained the biggest party while Plaid Cymru held their four seats and the Liberal Democrats were wiped out
• In Northern Ireland, the DUP suffered a bruising night, losing two MPs - including its Westminster leader Nigel Dodds.

• The Greens retained their only seat with an increased majority but the Brexit Party failed to take any.

Boris Johnson has left Buckingham Palace following his audience with the Queen, during which he will have been formally asked to form the next government. The meeting lasted around half an hour, which is longer than expected.

Speaking from outside Buckingham Palace, Dr Anna Whitelock, a royal historian, says the Queen and Boris Johnson are "going through a process known as the kissing of hands", an old ceremony in which the kissing no longer happens.

She explains: "The kissing was a mark of loyalty and duty to the sovereign from the prime minister but this is now just a reference point to that formal invitation to Boris Johnson to become her PM."

The constitutional function of the monarch is to "advise and to warn", Dr Whitelock explains, a responsibility the Queen will be taking "very seriously".

She suggests the Queen might advise Mr Johnson on the need for unity and to heal divisions in the country and may voice her concerns about some of the rhetoric used in politics.

BBC presenter Joanna Gosling points out Mr Johnson has now been inside the Palace for about 27 minutes.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Boris Johnson's character - and what type of Brexit looms - dominate opinion in European newspapers - and for many the two are intertwined.

"Finally, there is clarity," declares Germany's Die Zeit, under the headline "Winning power unscrupulously" , externaland a picture of a triumphant Mr Johnson.

Writing in the Irish Independent, John Downing eyes the implications for Ireland , external- both north and south.

Read the review of Europe's newspapers here.

Despite fears the wintry weather of a December election could deter people from going to the polls, voter turnout was only slightly down on 2017 - falling from 68.7% to 67.3%.

Chris Mason
Political Correspondent

Let's head into the undergrowth for a minute.

The green undergrowth.

The really striking thing about the manifestos this time was how much focus there was on the environment and climate change.

Loads of parties acknowledged the scale of the challenge to come.

They then, of course, disagreed about precisely what to do about it and on what timescale.

So let's look at the Green Party's performance.

On the face of it, there is nothing to see - they held their one seat in the House of Commons.

But there was a big increase, albeit from a low base, in the number of people voting for the party.

Two years ago it was half a million.

This time around it was nearly 900,000.

Image source, Getty Images

The prime minister's chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, has arrived at Downing Street as the Conservatives celebrate last night's victory. Looks like it's cold out.

Former prime minister David Cameron has welcomed the Conservatives' election victory.

"It's an extraordinary result, a powerful result. It marks the end of Corbyn and Corbynism, and that's a very good thing for the country," he says.

Mr Cameron adds that a lot of people had put their trust in the Conservatives for the first time and Boris Johnson was right to say the job now was to cement that trust and govern for the whole country.

Evening Standard picture editor tweets...

Nicholas Witchell
BBC royal correspondent

Nearly five months after Boris Johnson came to be invited by the Queen to form his first government, he is the 14th prime minister of her reign (and back again).

I sense it may well be quite a short audience because he has been up all night.

Her concern, I would imagine, will be to ask him well how will you bring the country back together again, how will you overcome the divisions of this more than usually divisive election campaign.

Her concern also of course, will be to protect the Union. Now she is non-political, a constitutional monarch, but the outcome of this election raises questions about the Union and we do know that is a concern of hers.

She is Queen of the United Kingdom, Head of State, she is concerned about the Union and I am sure that will feature in their conversation.

Image source, PA Wire

Boris Johnson is now meeting with the Queen at Buckingham Palace - where the monarch will invite him to form her next government.

He was greeted by the Queen's equerry-in-waiting Lieutenant Colonel Charles Richards as he arrived at the Palace.

At the palace, Boris Johnson will see the Queen and be formally invited to form her next government. The meeting, held in the Queen's audience room, could last just a few minutes or it could go for longer.