Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown is re-elected MP for Yeovil.

He says "I do not wish to predict the future" but that constitutional change is on the cards.

Image source, PA

BBC political editor Robin Oakley says looks as though there are going to be a large number of women MPs.

In fact, there were 120 women MPs returned on the night - 13 were Conservative and 101 Labour.

The Labour MPs were dubbed "Blair's babes" - never before had there been so many women in Parliament, let alone from one party.

Anne McGuire unseats Scotland secretary Michael Forsyth on a swing of 8%.

Heritage minister David Mellor loses his seat to Labour's Tony Colman.

It was a memorable moment for many watching the election on the night as viewers tweet

"Ladies and gentlemen can I read the other ones out please?" says returning officer as Tony Blair's votes are announced at Sedgefield to enormous cheers.

Mr Blair thanks the other candidates running in Sedgefield, saying it's been a "clean" campaign.

He goes on to thank the electorate in the constituency - "you have been absolutely magnificent to me...the greatest pleasure I have is to serve you with all my heart and with all my energy." Agent John Burton and Mr Blair's father get special mentions too.

"It is an honour to serve you and I feel this evening a deep sense of honour; a deep sense of responsibility," Mr Blair continues.

If the Labour party has been as successful as the indications are, I know what this is a vote for, he says. "It is not a vote for outdated dogma or ideology."

It's an end to looking backwards; but a vote for applying common sense to the problems of the country today, he says.

In Hartlepool, Peter Mandelson says voters "feel able to put their trust in a Labour government again".

He says it's a vote against the "drift, dogma and division" in the Conservatives but "they like our courage, our convictions in New Labour".

It's Gordon Brown - who says this is not just a verdict against Conservative rule - but an endorsement of a new politics.

He says the Labour government will equip the country for the challenges of the future from a platform of "stability and investment" and tackle the social problems of the country,

If Labour wins, as looks likely, he says: "I believe under Tony Blair's magnificent leadership the Labour party is ready to rebuild the bond of trust between the British people and their government."

Angela Smith - now Labour leader in the Lords - takes Basildon for Labour with a swing of 15%,

Her Conservative opponent is John Baron - now Tory MP for Basildon.

Then chancellor Ken Clarke gives his perspective, saying the Tories would have done better if they'd focused more on the economy and less on Europe.

He stresses the need for the party to come together after the election.

Gisela Stuart takes Birmingham Edgbaston - the first Labour gain of the night and the first time Labour won the seat.

Future foreign secretary Robin Cook observes drily it would be "churlish to deny the Conservatives their part in our victory".

But he adds that Labour owes its success to "policies that affect real families in Britain" such as class sizes and hospital waiting lists, which will "create a Britain which benefits the many not the privileged few".

The opposition has "spoken some of the language of the Conservative party to get elected", Welsh Secretary William Hague tells David Dimbleby.

Do you expect to be serving in a shadow Cabinet led by John Major? That's up to John Major, Mr Hague says.

And he says Mr Major is right to be the leader of the Conservative party - what's needed is a period of "cool and calm reflection" in the Conservative party, he adds.