Hello, and welcome to The European Conservative’s UK election live coverage.
Labour has officially won the election and is likely to boast a parliamentary majority of 170 seats.
Not, despite what its leader (and next prime minister) Sir Keir Starmer says, because the public is supportive of what it has to offer. Indeed, Starmer’s own seat was won on a low turnout and with a significantly lower vote share than at the last election. And the party has lost a good number of its frontbenchers.
Rather, because of how unpopular the Conservatives have made themselves, and thanks to the impressive rise of Reform which, despite winning just four seats, has picked up millions of votes across the country. Also, due to the near-total collapse of the SNP in Scotland.
The Tories have done terribly, and their leader (for now) Rishi Sunak has apologised for this. Many of their leading figures are gone, and some of the more decent, genuinely conservative Tories have lost their seats too.
But it is still the Conservatives—rather than the Liberal Democrats—who will form the next Opposition. And they have held onto enough seats to be able to put forward a ‘serious’ challengeto Labour at the next election.
There are still seats to be declared, and we will continue to bring you further updates here.