GE2019 Live Blog
By: Leeds Elects
Tags: Live, Ge2019, Startup, Politics

Authors: Max Shirley, Ed Barnes

(Refresh every few minutes for updates)

Watch live: leedsstudent.tv/live

Listen live: listen.thisislsr.com

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06.30 am:

That’s all from us here at Leeds Elects. Thanks for joining us for 9 hours of election coverage!

06.07 am:

Ten remaining results to be announced.

05.55 am:

BBC’s political editor, Laura Kuenssberg, predicts that the Conservatives will push for a Queen’s speech as early as Thursday next week.

She has said that it will not be until February time that we can expect a big cabinet re-shuffle and new budget.

05.52 am:

Global leaders are already tweeting congratulatory messages to Boris Johnson. Here’s one from the Australian PM:

05.42 am:

As the final results begin to come in, let’s look at what Boris Johnson’s likely next steps are.

Firstly, in terms of his cabinet, it is unlikely that we shall see a dramatic re-shuffle. Before calling the election, he had only been Prime Minister for some 100 days and so it’s no major roles are likely to change. Gove, Patel and Raab are likely to remain in place in what will be a heavily Brexit-orientated cabinet.

Secondly, the Queen’s speech will be at the top of Johnson’s mind. Owing to his removal of the whip of 21 Conservative MPs back in October, he led a minority government which struggled to pass any legislation. Johnson will want to lay out a clear set of domestic policies which will define his legacy past Brexit.

Thirdly, the ‘B’ word: Johnson has previously promised that Britain will leave the EU by the end of January 2020, and we will see if this is likely within the next few weeks. Without doubt, Johnson will table a withdrawal agreement in the coming weeks to propel himself toward this goal.

05.29 am:

Back to Scotland now and the SNP continue to take seats. This election marks the Scottish Labour party’s fourth successive defeat in Scotland.

The Labour Party has gone from 7 to a possible single seat in Scotland.

05.27 am:

A few updates from recent results:

Gordon Brown’s old seat has been gained by the SNP.

Dennis Skinner has lost his seat to the Conservatives. He would have been Father of the House following Ken Clarke’s departure.

05.24 am:

We are still bringing you updates for the next few hours. Our roaming reporters have returned from their respective vote counts and are talking over the night:

Make sure to tune in on listen.thisislsr.com and leedsstudent.tv/live

05.21 am:

After a night of vote counting, the Conservatives are likely to gain the largest majority since the Thatcher era, while Labour has performed their worst for the past three decades.

05.14 am:

As the Conservatives now enter the territory of a majority, talk turns to Brexit negotiations and its likelihood.

Johnson has previously claimed that, if he wins the election, we will the EU by the end of January 2020. Several EU officials have claimed, however, that it is unlikely that Britain will be able to leave before 2021.

The question is whether Johnson will attempt to leave with or without a deal. The second reading of his proposed Brexit deal did past in parliament back in October, but we are unaware whether he will re-address this same deal.

Regardless, trade negotiations will continue for many years into the future. Some predict that talks with the USA may last up to 7 years before an agreement is reached. This comes with its own issues and topics of debate, such as the possible privatisation of the NHS.

Any deals will require give-and-take on both sides and we are not aware of what extent Boris Johnson is ready to compromise.

05.05 am:

The Conservative party does now hold a majority and are continuing to gain seats.

05.03 am:

Andrew Neil questions Yvette Cooper on Corbyn’s brand of socialism and whether it should remain in place after he resigns.

Cooper calls for more ‘reflection’ so that Labour might once again represent the towns which it has lost tonight.

Cooper states the election ‘really shows that we have to change as a party’. This could suggest a move away from Corybism and the Corybistas.

04.52 am:

The constituency of Bassetlaw notes the largest Labour to Conservative swing of the night so far, standing at 18%.

Local officials state that the desire to get Brexit done overcame voters in this seat. This is becoming a national trend.

04.37 am:

The BBC has adjusted its forecast again:

Conservative: 368

Labour: 199

04.30 am:

Green Party officials are continuing to attack the current state of politics on Twitter, following Lucas’s re-election speech:

04.28 am:

The Conservatives have gained yet another seat from the Labour red belt. They take Stoke after much speculation, repeating the pattern of gains that have appeared across the country.

Johnson’s gamble of trying to turn red to blue across the middle of this country has paid off.

04.27 am:

The Green Party’s Caroline Lucas has retained her seat in Brighton Pavillion. She has increased her share of the vote to some 57%.

In her acceptance speech, she expressed how disillusioned she is with Labour and Conservative party politics. Lucas attacked Brexit and the widening pay gap in society to great applause from her audience.

The Green Party have seen an increased vote share overall compared to previous elections and, as a result, many of their members are calling for constitutional changes.

The first-past-the-post system has been under attack from parties on all sides of the political spectrum, owing to its favouring of the country’s major political parties.

Tactical voting has become a headline topic of this and the 2017 election and smaller parties are suffering as voters attempt to the spilt the vote.

04.20 am:

As the Conservatives begin to secure their majority, voter demographics are coming to the forefront of discussions.

This election has marked a clear turning point in how parties campaign for votes. In the Major and Blair years, there was a largely a fight for middle-class votes, but as the country becomes more divided and the respective parties head more toward fringe politics, the votes of the working classes become imperative.

04.14 am:

Former Prime Minister Theresa May is currently speaking to BBC One about her time in office.

She failed to answer questions about losing her majority, and she does not support any calls for a second Scottish referendum.

04.11 am:

Many Twitter users are praising the SNP’s staunch victory in Scotland and calling for more anti-Brexit legislation as a result:

04.10 am:

Nicola Sturgeon, SNP leader, states that the result has exceeded her expectations and been an ‘exceptional’ night for her party.

The SNP results send a clear message to Westminister as the process of devolved government comes into question.

It is unlikely that Boris Johnson’s Conservative government would support a second Scottish independence referendum, but the argument for it in parliament will remain strong with the SNP’s new mandate.

04.04 am:

The BBC is now forecasting the SNP to finish with 53 seats — just short of their major 56 seat victory in 2015.

03.58 am:

Alex Sobel increases his majority in Leeds North West by around 7,000 votes.

In this heavily student-based seat, it is no surprise that Labour trumped all other candidates.

03.55 am:

For the entire night, pundits have suggested that Swinson may be out of a job by Friday morning and they were proved right just after 03.45 am.

Her stint as Lib Dem leader was short-lived, having been elected over the Summer of 2019.

Swinson pitched herself, at the start of the election campaign, as a viable candidate for prime minister, though she later backtracked on this claim and posited the Liberal Democrats as the party which would defy Johnson a majority.

In truth, neither of her sweeping statements came to fruition. She loses her seat as the SNP tidal wave encompasses the majority of Scotland.

Jo Swinson’s failure comes in her inability to address the issue of a Scottish referendum to a great enough extent.

03.52 am:

Swinson labels Johnson’s win as representing a new ‘wave of nationalism’ across the country. She states that these results will fill many people with ‘dread and fear’.

03.47 am:

Jo Swinson has officially lost her seat tonight after much speculation.

The SNP candidate gained the seat by just over 150 votes.

03.45 am:

Journalists have been responding to Corbyn’s speech and speculations of resignation.

The Mail’s deputy political editor has sniped Corbyn’s previous attack on the media:

03.43 am:

Boris Johnson increases his majority from 2017 even though the Labour candidate received increased media coverage and speculation.

Johnson’s acceptance speech was dominated by talk of Brexit and repetitions of Conservative election pledges.

03.42 am:

Now in Boris Johnson’s seat…

Conservative: 25,351 (CONSERVATIVE HOLD)

UKIP: 283

Green: 1,090

Labour: 18,141

Lib Dem: 3,026

03.40 am:

Lib Dem sources confirm that Jo Swinson has lost her seat.

03.31 am:

Jeremy Corbyn to resign following the election result. He will lead the party through a moment of ‘reflection’ but is likely to step down before any future elections take place.

03.25 am:

In this acceptance speech, Corbyn posits that he will take the Labour party into the near future and discuss policy changes in light of this result.

Corbyn states that he will remain MP, but does not address queries surrounding his place as leader of the parliamentary Labour party.

03.20 am:

Now in the Labour party leader’s seat of Islington…

The Monster Raving Looney Party gain a few hundred votes in a mock attack, but Corbyn gains upwards of 34,000, securing his place in Parliament.

This comes after one of his Labour neighbours, Helena Goodman in Bishop Auckland, conceded defeat earlier in the night.

03.16 am:

Zac Goldsmith, a previous candidate for Mayor of London, has lost his Richmond Park seat to the Liberal Democrats.

Sarah Olney, of the Lib Dems, gained a majority of over 7,000.

Metropolitan seats continue to be lost by the Conservative party to both Labour and the Lib Dems.

03.11 am:

Here are updates from the Leeds based constituencies so far:

Leeds Central: Labour HOLD (Hilary Benn’s seat)

Leeds East: Labour HOLD

03.10 am:

A few important updates in the last hour:

The DUP deputy leader has lost their seat.

Chuka Umunna loses his seat.

03.04 am:

Apologies for the radio silence. There was a break from the live blog but we are back now.

Updates:

The exit poll has been adjusted.

Conservative decreased to 357 and Labour increase to 201.

02:47 am:

The vote share has changed massively since the 2017 election and the only party to be negatively impacted is Labour.

02.35 am:

The conservatives gain the swing seat of Stockton by +3.9%, with the swing from labour to conservative being +5.6%.

02.03 am:

It’s 2 am and a flood of results are coming in, Andy Burnham’s old seat, Leigh, has been lost to the Conservatives with a 12.3% swing.

01.59 am:

Boris Johnson’s majority is undoubted but he will be governing a divided country.

A map will see a Scotland coloured SNP yellow and various cities, such as London and Birmingham, turning largely red.

By no means will it be plain-sailing for any Tory government.

01.58 am:

Labour break the Conservative domination hitherto in the election and gain the Wandsworth-based seat of Putney.

Constituents in Putney voted strongly in favour of Remain in 2016 and they mark a move in metropolitan areas away from Conservatism.

01.51 am:

Helen Goodman, the ex-Labour MP for Bishop Auckland, has conceded defeat.

Goodman is one of Corbyn’s neighbours and marks the Conservative’s cross-country gains.

Additionally, Conservatives have gained Peterborough with a 3.3% swing from Labour.

The emerging pattern from the north of England is now being demonstrated across the country and the exit poll’s accuracy can no longer be called into question.

01.50 am:

The Conservatives are beginning to make ground in previously Labour Welsh seats.

They have gained Vale of Clwyd with a swing to Conservative from Labour of 5.5%.

01.44 am:

The constituency of Caerphilly is a key seat in demonstrating how the Brexit party are chipping away at the Labour vote.

Though the seat was held by Labour, their vote share decreased and the Brexit gained over 11% of the vote.

Even in the northern seats Labour holds, the Brexit Party are slimming any majorities they attempt.

01.41 am:

The most unsurprising moment of the night comes as Lindsay Hoyle is re-elected as Speaker in his seat of Chorley.

The Green party and an independent candidate stood against him but failed to make any ground.

01.38 am:

The debate tonight surrounds the nature of the major swing from Labour to Conservative.

Some argue that the exit poll demonstrates a public rejection of Jeremy Corbyn, while others believe Boris Johnson’s one nation Toryism is appealing a large portion of the country’s former Conservative voters.

Yet there is no doubt that Brexit has played a major role in this election. As we have previously mentioned, the Brexit Party have cut into Labour votes and red strongholds are turning blue across the country.

In Jarrow, a Labour hold, there was still a swing to Conservative of over 11%.

01.34 am:

Another Conservative gain from Labour in the north of England; it’s a 7.5% swing in Darlington.

That is the story of tonight. As more and more vital seats in the country turn blue, their sizeable majority appears more real. If the exit poll is correct, Boris Johnson will hold the largest Conservative majority government since Thatcher in 1983.

01.29 am:

The first Scottish seat has been announced and we begin to the SNP tidal wave take the top of the UK.

SNP gain Rutherglen and Hamilton West.

The SNP has previously been wary of the exit poll and its high projection of 55 seats for the party, but this may be yet another sign of the poll’s accuracy.

01.23 am:

The Conservatives gain the previously Labour seat of Workington.

Once again we see Leave-voting constituencies falling to the blue wave.

Scars of the 2016 referendum continue to divide the country and issues of Brexit have never been more intrinsic in defining our country’s political direction.

01.19 am:

The result is in for Wansbeck after a recount. Ian Lavery narrowly holds onto his seat with a majority of 814 votes.

It is a dismal night for Labour with some of their key officials being under serious threat from the Conservative party.

01.13 am:

Candidate for the Lib Dems, Heidi Allen, who left the Conservative party to form Change UK, is currently on BBC One commenting on division. She states that we should be worried as the exit poll demonstrates cohesion on the right of the political spectrum.

01.09 am:

Recent results:

Conservative hold Broxbourne

Conservatives hold Nuneaton

Labour hold South Shields

01.00 am:

As we enter into the early morning, Labour candidates and officials continue to attack Jeremy Corbyn. One candidate on BBC One commenting that the manifesto simply promised too much and voters became wary.

12.59 am:

Sky’s Sam Coates has tweeted that a recount is occurring in the seat of Ian Lavery who is the Labour party Chairman.

12.51 am:

A couple of interesting seats which are set to succumb to the Tory invasion tonight:

Sedgefield (Tony Blair’s old seat) will turn blue for the first time in nearly a century.

Bishop and Auckland (a neighbouring seat of Corbyn) is set to become a Conservative seat for the first time in its 134 year history.

With such historic results coming throughout the night, this election with set the political direction of our country for years — if not decades — to come. What cannot be doubted is that Jeremy Corbyn will be forced from party leadership after these results.

12.47 am:

Labour holds Washington & Sunderland West as Sharon Hodgson wins 42.5% of the vote.

Labour also holds Newcastle-upon-Tyne North, but Catherine McKinnell loses 9.9% of the vote share from 2017.

12.45 am:

We are clipping the best bits from our live coverage of the results:

Make sure to check out these videos across us Twitter and tune in live at listen.thisislsr.com and leedsstudent.tv/live :)

12.35 am:

The Middlesbrough result has also come in. Labour holds the seat with Andy McDonald gaining a 53.5% majority — stay up-to-date by following our Twitter:

12.30 am:

Swindon North results are coming in:

Green: 1,710

Lib Dem: 4,408

Labour: 16,413

Conservative: 32,584 (CONSERVATIVE HOLD)

12.21 am:

The Labour candidate for Stoke-on-Trent has stated that all three Stoke constituencies will go to the Conservative party this morning.

12.18 am:

Here are the results from Houghton and Sunderland South:

Labour: 16,210 (LABOUR HOLD)

Conservative: 13,095

Brexit: 6,165

Lib Dem: 2,319

Green: 1,125

UKIP: 897

12.13 am:

Across the first three seats to declare, news outlets are reporting an average swing from Labour to Conservative of 8.3%.

12.10 am:

Our first insight into the accuracy of the exit poll has arrived. Prof Sir John Curtice, who leads the team that produced the poll, told the BBC that he predicted Blyth Valley would turn blue.

It is suggested that the broad picture painted by this exit poll may be accurate.

12.07 am:

Labour candidates are continuing their onslaught against Corbyn and his leadership.

Candidate, Ian Murrary, tweeted the following after Labour lost a former safe seat, Blyth Valley, to the Conservatives:

12.01 am:

Happy Friday! We are now into the early hours of the morning and results will be slow for the next couple hours. Stay tuned here and at listen.thisislsr.com and leedsstudent.tv/live for full coverage of the results as they come in.

23.59 pm:

Green Party co-leader, Jonathan Bartley, calls for election reform on BBC One. Climate change has been a key topic of debate throughout this election and TIME recently named Greta Thunberg person of the year.

Bartley pines for a different system of voting, such as proportional representation, to allow smaller parties a seat in the Commons.

23.55 pm:

Nicholas Soames, the grandson of Winston Churchill, labels Boris Johnson as a ‘one nation Tory’ on BBC One.

23.45 pm:

BBC reporting that Nicola Sturgeon has been getting ‘some flak’ for pushing a second indyref above the ‘Stop Brexit’ message of the SNP.

23.34 pm:

The Conservative’s take the former mining town of Blyth Valley for the first time in history with a slim majority of 712.

The Conservative candidate, now MP, has given his thanks in his acceptance speech.

23.32 pm:

The Blyth Valley result is in:

Lib Dem: 2,151

Labour & Co-op: 16,728

Green: 1,146

Conservative: 17,414 (CONSERVATIVE GAIN)

Brexit: 3,394

23.29 pm:

Sunderland result is as follows:

Green: 1,125

Lib Dem: 2,319

UKIP: 897

Conservative: 13,095

Labour: 16,210 (LABOUR HOLD)

Brexit: 6,165

23.28 pm:

The first result, for Newcastle Central, is as follows:

Lid Dem: 2,709

Brexit: 2,542

Conservative: 9,290

Labour: 21,568 (LABOUR HOLD)

Green 1,365

23.26 pm:

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Central is announcing their result…

23.21 pm:

There’s been a provisional result at Blythe Valley but they will be conducting a ‘bundle recount’. More to come…

23.17 pm:

Dominic Raab is among several frontbench MPs who have a chance to lose their seat tonight. Though, he is fairly confident about being re-elected, stating there’s been ‘pretty positive feedback’ tonight.

23.15 pm:

Some of the following topics are trending on Twitter, as users demonstrate their disillusionment about the party leaders:

#CorbynOut

#UxbridgeAndSouthRuislip (Boris Johnson’s previously safe seat which may be up for grabs tonight, though, this looks unlikely).

23.12 pm:

One of our correspondents, Ed Barnes, has more to say on the surge of the pound:

‘The pound sterling has surged 2.2% to 1.35 against the US dollar. This comes in the wake of the Conservatives being predicted an 86 seat majority in the 2019 General Election. The BBC’s Economics editor Faisal Islam suggested this meant that a no-deal exit from the European Union was now less likely and argued this was a reason behind the sudden rise in value for the currency.

The pound has also risen to a three-year high against the euro. With a working majority of 86, the likelihood of Boris Johnson’s deal passing through Parliament has risen significantly. The pound had been dropping over the course of the day as voters went to the polls.’

23.08 pm:

It’s been an hour since the exit polls have been announced and we have had time to analyse what exactly is going on here…

Notably, the Conservatives are predicted to gain a majority but will lose 12 out of their 13 seats in Scotland, as the SNP surge to take 55 out of a possible 59. As Brexit will continue to dominate the news in the future, so will talk of a second independence referendum — which Nicola Sturgeon has promised throughout the election campaign.

The SNP Leader has been quiet hitherto tonight and has only tweeted thanks to all those who voted for her party:

https://twitter.com/NicolaSturgeon/status/1205246587129212931

23.00 pm:

The BBC has produced a seat-by-seat forecast for this election. Check it out here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50424263

22.51 pm:

Brexit continues to dominate this election. The Brexit Party’s chairman, Richard Tice, has commented on the exit poll arguing that his party helped reduce the Labour vote in several heavily ‘Leave’ voting seats (in 2016).

Nigel Farage called on Boris Johnson to form an alliance with the Brexit Party numerous times over the course of the election, and it appears that this relatively new party has played a major roll in the direction of this election…

22.47 pm:

The Scotsman’s owner has also weighed in on the exit poll:

22.43 pm:

The Guardian’s Simon Murphy has commented that the Liberal Democrat’s leader, Jo Swinson, looks set to lose her seat tonight. More to come…

22.40 pm:

More Labour MPs are railing against the result. Margaret Hodge — who famously labelled Corbyn ‘antisemitic’ — has tweeted attacking McDonnell’s appearance on BBC One:

https://twitter.com/margarethodge/status/1205253175319695361

22.35 pm:

Labour politicians and officials have already begun the attack on Corbyn following the exit poll.

See MEP Seb Dance’s response below:

22.33 pm:

The BBC Europe Editor, Katya Adler, is reminding viewers that even though Boris Johnson may have a safe majority by Friday morning, this will only mark the end of Brexit Stage 1.

We will enter into numerous subsequent stages, negotiating trade deals and the like.

22.28 pm:

Sterling has gone up against the dollar since the exit poll has been announced. It is at its highest point in the last 14 months.

See the BBC’s Economic editor’s tweet below:

22.27 pm:

The exit poll, if correct, suggests a swing from Labour to the Conservatives of 11%.

The BBC One election programme is forecasting several Conservative gains from the Labour red belt, including:

Halifax

Wakefield

Bridgend

22.24 pm:

Another user is parodying the infamous Labour slogan:

22.22 pm:

Let’s go back and look at Twitter responses.

This user is railing against any alleged grassroots surge in Corbynism.

22.19 pm:

Andrew Neil is asking John McDonnell whether it is time for him and Corbyn to step down… The Shadow Chancellor says that the “appropriate” decisions will be made in the morning.

22.17 pm:

John McDonnell is on BBC One expressing how disappointed Labour is at the projected result, but he does not believe that voters fled the party due to Jeremy Corbyn…

22.16 pm:

The race in on between Sunderland and Newcastle as they battle to announce their results first. The record stands at 45-minutes. Let’s see if anyone beats it tonight…

22.12 pm:

Priti Patel is speaking to Huw Edwards on BBC One and confirmed that the Conservative party will be tabling bills for a Queen’s speech and Brexit deal in the coming weeks — if the exit poll result is accurate…

22.07 pm:

Twitter is roaring in shock after the announcement of the exit poll: Game of Thrones’ memes galore. Perhaps the #YouthQuake was not as strong as many expected?

22.04 pm:

The full exit poll result from the BBC below:

22.02 pm:

The exit polls have been announced and the Conservatives are predicted to have 368 seats, while Labour drops to 191. More to follow.

21.50 pm:

Good evening! In ten minutes we’ll be beginning our live blog bringing you all results and updates from GE2019.

We are live on listen.thisislsr.com and visually on leedsstudent.tv/live

Stay tuned on our Twitter for all updates on seats and votes: