Key Points
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Keir Starmer to be the next Prime Minister of the UK as exit poll predicts huge Labour majority - Rishi Sunak expected to resign as Tory leader and PM as party faces big losses
- The SNP is predicted to lose all but ten of its MPs – a dramatic fall from 2017 when it secured nearly all areas of Scotland
- Constituencies to begin declaring results from around 1am until after 7am
Labour is on course to secure a massive majority in the House of Commons and form the next UK Government, according to the 2024 General Election exit poll.
According to the survey, conducted by Ipsos on behalf of UK broadcasters, Sir Keir Starmer is set for a landslide victory over Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
It predicts Labour will win 410 seats while the Conservatives will fall to just 131 seats.
STV NewsThe SNP faces a wipeout, the poll predicts, falling from 43 MPs to just 10. The party has been dominant in Scotland since its landslide victory in 2015.
Former first minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said she believed the results of the exit poll would turn out to be “broadly right”.
If it does prove true, Labour would see a massive increase from its 2019 result when it won 202 seats under Jeremy Corbyn in its worst performance since 1935.
In that vote, the Conservatives won 365 seats under Boris Johnson.
The exit poll only provides UK-wide data, meaning that while seat numbers are available for the SNP it’s not known how many seats Scottish Labour, the Scottish Tories or the Scottish LibDems are predicted to win.
Polling stations across the UK opened at 7am, giving millions of voters the chance to decide if the incumbent remains in the top job or the Labour leader enters Downing Street.
Earlier, Sunak had insisted the result was not a foregone conclusion despite dire poll ratings for his party.
But on Thursday, as millions cast their ballots, the Prime Minister repeated his plea to voters to “stop the Labour supermajority”.
The exit poll suggests the end of 14 years of Conservative rule in the UK and the first Labour prime minister since Gordon Brown in 2010.
Sunak is expected to resign after leading his party to defeat but many of the contenders jostling to replace him are nervously awaiting their own constituency results to see if their leadership dreams survive the night.
The likes of Penny Mordaunt, Grant Shapps, Suella Braverman, Steve Baker and Robert Jenrick all face battles to return to Parliament.
Getty ImagesFormer home secretaries Suella Braverman and Priti Patel, security minister Tom Tugendhat and health secretary Victoria Atkins could survive to fight for the leadership.
The exit poll suggested Labour would have a majority of 170, with the forecast indicating the lowest number of Tory MPs on record.
The poll suggested the Liberal Democrats will win 61 seats, Reform UK on 13 and the Green Party two, while Plaid Cymru in Wales would win four.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said his party was “on course for our best results in a century, thanks to our positive campaign with health and care at its heart”.
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