UK General Election 2015 – Live Results, Polls, News and Predictions

UK Prime Minister David Cameron, centre, poses for a group photo with newly elected Conservative MPs at the Houses of Parliament in central London. Photo: Getty Images

Cameron makes it Ladies' Day with cabinet reshuffle

It was very much Ladies' Day at Downing Street yesterday as British Prime Minister David Cameron completed his cabinet reshuffle.

Nigel Farage to stay on as leader of Ukip

Nigel Farage to stay on as leader of Ukip

Nigel Farage is to stay on as leader of the UK Independence Party (Ukip) after the party's ruling board rejected his resignation.

Cameron makes it Ladies' Day with cabinet reshuffle

David Cameron and his wife Samantha leave the VE Day 70th Anniversary service at Westminster Abbey in London

Tories' honeymoon over as Eurosceptics turn up heat

David Cameron's brief honeymoon after his shock election victory has already ended after Eurosceptic Conservative MPs demanded he win major concessions when he renegotiates the...

North's election results puncture SF myth of United Ireland's inevitability

I've lost count of the number of Northern Ireland media commentators who regularly and spontaneously burst into laughter at the mere mention of Peter Robinson's "graduated unionist response" promised over the parading stand off over the Ardoyne shops in North Belfast.

David Cameron delivers his victory speech outside No. 10

Scottish and English nationalists on collision course

The self-declared Conservative and Unionist Party won the General Election in England by harnessing English nationalism, and the Scottish Nationalists did the same in Scotland by harnessing Scottish nationalism. The two nations, by the rhetoric of their election campaigns, have thus set themselves on a collision course.

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband was widely seen as having steered the party leftwards from former prime minister Tony Blair’s centrist 'New Labour'

Labour grandees scathing of Miliband

The Labour Party must return to the political centre ground and acknowledge the aspirations of millions of voters it ignored in its election campaign, senior figures warned yesterday, as the party's crushing defeat hit home.

UK pollsters got it wrong because no one wants to admit they're voting for Tories

The British Polling Council is about to carry out an enquiry as to how the pollsters could have so wrongly forecast the outcome of the British general election: there was David Cameron writing his resignation speech in preparation for a hung parliament and a constitutional crisis (and Samantha Cameron allegedly packing up...

THROUGH THE DOOR AGAIN: Workers applaud as David Cameron and his wife Samantha return to Number 10 Downing Street after the Conservatives’ victory in the UK general election

After David Cameron's electoral success, the real fight begins

No British government has won anything approaching half of the popular vote in more than half a century. The best Tony Blair managed was 43pc, and that was only when the Tories had...

Sinn Fein left reeling from loss of 'Bobby Sands' seat'

Sinn Fein have been dealt a significant blow after the party lost a seat once held by IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands in the British general election.

WINNER AND LOSERS: Labour’s Ed Miliband, the Liberal Democrats’ Nick Clegg and the Conservatives’ David Cameron

English preferred steady George Osborne to flaky Russell Brand

For anyone who hasn't been paying attention, the Conservatives, whom the poll of polls had predicted would win 34pc of the vote and struggle to cobble together a shaky coalition, won 36.9pc and hence 331 seats out of 650, giving them a majority of 12. (Actually, it's better for them than...

Shinners rumbled on austerity message

Sinn Fein likes to boast that it is Ireland's only all-island party, but that was never true. The Workers' Party straddles the border.

WINNER TAKES ALL: Outgoing Labour leader Ed Miliband, outgoing Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and re-elected British Prime Minister David Cameron attend a ceremony at the Cenotaph in London to mark VE Day just hours after the Conservative Party defied all the polls and won an overall majority in the UK elections

So tell me again, how did David Cameron defy all odds to win?

David Cameron won the UK general election and returned to Downing Street with an outright majority after Labour was virtually wiped out by the SNP in Scotland and the Liberal Democrat...

A deflated Ed Miliband with his wife Justine yesterday

Nearly man, who just wasn't nearly good enough in end

If only politics wasn't so brutally binary. What if there was room for a few shades of light and grey. In a more unforgiving world, it might have been Ed Miliband striding confidently up Downing Street,...

Mr Cameron has, it seems, Nick Clegg to thank for the prospect of another five years in power

Not for the first time, an election the pollsters will be voting to forget

There was a precedent. The last time the polls suggested an election was close - in 1992 - the Conservatives emerged with an eight-point lead and an overall majority. This time, the...

Nick Clegg with his wife Miriam after quitting as party leader

Clegg calls it quits but Farage refuses to rule out another run

A dejected Nick Clegg threw in the towel as leader of the Liberal Democrats, describing the results as "dark hour" for his party, and "the most crushing blow to the Liberal Democrats since our party...

Winner takes all: The Twitter feed of David Cameron and his wife Samantha after learning of his victory early yesterday.

The night when everything changed forever. . .

LOOK. I'm really sorry. I know this is going to seem like an unusual question. After all, this is a newspaper. We're the ones who are supposed to tell you the news, not the other way round.

'Horsewoman of the Ajockalypse' savours her party's Highland fling

The SNP was celebrating the most important moment in its history after an "electoral tsunami" swept Scotland, wiping out the Labour Party's previously dominant presence there at a single...

David Cameron, Ed Miliband, and Nick Clegg during a Service of Remembrance to mark the 70th anniversary of VE Day, at the Cenotaph, in Whitehall, London. Photo: PA

Backlash of a whole nation forgotten by political classes in London

The wipeout of the Westminster parties in Scotland is a dramatic demonstration of how spectacularly their leaders have misunderstood the mood of the Scottish people by failing to see past their own...

Sinn Fein candidate for Fermanagh and South Tyrone Michelle Gildernew at the General Election count centre in the Omagh Leisure centre. Photo: PA

Unionists win extra seats but won't be king-makers

Unionism is returning to Westminster with more seats, but less influence than they had hoped for.

UUP candidate for Fermanagh and South Tyrone Tom Elliott celebrates after his General Election victory in the Omagh Leisure centre. Photo: PA

Unionism did well but the North is still facing years of austerity

This is a day for holding hands up. We commentators didn't forecast how well the unionist pact would work, especially for the UUP.

Campaign marred by dirty tricks, slurs and a lack of good manners

The recent poll is being slated as one of the nastiest in memory, with allegations of dirty tricks, slurs and a lack of courtesy in victory.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams takes a 'selfie' with Mary Lou McDonald and the party's Belfast candidates at the kings Hall in Belfast. Photo: PA

Nationalist vote falls but reasons for Sinn Féin slump run much deeper

Has Sinn Fein's Northern Ireland vote finally peaked? Is the party's irresistible rise finally being resisted?

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha return to 10 Downing Street after Britain's general election, in London, May 8, 2015. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

John Downing: What the British election means for Ireland

David Cameron’s certain return to head the British Government poses big immediate problems for Ireland.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron speaks outside Number 10 Downing Street to announce he will form a new majority goverment, in London, Britain May 8, 2015.
REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

David Cameron rules out Scottish referendum - pays tribute to former Labour leader Ed Miliband

Re-elected Prime Minister David Cameron has effectively ruled out a second referendum on independence for Scotland.

Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage all resign following election disaster in the UK

Three leaders of the main opposition parties in the UK have resigned.

Prime Minister David Cameron (left) walks past a candidate man dressed as Elmo during the General Election count at the Windrush Leisure Centre in Witney. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 8, 2015. Photo credit should read: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Joan Burton & Labour look away - six things we've learned from the UK election

Here are five things we've learned from a very long night.

Prime Minister David Cameron and wife Samantha arrive at 10 Downing Street in central London after the General Election put his Conservative Party on the brink of securing an absolute majority in the House of Commons. Anthony Devlin/PA Wire

Top ten election night quotes

The good, the bad and the interesting.....

Labour Party leader Ed Miliband at Doncaster Racecourse after retaining his seat in the General Election. Photo: Chris Radburn/PA Wire

Ed Miliband tweets: 'The responsibility for the result is mine alone'

Labour leader Ed Miliband has accepted responsibility for his party's disappointing performance in the UK General Election. Defeats are hard, but we’re a party that will never...

Nigel Farage, leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), leaves after voting at his polling station in Ramsgate REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett

UKIP leader Nigel Farage quits after failing to win Westminster seat

Lost out to Tory candidate - came second ahead of Labour, Lib Dems and pub landlord Al Murray

SNP's Mhairi Black smiles after defeating Labour's Douglas Alexander for the Paisley and Renfrewshire South seat at the Lagoon Leisure centre, Paisley. Photo: David Cheskin/PA Wire

Mhairi Black: Britain's youngest MP for 350 years

A firebrand, and at times foul-mouthed, Mhairi Black has become Britain’s youngest ever MP as part of a block of nationalists intent on changing the face of English politics.

Nigel Farage of UKIP is seen during the first televised debate with Nick Clegg (R). Photo: Getty Images

Cameron heading back to Number 10 after UK General Election 2015

David Cameron was heading back to 10 Downing Street after a General Election in which the Conservatives were on track to far outperform expectations while the Scottish National Party...

Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband announces his resignation as leader at a news conference in London, Britain. Reuters/Neil Hall

Ed Miliband's resignation speech in full

Here is the full text of Ed Miliband's resignation speech:

DUP's Gavin Robinson kisses his wife Lindsay after winning the East Belfast parliamentary seat at the Kings Hall in Belfast. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Northern Ireland's Unionists are hoping for key role in Westminister

The Democratic Unionists are set to play a crucial role in the next parliament, the party's deputy leader has said.

Britain's Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg walks off the stage after winning his seat in Sheffield, May 8, 2015. REUTERS/Andrew Yates

Clegg expected to step down as leader

Nick Clegg's leadership of the Liberal Democrats appears to be drawing to an end after a disastrous election night for the party.

Pressure on Miliband to decide on future

Ed Miliband should consider his position as Labour leader after presiding over a "depressing" performance in the General Election, Jack Straw suggested.

Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable looks on after he lost his Twickenham seat to the Conservatives at Richmond Upon Thames College, Richmond. Photo : Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

Shocks from General Election counts

Here are some of the shocks from the General Election counts:

Nigel Farage, leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), leaves after voting at his polling station in Ramsgate, southeast England. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett

Ukip wins its first election seat in General Election 2015

Ukip has won its first seat at a General Election - but Douglas Carswell saw his majority slashed.

Mayor of London and prospective Conservative candidate for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Boris Johnson, after winning the seat during the General Election count at Brunel University, London. Photo: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire

Key points from the UK General Election counts

Here are 10 key points from the election counts.

Five men arrested after a police car exploded outside a General Election count Hinckley Leisure Centre, in Coventry Road, Hinckley. Picture: Twitter

Police car count centre blast: Five held

Five men have been arrested after a police car exploded outside a General Election count.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon as she arrives at the General Election count for Glasgow constituencies at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow. Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

SNP gaining seats across Scotland

Nicola Sturgeon's SNP has made sweeping gains across Scotland, with a dramatic collapse in support for Labour seeing shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander and Scottish leader Jim Murphy both losing their seats.

British Prime Minister David Cameron looks at 'Fathers For Justice' protesters as he exits a polling station after voting with his wife Samantha (C-L), at the village of Spelsbury in Oxfordshire.

Cameron will stay in No 10, predict exit polls

DAVID CAMERON was last night on course to remain prime minister of the UK, with the Conservatives as the biggest party in parliament, early exit polls suggested. The first exit polls indicated that the...