Boris Johnson’s Conservatives have won at least 326 seats – enough to guarantee a majority.
UK election results 2019: Boris Johnson storms to victory
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BREAKING: Boris Johnson's Conservative Party has won the election
SNP leader claims “strengthened mandate” for Scottish independence referendum
From CNN's Seb Shukla in Edinburgh
Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon has said that Scotland has a “renewed, refreshed (and) strengthened mandate” for a new independence referendum.
Speaking to the BBC from Glasgow, Sturgeon said that “Boris Johnson has a mandate to take England out of the EU. He must accept I have a mandate to offer an alternative future” for Scotland.
She continued to say that the results of the election “underlines the importance of Scotland having a choice of something different” and that “we don’t want Boris Johnson’s Conservatives and we didn’t want to leave the EU. We want Scotland’s future to be in Scotland’s hands.”
The SNP leader also addressed the performance of her party, saying it has been “exceptional” night and results “exceeded expectations.”
Donald Trump responds to election results
US President Donald Trump has weighed in on the results so far, accurately noting that it's "looking like a big win" for Boris Johnson.
It's been a tough night for Conservative rebels
The clutch of Conservative MPs who quit or were sacked from the party by Boris Johnson have suffered defeats across the country tonight.
Dominic Grieve and Anna Soubry have both lost their seats. Both were heavily critical of Johnson's Brexit strategy and found themselves booted out of the party.
Labour defector Chuka Umunna, who had criticized Jeremy Corbyn's leadership and left to join the Lib Dems (with a brief pit-stop with the Independent Group for Change) was also ousted.
Meanwhile, the breakaway Independent Group for Change has been wiped out.
SNP's Sturgeon caught celebrating Lib Dem leader's defeat
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon was caught by Sky's cameras cheering her party's win in Jo Swinson's seat.
Sturgeon later clarified she was celebrating her group's gain, not Swinson's loss.
People in America should be watching the next few hours in the UK closely
Analysis by CNN's Stephen Collinson
Americans should watch the next few hours in the UK closely.
If the Labour Party’s election night goes as disastrously as initial results are indicating, the Democratic Party may see a cautionary tale for the 2020 presidential race.
Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn took his party way to the left, leaving the more moderate ground where many voters feel most comfortable, including some in his own party and outside. He promised revolutionary change, a fundamental overhaul of society, heavy new taxes on the rich and a far bigger role for the state in the economy. Sound familiar?
Debate has rocked the Democratic Party over whether candidates like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are trekking too far to the left and leaving moderates behind. Both are promising an assault on billionaires and a state-run health care system -- a huge chunk of the US economy. Both also dismiss the idea that their political purity is a vote killer.
Granted, what’s considered “left” in the US is closer to center in the UK (where the state-run health care is generally beloved), but the two great Western democracies often rumble with similar trends. After all, the 2016 Brexit referendum to leave the EU foreshadowed Trump’s own anti-establishment revolt in the same year. No one saw either coming.
A Corbyn loss would give moderate US candidates like Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden grist for their arguments that party rivals to their left would be a disaster facing Trump next November.
And while US Republicans are radically further right than the UK’s Conservative Party, if Britons vote to keep in office their own yellow-haired, fast-talking populist – a man estranged from the truth and contemptuous of the press -- well, what isn’t there for Trump to love about that?
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Theresa May had a very different snap election, but says she "pleased" at Johnson's majority
Theresa May, Britain's previous Prime Minister, called a snap general election and lost seats in 2017.
Her successor Boris Johnson is enjoying a very different night after calling his own snap poll. Asked by the BBC for her response, May said: "I'm very pleased at the majority that Boris has achieved."
"At this election, people were faced with a very clear choice" about whether or not Brexit was delivered, she said.
Boris Johnson has breached Labour's 'Red Wall,' so how big will his majority be?
It's gone 4.a.m in the UK, and the outcome of the election is clear -- Boris Johnson will secure a majority in the next few hours. Only the size of the majority is still up in the air.
Here are the headlines in the middle of the night.
- Boris Johnson has hailed a "historic" election, as projections put his party on track for its best result since 1987.
- It means he should be able to pass his Brexit deal through Parliament with ease, and gives him significant power in Westminster.
- Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said he won't lead the party into the next election after suffering significant losses across the north of England.
- Jo Swinson, the Lib Dem leader who started her campaign by saying she could become Prime Minister, has lost her seat to the resurgent SNP.
- DUP Westminster leader Nigel Dodds was ousted by the republican party Sinn Fein, after Remain parties stood down to secure his exit.
- Labour's "Red Wall" of safe seats in the north was decimated by the Conservatives, who picked up numerous seats that have never been blue.
- Even its rising star Laura Pidcock, touted by Corbyn's circle as a potential future leadership contender, is out.
- Several of the party's MPs have called on Corbyn to stand aside immediately, with Jess Phillips indicating she will stand to replace him.
Boris Johnson touts "historic" election
Boris Johnson has hailed a "historic" election result after holding his seat.
"I don't want to tempt fate ... but at this stage it does look as though this one nation Conservative government has been given a powerful new mandate to get Brexit done," he said.
Johnson added he will then focus on the NHS, repeating a number of disputed pledges about the numbers of new nurses and hospitals he will create.
He thanked "Lord Buckethead, Elmo and others," in a seat where plenty of joke candidates ran.
"But above all I want to thank the people of this country for turning out to vote in a December election," he said. He called it a "historic election" which gave him "the chance to respect the democratic will of the British people."