Tory – 316, Labour 239 and Lib Dems 10 but SNP – 58
A good news and good night sleep for Prime Minister David Cameron. He can either form a coalition with Lib Dems or lead a minority government to remain at No 10 Downing Street.
The joint BBC/ITV/Sky survey released at 10pm after polling stations closed put the Conservatives ahead on 316 seats, with Labour on 239, the Liberal Democrats on 10, the SNP on 58 and Ukip on 2 as counting begins across the country.
The survey was big shock for Labour as the party is facing total wipe out in Scotland. This is the first time in the history, two elections delivering hung parliaments consecutively.
Professor John Curtice, who is analysing the results for the BBC, said: “Once upon a time, you could concentrate on Conservative-Labour marginals, throw in a few Lib Dem seats and basically get it right,” he told Bloomberg. “Until now you could ignore Scotland. You can’t ignore it any more.”
The first result will start to trickle in from 11pm. The first seat to declare is expected to be Houghton & Sunderland South. The last should be St Ives at 1pm on Friday. The key seats will start to paint a picture of how the night is going for all the parties are due to declare from 2pm.