Sir Keir Starmer said it was “time for us to deliver” as results in the early hours of Friday pointed to a landslide Labour victory in the General Election.
Speaking after his re-election as MP for Holborn and St Pancras, the Labour leader said: “Tonight people here and around the country have spoken and they are ready for change, to end the politics of performance, a return to politics as public service.
“The change begins right here, because this is your democracy, your community and your future.
“You have voted, it is now time for us to deliver.”
Exit polls on Thursday night suggested a thumping Labour victory, with the party on course to scoop 410 seats and secure a majority of 170, just less than the majority of 179 won by Tony Blair in 1997.
But early results suggested the final total could be even higher, as the party retained seats such as Barnsley North and Hartlepool that the exit poll had projected would fall to Reform UK.
While it may not be the majority of more than 200 predicted by some polls in the run-up to election day, it is still a stunning recovery from 2019, when Labour suffered its worst defeat since the 1930s and many commentators believed it would take at least a decade for the party to recover.
To everyone who has campaigned for Labour in this election, to everyone who voted for us and put their trust in our changed Labour Party – thank you. https://t.co/q6yDNPnAbo
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) July 4, 2024
Former party leader Lord Neil Kinnock described the projected landslide as “the biggest comeback since Lazarus”.
Deputy leader Angela Rayner told Sky News she thought the Conservatives were being “punished” for the past 14 years, but stressed the results were not in yet.
The party made early gains across the Midlands and North, securing seats such as Darlington – which was one of the constituencies lost to the Conservatives in 2019, and the bellwether seat of Nuneaton where Labour wiped out a Tory majority of more than 13,000.
It is also on course to make significant advances in Scotland, with a Labour source suggesting the party was “doing well” in Glasgow and regaining Paisley from the SNP, the seat formerly held by SNP deputy Westminster leader Mhairi Black.
Former journalist Paul Waugh won back Rochdale for Labour from George Galloway, who took the seat in a shock by-election result in February.
But not everything was going Labour’s way.
A close-fought battle in Islington North saw former leader Jeremy Corbyn, now an independent candidate, retain the seat – while shadow cabinet member Thangam Debbonaire lost Bristol Central to Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer.
In another blow, the party’s shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth was beaten by an independent in Leicester South.
Labour won the first seat of the night shortly after 11pm on Thursday, with shadow education secretary holding on to Houghton and Sunderland South, doubling her majority and increasing her vote share while the Conservatives slumped to third place behind Reform UK.
Ms Phillipson said in her victory speech: “Tonight the British people have spoken, and if the exit poll this evening is again a guide to results across our country as it so often is, then after 14 years the British people have chosen change.
“They have chosen Labour and they have chosen the leadership of Keir Starmer. Today our country with its proud history has chosen a brighter future.”