General Election 2010: Decision Night liveblog
05.50 Update
Brighton Pavilion - GREEN WIN! Caroline Lucas takes it. That rumbling noise you heard was all Brockley's local Greens cheering.
Zac Goldsmith takes Richmond Park for the Conservatives, defeating the Lib Dem incumbent Susan Kramer.
05.40 Update
Employment minister Jim Knight has lost his seat. After a very tight squeeze, John Denham has kept his seat. We've not heard anything from Brighton Pavilion (the seat the Greens were hoping to take) for a very long time - last I heard, there was a suggestion of a re-count. Oliver Letwin has held onto his seat, despite predictions that he was vulnerable to a Lib Dem challenge.
05.32 Update
Bright-spark Tory A-List candidates Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, Shaun Bailey and Joanne Cash have all failed to capture their target seats.
05.30 Update
BC would like to apologise for talking about all these diversionary minor stories, the problem is that the main event - Lewisham - hasn't yet happened. In fact, our council hasn't even started counting yet, according to Cllr Sue Luxton's Twitter feed. Not sure why - possibly due to the need to verify postal votes? This must be done before the actual count can begin.
05.06 Update
There are real questions to be asked about what has happened to the Lib Dem vote: it seems to bear little resemblance to the last few weeks' polls. The party is still in a potential king-maker position, but they don't seem to have commanded the share of the popular vote which they'd been projected.
Charles Clarke being interviewed right now, looking and sounding very bitter.
Hazel Blears and Gisela Stewart hold their seats.
05.00 Update
Other ministers to lose their seats: Mike O'Brien (Health) and Angela Smith (Cabinet Office). Welsh independent Dai Davies has lost his seat. Labour holds Westminster North and Hammersmith.
04.50 Update
Charles Clarke has lost his seat. That's two ex-home secretaries in one night. Coincidence?
Ed Balls holds on in Morley, but all but loses his majority. His victory speech is the first fighting talk BC has heard all evening (from any party). He gets very loudly heckled.
04.45 Update
Controversial Conservative candidate Phillipa Stroud has failed in her attempt to win Sutton & Cheam, Londonist reports. Sky reports Shahid Malik has lost his seat in Dewsbury.
Editorial advisory note: BC will switch to a new thread for the morning session, from around 6am
04.36 Update
... And Jacqui Smith loses Redditch. Looks close to tears.
04.32 Update
Solicitor-general Vera Baird has lost to the Lib Dems on a 21.8% swing - biggest swing of the night?
04.30 Update
Esther Rantzen polls under 2,000 votes in Luton South. Labour holds the seat, thanks in large part to the fact that expenses culprit Margaret Moran (formerly a leading light of Lewisham Council) stepped down.
04.23 Update
Evan Harris loses by 176 votes. A very very bad day for science, no matter what your party affiliation.
04.21 Update
Sky is reporting that Jacqui Smith may have lost her seat. Ed Balls on course for a re-count. Evan Harris (Lib Dem science hero) may have lost his seat.
04.15 Update
Chicklit author Louise Bagshawe has won Corby - she's a Tory A-Lister, and has defeated Department of Health minister Phil Hope.
04.05 Update
Just passed the half-way mark: 330 constituencies declared. Looks as though Labour is holding solid in Scotland, mainly due to a lack of an SNP breakthrough. Wales is looking a bit blue.
04.05 Update
John Denham is teetering in Southampton. Wyre Forest independent Richard Taylor has lost his seat to the Tories.
03.59 Update
Looking as though the Tories' Northern Irish adventure isn't working out quite as they'd hoped: Reg Empey has lost, and Lady Hermon held her seat. It'll now come down to what kind of deal the Tories can cut with the DUP.
03.26 Update
BBC is reporting that Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell has lost his seat (Harlow).
03.26 Update
Nick Griffin concedes Barking to Labour's Margaret Hodge. It remains to be seen how the BNP performs in the council elections though.
03.21 Update
Gilts are doing well off the back of better-than-expected Tory performance. The markets have opened overnight to avoid a logjam and possible market panic tomorrow morning. This is fairly unprecedented.
03.11 Update
The picture so far: net 19 Con gains, 18 Lab losses, 1 Lib Dem loss.
03.07 Update
Ed Miliband re-elected. The nation breathes a sigh of relief.
03.00 Update
BC has just sipped its first margharita of the night, you may be interested to know.
BC's companion in liveblogging, Londonist, has pithily observed that very few London results are due anytime soon. We're in for the long haul, I'm afraid.
02.58 Update
Ah, British democracy. The man who's hoping to be prime minister within the next 12 hours has to stand next to a whole bunch of loons in order to gain his necessary scrapings of democratic respectability.
02.53 Update
Lots of 'Con Hold' and 'Con Gain' coming through now. Average swing to the Tories of 4.1% so far.
02.44 Update
Tory toff and A-Lister Annunziata Rees-Mogg fails to take Somerset & Frome, it's a Lib Dem hold. Leading Lib Dem Chris Huhne holds his seat but he's looking grim. Phil Willis loses Harrogate despite an 8,000 majority. It's a real rollercoaster for the Lib Dems.
02.34 Update
On Twitter, Lewisham Council reports: '2 of our stations had queues but ballot papers were issued before the 10pm legal cut off point so people could still vote.'
02.22 Update
The Lib Dems' cheeky chappie Lembit Opik loses his seat to the Tories on a 13% swing. Tories also take Vale of Glamorgan from Labour.
01.50 Update
The News Shopper has reported on Brockley's polling station problems. The police are denying the national news reports that there was trouble - it simply 'got a bit busy' and they happened to be there anyway, the paper reports.
01.46 Update
The first big London result - Labour holds Tooting. The Tories really needed to take this seat to establish an early national pattern. High turnout - 69%.
01.40 Update
Brockley Central is going to continue to liveblog tonight's general election, and local nightbirds are welcome to join us. Someone brew up some coffee, please ...
