Winners and losers from last night's General Election

WINNERS

Jeremy Corbyn

Derided as a socialist relic at the start of the campaign, Jeremy Corbyn ends the election with his grip on the Labour party having been significantly strengthened. His passion and authenticity have clearly struck a chord with a generation of younger voters, and he has comprehensively buried the suggestion that an overtly left-wing Labour party is unelectable. Any talk of a Labour leadership battle has been conclusively silenced.

Jenny Chapman

This was supposed to be the election when the Tories carved a swathe through the North-East, with Jenny Chapman’s Darlington seat regarded as especially vulnerable. Instead, Ms Chapman retained her seat for Labour, boasting a majority of more than 3,000. Even she didn’t think she was going to win at the start of polling day, but her efforts as a constituency MP have been rewarded.

Ruth Davidson

It might been a fairly miserable night for the Conservatives in England, but the story was rather different north of the border. The Tories won 13 Scottish seats – their best performance since 1983 – and much of their success was down to the energetic and popular leadership of Ruth Davidson. The MSP did not run for Westminster, but Theresa May should be extremely grateful for her efforts.

Sir Vince Cable

The Liberal Democrats experienced mixed fortunes, gaining three seats but failing to make the kind of major inroads that might have been expected given their courting of the Remain vote. Their biggest winner was Sir Vince Cable, who regained his Twickenham seat after missing out as the Lib Dems were obliterated in 2015. Expect him to be an important figure in assessing the Government’s future economic plans.

DUP

The Democratic Unionist Party might be a big deal in Northern Ireland, but they rarely make an impact on the political scene on the British mainland. Not anymore. The DUP’s ten seats could be absolutely crucial as the Conservatives look to form a workable majority, and while the party’s leader, Arlene Foster, has ruled out a formal coalition, she will be an extremely important figure as Theresa May looks to hold on to her position as Prime Minister.

Exit Poll Organisers

The opinion polls have been up and down throughout the campaign, but while most predicted a narrowing of the Conservatives’ lead in the last four weeks, few predicted a hung parliament. However, when it came to predicting the outcome of the vote, the exit poll revealed at 10pm last night could hardly have been more accurate. The poll predicted the Tories would win 314 seats – an assessment that proved just about bang on.
Young Voters

It is generally assumed that while young voters might profess their support for Labour in the build-up to election day, they rarely actually make it to the polls. This was the election when that changed, with 72 per cent of eligible 18-25 year olds having cast their ballot. That is a huge increase from previous polls, and underlines the extent to which Jeremy Corbyn successfully energised a section of the electorate that had previously turned away from politics.

LOSERS

Theresa May

It goes without saying that last night was a disaster for Theresa May, whose decision to call an election she could easily have avoided has backfired spectacularly. The Conservative leader is clearly determined to soldier on, and at the moment she has the backing of her party, which still appears to be reeling from the events of the last 24 hours. Her authority has been fatally undermined though, and her hand in negotiating Brexit is now significantly weaker.

James Wharton

If there was a symbolic image to sum up the Conservatives’ failure to make a significant impression in the North-East, it was surely the sight of James Wharton losing one of the few Northern seats to lie in Tory hands. Mr Wharton was supposed to the champion of the Northern Powerhouse – instead, he found himself humiliated as his majority in Stockton South disappeared and he was deposed by Labour’s Paul Williams.

The SNP

It was always going to be difficult for the SNP to match their achievements from 2015, when they won all bar three Scottish constituencies. However, while Nicola Sturgeon is trying to put a brave face on last night’s results, the loss of 21 seats is a huge blow to the nationalists. The ousting of Alex Salmond and Angus Robertson had great symbolic impact, and any talk of a second independence referendum is surely now dead in the water.

Nick Clegg

Tim Farron might have scraped home in his Cumbrian constituency, but Tim Clegg was not as fortunate as he was voted out in Sheffield Hallam. Many felt Clegg had been the star of a fairly lacklustre Liberal Democrat campaign, but he was unable to cling on as his history with the coalition and backtracking over tuition fees came back to bite. With David Cameron and George Osbourne also gone, the final vestiges of the coalition have now been demolished.

UKIP

Where do UKIP go from here? Nowhere in the case of Paul Nuttall, who became the election’s first leadership casualty when he stood down from the head of his party this morning. UKIP’s raison d’etre disappeared when the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, and for all Nigel Farage’s blustering about the need to guarantee a hard Brexit, it is hard to see how UKIP can remain relevant now their primary aim has been achieved.

Right-wing press

It was the Sun wot won it? Not this time it wasn’t. The right-wing press ran a sustained campaign vilifying Jeremy Corbyn, that peaked in the two days leading up to the election. The Labour leader was pictured in a dustbin on the front of The Sun, while Corbyn, Diane Abbott and John McDonnell were labelled threats to national security in The Daily Mail. In the end, it didn’t matter a jot, with Labour doing well despite the attacks.

Hard Brexiters

It remains to be seen exactly what last night’s result means for the Brexit process, but it now seems unlikely that Theresa May will be able to pursue the kind of ‘Hard Brexit’ she was pushing for prior to the vote. The DUP will not support a proposal that restricts freedom of movement, while Jeremy Corbyn will claim the strong Labour vote reflects a public rejection of May’s desire to pull out of the single market. Clearly, some tough negotiations lie ahead.