borisjohnson leads the conservatives to a resounding election victory. cheering. they win their largest majority since the thatcher years, gaining scores of seats from labour. borisjohnson now has the majority he wanted, and says the uk will leave the european union next month. with this mandate and this majority, we will at last be able to do what? crowd: get brexit done. jeremy corbyn says he won't fight another election after labour's worst performance since 1935. i will not lead the party in any future general election campaign. i will discuss with our

party to ensure there is a process now of reflection. the snp strengthens its hold on scotland — gaining 13 seats — including that of the liberal democrat leaderjo swinson. a trip to the palace this morning for the prime minister — where the queen invited him to form a new government. and coming up on bbc news, ferrari confirm they've held social we'll be drilling into all the numbers from the night. we will pick out the patterns and we'll show you where this election was won and lost. good afternoon from downing street, where borisjohnson is in number ten

after his decisive victory in the general election. with one seat left to declare, the conservatives have a majority of 78, their biggest since 1987. they captured a swathe of traditional labour strongholds, withjeremy corbyn calling it a "very disappointing night", and saying he won't lead the party into another election. there was also disappointment for the liberal democrats, with their leaderjo swinson losing her seat. she's stepping down as leader, and in scotland, the snp maintained their dominance, picking up seats. there were losses for the dup in northern ireland. in a triumphant speech this morning, borisjohnson vowed to repay the trust of voters and deliver brexit. let's take a look at the results in more detail. with only st ives to declare, the conservatives now have 364 seats, a gain of a7. labour are on 203, down 59. the snp are on a8, up 13.

the lib dems are on 11, down one. the dup have eight, sinn fein seven, and other parties eight. ourfirst report, from jonathan blake, contains flash photography. (tx a convincing victory, winning here in blyth valley ourfirst report, from jonathan blake, contains flash photography. a new dawn, the prime minister left downing street to meet the queen and asked to form a new government. now though with a majority in parliament and the mandate from the country that he badly needed. it was a convincing victory in seat after seat, the conservatives held their own territory and took labour's heartlands too from england's north—east to south wales, this was a night that saw the electoral map redrawn. we did it. vindication for a campaign that capitalise on the frustration that so many had felt.

well, we did it, we did it! we pulled it off, didn't we? we pulled it off, we broke the deadlock, we ended the gridlock, we smashed the roadblock. and after turning once solid labour seats tory blue he promised not to let voters down. your hand may have quivered over the ballot paper before you put your ci’oss ballot paper before you put your cross in the conservative box, and you may intend to return to labour next time round, and if that is the case i'm humbled that you have put your trust in me and that you have put your trust in us. disbelief at first as labour saw their strongholds fall. those on the losing side left deflated and disillusioned, well aware it was overfor disillusioned, well aware it was over for the disillusioned, well aware it was overfor the leader in disillusioned, well aware it was over for the leader in whom many had so over for the leader in whom many had so much hope. i will not lead the party in any future general election campaign. i will discuss with our party to ensure there is a process now of reflection on this result and

on the policy is that the party will ta ke on the policy is that the party will take going forward, and i will lead the party during that period to ensure that discussion takes place and we move on into the future. are you going to resign, mr corbyn? his supporters blame brexit for their devastating defeat, but others in the party say their leader was part of the problem in the fight for labour's future has already begun. we tried our best to have a policy of principle, of bringing the country back together again, both remain and leavers, but that obviously proved to be impossible. have you lost your seat, mrs winston? disaster for the liberal democrats, the leader lost her seat. for millions of people in our country these results will bring dread and dismay and people are looking for hope. but celebration for the scottish national party,

winning 13 more seats, boosting its presence in parliament and helping the leader argue for independence.” don't pretend that every single person that voted snp yesterday will necessarily support independence, but there has been a strong endorsement in this election of scotla nd endorsement in this election of scotland having a choice over our future. in northern ireland a bruising night for the main nationalist and unionist parties will stop the dup and sinn fein both lost seats. the brexit party, once considered a threat to the conservatives, did not win any seats, but still claimed some of the credit. if i hadn't seats, but still claimed some of the credit. ifi hadn't set seats, but still claimed some of the credit. if i hadn't set up the brexit party theresa may would still be prime minister, brexit would be no closer and boris johnson be prime minister, brexit would be no closer and borisjohnson would not have achieved this great victory so not have achieved this great victory soido not have achieved this great victory so i do feel i helped to create what happened last night to some extent. we are going to leave the european union now at the end ofjanuary. that is just one promise boris johnson will be expected to stick to. he has pledged to work night and day and lead what he calls a

people's government. he now has a wider support base and a stronger grip on power. with that make a heavier weight of responsibility. —— with that may come a heavier weight of response ability. jonathan blake, bbc news. our assistant political editor, norman smith, is with me. the result bore out what the polls have been saying apart from the scale and magnitude, no one predicted that? no, this is notjust another election win, this is an epic, defining election when, which represents a moment of change in the history of this country, comparable i would say to mrs thatcher's first win ini979, or i would say to mrs thatcher's first win in 1979, or tony blair's in 1997, because we are embarking now ona 1997, because we are embarking now on a new course. i don't think anyone seriously would suggest brexit is not now going to happen. the election has irrevocably decided that. secondly, it's the manner in which borisjohnson won. like mrs thatcher and tony blair, he reached out to communities who would

normally never vote for them and we talked rather abstractly about punching through labour's redwall. what that means in human terms is a conservative winning in steel towns, pit villages, proud working—class communities, where many feel their livelihoods were decimated by the tories under mrs thatcher, and frankly, in times gone by and they would probably have rather slaughtered the first—born than voted conservative. last night they did vote tory, but it does mean for borisjohnson he did vote tory, but it does mean for boris johnson he now did vote tory, but it does mean for borisjohnson he now has basically a blank sheet of paper. he has a crushed opposition, and overwhelmingly majority, he's not beholden to any section of the tory party, he can do what he wants, and we will now find out who is the real borisjohnson, we will now find out who is the real boris johnson, because we will now find out who is the real borisjohnson, because he's travelled very light politically with his beliefs and there are some in the tory party who hope we'll see emerging the old mayor of london borisjohnson, the emerging the old mayor of london boris johnson, the one emerging the old mayor of london borisjohnson, the one nation boris johnson, but we are now going to

find out who borisjohnson really is. norman, thank you, we're going to get a little bit more from you later in the programme. what about the other side? it was labour's worst performance since 1935. party members will now have to analyse what was behind the defeat. iain watson reports. labour hasn't had so few mps since the 19305, but labour hasn't had so few mp5 since the 19305, but after this di5astrou5 defeatjeremy corbyn has announced a process of reflection, and he seems in no rush to go. i will talk to our national exec at about what we do in the future —— our national executive. i called for a period of reflection in the party and obviously the ruling body of the party, our national executive, will decide what proce55 party, our national executive, will decide what process we follow them for the election of a successor to me but i'm quite prepared and i was elected to do so, to lead the party until that takes place. the scale of the defeat came as a shock. watch

the defeat came as a shock. watch the expression of these activi5t5 change. when they saw the exit poll. tho5e close tojeremy corbyn have tried to explain it as a one off defeat based on brexit, no need for a bigger change of direction. the fa ct a bigger change of direction. the fact we've won a second wreck of rep —— the fact we went for a second referendum is the real issue, it's about a lack of trust. and although this man is a critic ofjeremy corbyn's he agrees brexit played a big part of the defeat. some of the voices in the shadow cabinet who have big liberal democrat votes in their seats decided stopping brexit and aligning themselves for future leadership bids was more important than respecting the votes in marginal constituencies across the midlands. but in an emotional night many of those who were critical of jeremy corbyn blamed the defeat on a lot more than brexit. it can'tjust be some people would sayjeremy, some people would say brexit, this is about a national trend and this is about a national trend and this is something that the labour party has to reflect on and come back far

strongerfrom, has to reflect on and come back far stronger from, but it's has to reflect on and come back far strongerfrom, but it's been painful along the way. it's notjust jeremy, it's the way that corbynism and the politics round that have helped leaders to this terrible result. this is devastating. this is seismic. this is the end stop so for me this is about whether the labour party even has any right to exist. i'm told jeremy corbyn is prepared to stay on for the next few months, but some senior labour figures are also telling me they will be pushing him to resign sooner rather than later stop don't expect any of the leadership contenders to declare themselves today. what we're really seeing is a battle over the reasons for labour's defeat, winning that is a precondition for winning the leadership itself. mr corbyn. .. when emotions are less raw, labour will have to decide if it simply wants a new leader, or if what it really needsis new leader, or if what it really needs is a new direction. iain watson, bbc news. the inquest begins

for labour. so let's take a look at the picture across the uk. here's sophie raworth. so, on this map, each constituency has been shrunk to exactly the same size. 0ne hexagon is one mp and it gives you a much better idea of where the balance of power now lies. walk around here, this is the outskirts of london with its 73 mp5, still dominated by labour. that is not the picture across much of the rest of the united kingdom. that is where the dramatic changes have taken place overnight. look at what was labour's red wall. it has been massively shrunk, cracked by these blue seats, the seat that the conservatives have taken from labour, like leigh in greater manchester. it had a huge labour majority of around 9500 but it has gone conservative for the first time. something i couldn't do last night was a walk from one coast to the other along conservative

seats but that is what the conservatives have achieved. they have moved into these labour strongholds, like wakefield, another labour seat that had been in labour hands since 1932 and it is now blue. and take a look at scotland. almost completely snp yellow and that has taken some casualties with it, like the leader of the liberal democrats, jo swinson. but when you look back across our map, with all the constituencies at the same size, you see just how dramatically it has changed. sophie ralph with with the national picture. —— sophie raworth with the national picture. it was a good night for the snp, taking 48 of the 59 seats in scotland, with labour and the tories suffering defeats. the country's first minister, nicola sturgeon, said she now has a fresh mandate for another referendum on scottish independence. alexandra mackenzie has more details.

her report contains some flash photography. yes! cheering for the snp, it is a win beyond their own expectation. in glasgow, nicola sturgeon saw a clean sweep, with her party winning all seven seats. scotland's first minister was delighted the snp took the east dunbartonshire seat from the liberal democrat leaderjo swinson. i have enjoyed serving our communities. the liberal democrats stay on four seats in scotland. jo swinson is the first main westminster party leader to lose her seat in an election since 1931. for the tories, a different picture in scotland. they just held seven of the 13 seats. ian murray is duly elected as the member of parliament. labour lost all but one of their seven seats. ian murray holding onto edinburgh south and called for change. this party must listen and this party must respond,

or this party will die. scotland's first minister wanted borisjohnson out of downing street but knows a majority tory government could help her move closer to scottish independence. the scottish government will next week publish the detailed democratic case for a transfer of power to enable a referendum to be put beyond legal challenge. i have been clear that a referendum must be the responsibility of the scottish parliament. so, this election has emphasised that scotland is going in a very different political direction from the rest of the uk. alexandra mackenzie, bbc news, glasgow. the loss ofjo swinson's seat to the snp capped a dismal night for the liberal democrats.

going into this election with so many hopes. tom symonds has followed their campaign. yeah, it was a dreadful defeat for jo swinson. she's only been on the job of leaderfor11m jo swinson. she's only been on the job of leaderfor 144 days jo swinson. she's only been on the job of leader for 144 days and during that period, especially the last few weeks, her poll ratings, personal poll ratings, appeared to slip and slip. what else went wrong for the lib dems? well, they looked at the pre—election polls which suggested people wanted a second referendum and to revoke article 50, they went hard for remain and then they went hard for remain and then the remain vote wasn't there for them and there's also some evidence that they aren't labour split the vote against the conservatives. in the kensington constituency, where sam gyimah was their candidate, the conservative defector, he got 9000 votes a nd conservative defector, he got 9000 votes and partly as a result of that the labour sitting mp emma dent coad, who had a small majority, lost her seat to the conservatives in the scene where grenfell tower stands. 0ne scene where grenfell tower stands. one more thing. i think they were

co nsta ntly one more thing. i think they were constantly asked, the lib dems, who would they support, borisjohnson or jeremy corbyn, in the event of a hung parliament and they often found it hard to answer that question. jo swinson is going to make a speech to her supporters in an hour's time or so, but the party now has to find a new leader from so, but the party now has to find a new leaderfrom a so, but the party now has to find a new leader from a relatively small pool of mp5, just 11 in parliament. thank you for that. in northern ireland, there are now more nationalist than unionist mp5. annita mcveigh's report contains flash photography. a hug of consolation from dup leader arlene foster for nigel dodds, losing the belfast north seat after almost 20 years. did voters punish him for being the face of brexit for the party at westminster? i am absolutely very disappointed, notjust for north belfast but actually for northern ireland, that they are losing such a great advocate in nigel dodds.

the victor in the constituency, sinn fein'sjohn finucane, son of solicitor pat finucane, murdered by loyalist paramilitaries in 1989. voters choosing a remain—supporting nationalist over a pro—brexit unionist. i think people saw this as an election as a chance to have that remain voice heard and i think it's been heard very loudly tonight. there was victory too for the cross community alliance party's stephen farry in north down — a growth in support for the centre ground. and the nationalist sdlp are back on the westminster map, with two mp5. voters in foyle choosing colum eastwood over sinn fein, who refuse to take their seats in parliament. you want someone to go to westminster to fight your case, to stand up to borisjohnson, to protect us from brexit, but you also want us to get back to work in stormont. it's a very significant moment for northern ireland, which has, for the first time, a majority of nationalist

mp5, but none of them, neither nationalist, unionist nor the cross community alliance party mp, back borisjohnson's current brexit deal. brexit though not the only concern here as voters wonder whether talks aimed at restarting the northern ireland assembly at stormont after nearly three years can work. annita mcveigh, bbc news, belfast. the conservatives have taken seats from labour across north wales, as well as bridgend in the south. hywel griffith is in wrexham. a turn—up for the books yet again. absolutely, and wrexham is a town which has never returned a conservative mp before. last night this was another brick in the red wall which turned blue, even red wall which turned blue, even red wall which turned blue, even red wall which has been bulldozed by borisjohnson. brexit wall which has been bulldozed by boris johnson. brexit was definitely the key issue in many of those

constituencies. wales voted overall in favour of brexit in 2016 but the welsh labour party wanted to remain so welsh labour party wanted to remain so in constituencies like wrexham and in north—east wales people for the first time have put their trust in borisjohnson, the first time have put their trust in boris johnson, maybe just lending him their vote, as he said, so what will he do with their support over the next five years before that what we re the next five years before that what were the labour party do? it is still the biggest party in wales taking 22 of the 40 seats but that is their worst return since 1983. jeremy corbyn didn't go down well with welsh voters but what about the welsh labour government which have been running the nhs? final plaid cymru a stable night for them, they went in with four constituencies and came out with four. the conservatives captured seats across the midlands

and the north of england, in areas that have voted labourfor generations. christian fraser was watching as the so—called " red wall" crumbled. as we have been saying, the best result for the conservatives since 1987. conversely for the labour party, it is the worst since the war, worse even than michael foot in 1983 in terms of seats. and for the liberal democrats, depending on that seat we just mentioned, it could be worse than even 2017, though they would point you to their vote share, which is up 4%. i would like to draw attention to that. it's been a personal triumph for boris johnson, no doubt about that, but he's only put on 1.2% on what theresa may had in 2017, so what's been different? the difference is that the labour vote in working class post—industrial areas has collapsed, so you have seen that in north—east wales, in the west midlands, in south yorkshire, in the north—east of england, and when you drill down into the numbers you will see that the conservative vote share is higher where there is a higher

percentage of working class people. i will show you what i mean. these are seats that have all gone from red to blue. bassetlaw, redcar, scu nthorpe, leigh, dudley north, great grimsby, sedgefield, rother valley. let's have a look at bassetlaw. it was the biggest swing of the night. john mann standing down, former mining town in nottinghamshire, big leave area. look at the vote share. you can see labour's vote collapsing. the brexit party entering into a little bit of it. look at that massive swing. 18%. another one. dudley north. it's never been anything but labour. a big leave area. again you look at the vote share. almost a straight swap labour to conservative, another massive swing. here's another extraordinary one. sedgefield, the former seat of tony blair. in 2005 he had a majority of over 18,000. after nine years of labour opposition. look at that. the conservatives now

have a majority of 4500. again another big vote share change. brexit party is eating into that again. we are just picking out one last one because this is rather interesting. rother valley, it's never been anything but, it's been labour since the first world war since 1918, big leave area, but look at this. this is the one that nigel farage will point to. the brexit party eating massively into the labour vote and again a very big swing from labour to the conservatives. a big turnout in yorkshire and a massive swing towards the conservatives from labour, never happened before in parliamentary history. 0ur correspondent dan johnson is in maltby and sent this report. the colver steyn was built on make the area solid labour for more than a century. they use to talk about

the socialist republic of south yorkshire but not now. brexit has brought out new blue support here. first time ever and i have done it. i have no faith injeremy corbyn. three and a half years of europe have been literally laughing at us. you think this is what needed to happen? yeah. charity shops and food banks are busy. it is a poor area. we are trying to get people to the money who can't afford it. loyal labour voters are sad but not surprised. the problem as it was popularity. people did not like jeremy corbyn and what he had to say but people wanted brexit. tony has been a dirty word here especially since the 19805 when it was a key battle ground. the pets and the

steelworks have gone and with them went to the old loyalties to the union movement and to the labour party. time and again people have said if my dad knew how i voted in this election he would turn in his grave. this is notjust old allegiances that have been broken, it is people rejecting their dna.” feel like a traitor actually. it is labour. it has always been labour. it has. jeremy corbyn is unpopular. why? | it has. jeremy corbyn is unpopular. why? i didn't feel he was somebody you could engage with. the new conservative mp5 are speaking for these communities. they have seen plenty of change here before. this isa plenty of change here before. this is a profound choice for something new. so much thrown into the air by

the selection for the labour party. a huge inquest taking place within their ranks. i'll be back later in the programme — now back to jane in the studio. our top story this lunchtime: borisjohnson leads the conservatives to a resounding election victory. jeremy corbyn says he won't fight another election, after labour's worst performance since 1935. we will show you some of the biggest swings of the night and look at the seats that switched from red to blue and we will drill into some of the trends that explain where the election was won and lost. accident and emergency waiting times in england last month were the worst on record.

81.4% of patients were seen within four hours during november, well short of the target of 95%. the number of people waiting for other treatment, such as hip and knee replacements, rose to almost 4.5 million in 0ctober, their highest ever level. rescue teams have recovered six bodies from white island in new zealand, following monday's fatal volcanic eruption. police divers have been looking for two more people who are still unaccounted for. eight people are confirmed as having died, and about 20 are in hospital with severe burns. time for a look at the weather. here's darren. after the cloud and rain we had yesterday we have something drier

and brighter across the uk with many places seeing some sunshine. there is some wet weather around. the rain has cleared to the south—east but we have showers for northern ireland over the irish sea into north wales and north west england which is not moving anywhere. the rain is easing off in the north—east of scotland but it will probably turn when the air in the south this afternoon. this evening a bit more movement with that band of showers moving northwards into southern scotland. some snow over the hills. a lot of showers running on across the rest of the uk and it is going to be quite windy overnight. generally keeping the temperature is up but close to freezing in towns and cities. the weekend remains chilly and cold enough for some snow over the hills. they will be some sunshine and showers and it will be quite windy across england and wales in particular. we will see a band of showers pushing eastwards through

the morning allowing more sunshine and dry weather to arrive in the afternoon and we will keep showers over the hills in northern ireland and scotland. it will be quite chilly with temperatures struggling to five to 7 degrees with wet weather in the self later. that will push across the uk on saturday night and could bring a few centimetres of snow to the hills of wales particularly northern england. scotla nd particularly northern england. scotland is well aware we have a widespread frost with the risk of icy patches. into the second half of the weekend there should be more showers more widely for england and wales, some of them heavy and wintry over the hills in the north and quite windy in the south—west of england. lighter winds for scotland and northern ireland and not as many showers but colder. it is going to stay cold for the first half of next week. back now to clive in downing street.

sterling and the stock market have risen following the election result. our business editor, simonjack, is in canary wharf in london. the markets it seems positive as far as this election result is concerned? yes, a boris win was a lwa ys concerned? yes, a boris win was always what they were expecting here about the size of the majority surprised even traders here. it means we have a functional government, a parliament that will work, and they like that. they think that the majority is so big it will effectively neutralise some of the ha rd effectively neutralise some of the hard brexit people in the party who would advocate living without a deal. we also saw politically sensitive stocks doing well, up double digits in terms of percent, and the utilities thatjeremy corbyn wa nted and the utilities thatjeremy corbyn wanted to nationalise, that threat

evaporated overnight and they all did well. some concerns over the scottish referendum potential and best eu deal taking some doing, that is what they will be worried about next. thank you. 0ur assistant political editor, norman smith, is with me. a divisive campaign and divisive election and referendum result that split the country. how does boris johnson bring us all back together? that is the key challenge. parts of it is told. we saw a little bit of that this morning. there was not that this morning. there was not that gloating triumphalism, the hammering of his opponents, so i think we will see more of that inclusive language. part of that is oui’ inclusive language. part of that is our hope that one is the first phase of brexit is delivered by the end of january there will be a natural healing process and people will think there is no point fighting the old words whatever state they were

on, we have to move on. part of it will be a need to ensure his promise to ensure those towns who felt left behind to get the resources they wa nt behind to get the resources they want and part of it will be making things happen. all of those challenges, whether it be housing or social care, getting things done. indeed. well, there's lots more on the election online. you can look up results in every constituency using our interactive map. and you can get live reaction and analysis from the experts — on our website, and the bbc news app. let's leave you with some of the most memorable moments of the last few hours.

cheering i want to thank the people of this country for turning out to vote in a december election. but we didn't wa nt to december election. but we didn't want to call, but which i think has turned out to be a historic election. i will not lead the party and any future general election campaign. i will discuss with our party to ensure there is a process now of reflection.

given he has won seats in the north of england where labour have had a very strong hold for many years, he has now made it hisjob to very strong hold for many years, he has now made it his job to spell out that he will be there for all the people, and he needs to stand up for what he calls that one nation conservatism that he supports. we did it, we pulled it off, didn't we? we pulled it off, broke the deadlock, ended the gridlock, smashed the roadblock, and in this

glorious, glorious free breakfast moment, before the new dawn rises on a new day and a new government, i wa nt a new day and a new government, i want first of all to pay tribute to good colleagues who lost their seats through no fault of their own in the election that has just gone by. i wa nt to election that has just gone by. i want to congratulate absolutely everybody involved in securing the biggest conservative majority since the 19805. literally, literally... asi the 19805. literally, literally... as i look around, literally before many of you were born. and with this mandate and majority we will at last be able to do what... ? get brexit don! you have been paying attention. this election means getting brexit done is now the irrefutable, irresistible, unarguable decision of the british people. and with this

election i think we put an end to all those miserable threats of a second referendum. boris johnson able to start spelling out the sorts of things he couldn't possibly have said even a few days ago. now he knows what his situation is. apologies for the noises in the background. we will also focus on what has happened to the labour party with an essentially crushing defeat. labour party leader jeremy corbyn already making it clear he will not be leading his party into another election. but goodness me that could be another five years from here. many in his party want to see some action much quicker than that and want him to stand down immediately, some of them. he was speaking about his situation a short while ago. obviously very sad, the result we have achieved, and very sad for those colleagues who lost

their seats in the election, and very sad for many people in this country who will now have a government that is continuing policies of austerity and many of the poorest communities i think will suffer very badly from the economic strategy that i suspect the prime minister will take forward. but also, i have pride in our manifesto that we put forward. and all the policies we put forward that actually had huge public support, on issues of universal credit, the green industrial revolution and investment for the future. but this election was taken over ultimately by brexit and we as a party represent people who both voted remain and leave. my whole strategy was to reach out beyond the brexit divide to try to bring people together, because ultimately the country has to come together. i think the issue that dominated this election ultimately was brexit. 0ur policies are sound. all of them,

individually, they were very popular. there was no huge debate or disagreement in the party about any of the policies in our manifesto. the issue was ultimately, the prime minister said he would get brexit sorted. it is, how shall i put it, a mirage of nonsense, because he knows perfectly well he either has to get in the ring with the european union 01’ in the ring with the european union orye in the ring with the european union or ye he will spend seven years negotiating with the united states and i'm worried about the effect on oui’ and i'm worried about the effect on our manufacturing industry and trading in that period. when do you plan on standing down? the national executive will meet in the near future and it is up to them, they will make that decision not me, but i hope there will be a period where we can have a good discussion within the party, and i think that is healthy and should be welcomed. i hope those who were inspired by the

ma nifesto hope those who were inspired by the manifesto willjoin the party. it will be in the early part of next year. quite often leaders step down straight after a catastrophic general election defeat.” straight after a catastrophic general election defeat. i was elected to lead the party and i think the responsible thing to do is not walk away from the whole thing, i will not do that, i will stay here until somebody has been elected to succeed me and then step down at that point. the early part of next year, the wordsjeremy corbyn used to spell out where and he expects to step down as leader of the labour party. let's get back to downing street for a moment. norman smith is there. following much excitement for number ten, interestingly in a way, the scale of victory might even make the scale of victory might even make the conservatives rethink, and boris johnson rethink a little bit the way

he can move forward. the scale of his victory means he has basically got a free hand to do whatever he wa nts. got a free hand to do whatever he wants. he has a totally crushed opposition who will now presumably go intoa opposition who will now presumably go into a period of intense introspection. who knows, maybe even civil war. he has an absolutely massive majority. he is not beholden to any group in his party any longer, and he has a manifesto which actually commits him to remarkably little, so he has a blank sheet of paper and he little, so he has a blank sheet of paperand he can little, so he has a blank sheet of paper and he can do what he wants. ina way paper and he can do what he wants. in a way we are now going to find out who the real borisjohnson is. because he has travelled politically pretty light throughout his career, but now we'll see what it is he actually believes in. there are some we will see —— there are some who hope we will see the re—emergence of the borisjohnson who was mayor of london, a one nation and centrist sort of leader, much more of a

socially liberal conservative leader, so maybe we will see that sort of conservative prime minister. what is absolutely true is that he will have to work incredibly hard to keep on board those traditional labour supporters who abandoned their loyalties of the past generations and decided to back him. he will have to demonstrate to them that they were right to put their trust in him. norman, there is some suggestion that when he makes what would be seen as his first clear statement as prime minister, usually an opportunity to try to talk about unity and bringing the country together etc, he might not do it to where you are at number ten, he could head up north. is there something in that? i think we will probably hear from him something in that? i think we will probably hearfrom him in downing street today, whether over the next 48 hours he chooses to travel to one of these iconic constituencies, one

of these iconic constituencies, one of these iconic constituencies, one of the former steel towns, pit villages, that the tories have now won, i think it is eminently possible. the message she will have to convey is one of the big tent, bringing people together. i think that will be the real test of his premiership. whether he can deliver on brexit and bring the country together again. norman, thank you very much for that. one area that could be a real test for his leadership over the course of the next few years is, what will happen within scotland itself? the leader of the scottish national party, nicola sturgeon, has said her pa rty‘s very nicola sturgeon, has said her party's very strong performance in scotla nd party's very strong performance in scotland means more calls for a second vote on the country's independence. last night, the snp won an incredible 80% of seats in scotland. an overwhelming endorsement of our campaign message

and vision. it is clear beyond any doubt that the kind of future desired by the majority in scotland is very different to that chosen by much of the rest of the uk. scotland has rejected borisjohnson and the tories and yet again we have said no to brexit. nicola sturgeon there. a very confident nicola sturgeon, reinvigorated and winning more seats than they had. it feels like they pretty much owned scotland at the moment. i am joined pretty much owned scotland at the moment. iamjoined by pretty much owned scotland at the moment. i am joined by lorna gordon in edinburgh. it is difficult to see anything other than the laying out ofa anything other than the laying out of a very heavy duty battle ground here. yeah, i think there are going to be constitutional fights ahead. make no mistake, this was a very, very, very good result for the snp. the opinion polls suggested their

numbers would go up, but i think the result took even the party itself by surprise, winning 48 out of 59 seats in scotland. that is more than 80% of the seats, the westminster seats available. nicola sturgeon, the scottish first minister and leader of the snp, sounding very bullish in that speech she gave a little earlier. she is setting out what she has long trailed, and that is the fa ct has long trailed, and that is the fact that she will be asking the westminster government for permission to hold a second independence referendum here in scotland. and she wants to ask for that before christmas. in her speech earlier she said she would ask next week for that and next week she would set out the detailed democratic case for the transfer of power. she also said that boris johnson has no right to stand in the

way of this. that really is where the challenge is. because boris johnson has said no to a section 30 order and has said a referendum on scottish independence is a once in a generation event. the first one took place five years ago in 2014. you have two diametrically opposed positions, one side is painted pretty much pretty much all the entire map of scotland yellow, the snp, who want a second independence referendum, saying they have the strength and mandate for that. and then the prime minister of the uk is saying, that ain't going to happen. hard to see how this will be reconciled but there are big battles ahead. lorna gordon, thank you for joining us from edinburgh. i'm joined at westminster by natasha clark, the digital editor at the sun

newspaper, a supporter of boris johnson and a bigger victory than perhaps the newspaper even thought. absolutely. i think everyone predicted borisjohnson was going to get a majority, we thought it might bea get a majority, we thought it might be a small one, but it was pretty big, bigger than many opinion polls predicted in the last few days will stop the last opinion poll had him on about 28 seats, but the exit poll had him close to the actual one on 68 seats. better than the polls predicted for borisjohnson and we saw some seats that have never gone tory before, and even better result. we had from norman parkinson earlier, the potentialfor boris johnson to do what he wants. it's a big opportunity, but that's the opportunity he has got. what does he need to do? he needs to get brexit done, doesn't he? that's his entire campaign, his entire message is to get brexit done for the country. he will bring the bill back to

parliament next week we think, he might not be able to get it through by christmas. it will take some stages and some time to get done but we expect him to have a queen's speech next week and then bring it back to parliament and get it done by january 31. getting that stage done quickly fulfils the challenge she has set himself. but for many people, we know brexit is a much bigger beast than just stepping in and out of the eu in one moment. it's what comes next. that is part of brexit and where complications will arise. it's the first stage of getting brexit done, getting us legally out of the eu by january 31. was that slogan a specious statement then? i think boris does want to get brexit done overall. he has stuck to his guns in his manifesto, promising we will be out of the eu completely by the end of 2020 and the end of the transition period. whether he

can do that, a lot of people will be sceptical in westminster whether he can do that in a tight timetable of one year, but we have a bit further to go before borisjohnson can say he has done brexit. when you look at the numbers and exactly what has happened and who has voted where and we are still in a world where the proportion of votes for parties who either support remain and a second referendum is still greater than those supporting brexit essentially, how do you read that and what does it tell you still about the reality? 0k, it is a thumping majority but the reality is, not an awful lot has changed in the public mood. absolutely. the reality is that three years after the referendum we still haven't left. this result if anything has told us the british public still want britain to leave the eu. a lot of labour voters lent their vote to borisjohnson last night, many in northern seats that borisjohnson took, they night, many in northern seats that boris johnson took, they still want to get brexit done, but it shows

that we as a country are still com pletely that we as a country are still completely divided. still a lot of people want a second referendum. labour tried to capitalise on that by going for both the leave and remain votes will stop i don't think we can specifically say the labour party is a remain party, it is trying to appeal to both sides of the debate. they obviously com pletely the debate. they obviously completely failed in their strategy in this election. to sum up, we are still a pretty divided country and i think we will remain that until we leave the eu, if indeed we do. interesting point at the end. boris johnson would have no issue in saying we will. i think his words were, it is now the irrefutable, irresistible, unarguable message that we will be stepping out of the european union on january that we will be stepping out of the european union onjanuary 31 early i spoke to the first vice president of the european parliament. the irish mep isa the european parliament. the irish mep is a representative of the fine gael party, the same party as leo

varadkar, the taoiseach of ireland. you can interpret this either way. i think this gives him the ability now to get their withdrawal agreement through the house of commons where it was stuck. we now know the divorce will happen at the end of january. as for the future, we can't predict yet, perhaps it will give him more flexibility and he might not be minded to diverged too much from the eu in terms of standards and regulations. 0r from the eu in terms of standards and regulations. or he could do the opposite. i don't think any of us or any other wiser on how the future might play out. looks like the european union are quite clear we wa nt to european union are quite clear we want to have a strong relationship with the united kingdom, but we want to make sure our standards, the single market and customs union is not damaged in the process. we should probably get over the first phase and get their withdrawal agreement through the house of

commons. then look to the future. although there is very little time to negotiate a complete new relationship with the united kingdom. there is a close relationship right now, so perhaps they should keep it that way, and if it operates like that postdivorce then things could move rapidly. if he is minded to go in the other direction, and he wants to be free of the european union and not abide bya of the european union and not abide by a level playing field, that will make the negotiations much more difficult. really at this stage looks like the easier option is chosen. borisjohnson talks about getting a deal done by the end of next year. is that remotely possible, especially if it is deal that maintains strong connections with the eu, which perhaps britain needs

as much as the eu. we all need to stick together, whatever the relationship is, there is no point in the eu and uk falling out and having no relationship. you couldn't even contemplate that. if we sit down and try to forge a relationship, it seems like very little time between february one and the end of 2020, but depending on the end of 2020, but depending on the goodwill and what the ask is from the uk and the european union prospect position, all things are possible. but most people involved in trade negotiations say this is not possible and there would need to be an extension of transition period. what we all hope doesn't happen is we get to the end of december of 2020 and there is a crash out brexit. none of us can put that off the table for now. even in the aftermath of this significant victory for boris johnson and the aftermath of this significant victory for borisjohnson and the conservative party, while we are happy to move towards completing the

first phase, we are mindful that things could go wrong in the second phase of the negotiation which i think will be more drawn—out and complicated than the withdrawal agreement itself. that only dealt with three core issues, difficult but we managed to secure a deal. the trade, economic, relationships and security, are much more diverse and it would be quite difficult to nail this down within just 11 months. most people here in parliament think it is impossible but we will see what happens onjanuary it is impossible but we will see what happens on january when it is impossible but we will see what happens onjanuary when we get their withdrawal agreement through the. narrator mcguinness at the european parliament in brussels will stop not impossible but very difficult to get a trade deal done by the end of next year. more than ever, this campaign played out in the digital world. that's the way of things. social media playing a part in spreading messages through targeted adverts and viral videos. to give you a couple of examples,

the first features jeremy corbyn reading out mean tweets.” the first features jeremy corbyn reading out mean tweets. i bet jeremy corbyn will be glad when this election is over so he can go back to wearing his commie hat. what is a commie hat? can someone tell me who jeremy corbyn is? the next prime minister. let's have a look at a pa rt minister. let's have a look at a part of the conservative digital campaign, the parody from the film love actually. oh, hi. who is it? it's carol singers. you might laugh, you might cringe, whatever, those are the sorts of things being pumped out there. the tea m things being pumped out there. the team at bbc trending has been watching social media closely

throughout the campaign. we can reflect a bit now on what we are getting. 0nline in particular, what has changed since 2017?” getting. 0nline in particular, what has changed since 2017? i think what's interesting is that viral videos you just showed racked up the numbers, they are content created by the parties and activists who are aligned to the parties, but actually aligned to the parties, but actually a lot of other stuff is going on on social media which is just as important. the results show us that. labour might have done really well andi labour might have done really well and i put out a press release on wednesday that said they had run the best social media election campaign ever, but actually all the other stuff that goes on in facebook groups and on facebook pages outside the control has been just as influential. in 2017 we saw a lot of projeremy corbyn facebook pages did very well but they have not been as influential this time round for two reasons. firstly, algorithms have changed on facebook, which determines what you see on your

social media feed. essentially you see more posts from your friends and family than sites like this. and also as importantly, there are two networks, ecosystems in facebook that have emerged, pro—brexit and anti brexit. the pro—brexit have been very noisy this time around and have been good at uniting behind the conservatives and encouraging tactical voting in the way the pro—remain ones haven't managed. these groups and pages are outside the control of the spin doctors and people running digital campaigns for the official parties but are run from peoples living rooms in the uk, people we have interviewed on bbc trending and it can have a real impact. what's also important is that labour have benefited from the fa ct that labour have benefited from the fact that social media in general is skewed to the left, particularly twitter, which can give the impression that labour are doing well online, whereas one of the phenomenon we heard a lot about,

people we interviewed, who run local facebook groups, who say conservative voters are much quieter online, the phenomenon of shire tories. and many of them don't use social media at all. so yesterday, seeing a lot of labour content on social media is actually misleading when it comes to the national conversation. we talk so much about digital and it is growing exponentially, so its influence grows with it, but it doesn't involve everyone and it doesn't necessarily dictate which way they will vote anyway. exactly. for instance, yesterday there was quite a lot of stuff on instagram and twitter from celebrities, a lot of stuff on instagram and twitterfrom celebrities, the winner of love island last year for example, amber gill, posted support for the labour party. when you see content like that you might think these people have millions of followers so they will effect how people vote, but actually younger voters are only part of the electorate, and often clustered in

areas that would naturally go to labour anyway. perhaps it hasn't had the influence we expected it to. thank you very much. it's fascinating stuff. borisjohnson is backin fascinating stuff. borisjohnson is back in number ten downing st. he has been there for a while now having been to see the queen to get permission to form the next government. just want to show you the sort of reception he received not from buckingham palace, but his own people arriving back at number ten. cheering and applause a sort of guard of honour for boris johnson there. but given the scale of the majority, a 78 majority, something the conservatives have not been able to crow about for the best pa rt been able to crow about for the best part of 30 years, since the days of

margaret thatcher, it's perhaps no wonder he received such a rapturous reception. and the remarks he made to date, he recognised many of the votes that came the way of the conservatives had been essentially lent to them by people who otherwise might have voted labour or another party. and he recognised also that it was now his job to make sure they stayed with the conservatives. that's from some traditional labour heartland areas. it will be a tough challenge indeed but it played on the message she has put out so far which is that he sees himself very much as a one nation conservative leader and he will be serving the country as a whole. how he puts that into practice, of course, that's the big challenge. he will first start with getting brexit done, which i

think most main parties would recognise is the slogan of the election campaign and has probably got him into office. you are watching bbc news.