david cameron in the u.k. election. unexpected narrow majority in parliament. the labour party and liberal democrats suffer major losses as a result. deputy prime minister nick clegg is resigns as the head of the lib dems. and marking 70 years since the end of world war ii on the european continent. ♪

we begin in the u.k. where prime minister david cameron has defied expectations by winning a decisive victory in the general election. what was billed as a neck and neck race turned out to be anything but that. his conservative party on track for a narrow majority in the u.k. parliament. both labour and the liberal democrats suffered major losses, and prime minister -- deputy prime minister, rather, nick clegg, has just resigned as head of the liberal democrats. let you listen to what he had to say. that clegg: -- nick clegg: i expected the selections to be difficult for the liberal democrats given what we have had to bear in government and the most challenging of circumstances but these results have been

immeasurably more crushing and unkind than i could have ever feared. for that, of course i must take responsibly, and therefore i announced that i will be resigning as leader of the liberal democrats. a leadership election will be taking place according to the party's rules. myuran sukumaran that was deputy -- molly: that was deputy prime minister nick clegg resigning. we are exciting to hear from the labor leader ed miliband. he could follow in clegg's foot stance as labour was trounced in scotland by the snp. let's get up to speed with the general election results, and to that we tracked over to "france 24's" benedict. we are pretty much seeing all smiles, but that is not the case for labor and the lib dems.

benedicte: all that counts is that the people have spoken. it is not the pollsters as well as they try to do their jobs so the conservatives have 325 mp's coming back from westminster. labour have to under 29, so yes, a very different story for the labour party, and we do expect ed miliband to speak in the next few minutes and indeed to resign. bookies are already taking major bets on who will replace him. yvette cooper is the wife of the shadow chancellor who expected to be tensile or, if there was a labour coalition, a labor government. he has lost his job as an mp. this is to give you a flavor.

jim murphy, the head of labour, has lost his seat, also ellis alexander, the chief content -- also douglas alexander, the chief campaign director. alexander of the lib dems also quitting because he has lost his seat. we are seeing big besasts being felt. lled. nigel farage, the leader of you ukip, saying that he would quit. he has just resigned because he has did not win. he said he will honor his word and step down but said he may consider a leadership election to stand, and that will be in the autumn, so david cameron back in the street. it is a very brutal scene here,

and often politics are brutal, and we are seeing the political landscape change the snp seismic change that was predicted correctly by the polls, but it is really seismic here. molly: these results unexpected. of course, we saw predictions running into things, put things neck and neck. that being said, what is this victory mean, then, for david cameron moving forward? bénédicte: well, is what we thought we would not be telling you at all, that he extorted a really having needed a coalition five years ago, and he chose the liberal democrats. in the end, they were on message all week, the whole of the conservative party, saying look, do not check jeopardize, give us another five years, and we will finish the job. do not risk labor who overspent

on the gordon brown. this is a mandate to govern this country, so it looks like in the next few minutes, we will hear that the conservatives have the absolute majority, that they do not need to go to coalition with anybody. all the one hand, the conservatives -- especially david cameron comes out strengthened. the one thing i've not mentioned, the eu referendum, the elephant in the room or in the country, many european countries looking for that possible exit, of course a step closer because this is the prime minister the outgoing prime minister and the current prime minister asked to go see the queen to say i can form a new government, i do not need anybody -- unless he chooses to have summary with -- and i will keep my promise, i will hold at referendum on whether the united kingdom and the people of the united kingdom decide to stay within the european union or not.

polls change all the time and flexural -- and fluctuate. they may vote for staying in the eu, they see the benefit, on the other hand, we get polls that voters will decide to leave the u.k. so a lot to watch out for and in a current minutes, let's was out to see if ed miliband does indeed, as we expect, resign. molly: all right, bénédicte paviot reporting there from london. we are waiting to hear from labor leader ed miliband. of course his party so far has taken in 229 seats, and has won roughly 31% of the vote, but the major stories that they went down from 40 seats in scotland down to just one the region there being the labor, being wiped pretty much cleaned by the snp, the scottish national party making major gains.

we are waiting to hear from the labor leader to see if he will follow clague and and then -- the labor party leader to see if he will follow nick clegg and resign. they did win 56 out of 59 the snp. you see nicola sturgeon speaking earlier. i will bring in "france 24's" european editor christopher beck. this is different from a long run up to yesterday's vote. it has turned things down a net. >> absolutely. it is a bizarre election. 44 hours ago talking about these results, it would have looked like coming out of a science fiction movie, to be honest, because nobody had predicted nobody, not a single polling station had predicted that mr. cameron would win an outright

majority, and that seems to be the case today. he is missing technically one seed but we know he already de facto command a majority in the british parliament. what is also quite striking is that mr. cameron will have claimed three leaders' scalps in a way. we are waiting to see what mr. miliband will do, but i think it is a foregone conclusion that he will resign after the very poor showing of the labour party. i am saying this because as you know, nick clegg, the leader of the leadib dems, has resigned, and nigel farage, who failed to win his seat in kent, as said he will resign as well. we know that he might be running again in september, but his party is bruised by defeat. he only got one seat. having said that, let's make no mistake, ukip is still an

important player. if you look at the votes, they are the third largest party in britain, but because of britain's electorate system, the constituency went the seat, all others are wasted. he only got one seat. that is because, as we see across britain, their support is very spread out. they are doing well, but they'll may came first in one constituency, so ukip is still there. the two big challenges is that mr. cameron will face, all he has now a majority in parliament, it is first, as we heard, the in-out referendum. molly: for the eu in terms of -- christophe: for the eu, it was a very risky gamble, of course, and we have no guarantee that mr. cameron will win this

referendum. we are still not clear what mr. cameron wants to achieve because he says he wants a better deal with europe, but he never really laid out what he wants to achieve specifically. i'm not sure to what extent france hollande -- i am not sure what to what extent francois hollande and angela merkel are willing to reach out. what we said earlier's what we see in scotland where the scottish national party got an absolute landslide with 56 seats out of 59, and of that is of course going to pose a great challenge to mr. cameron. how do you keep the united kingdom united when you see that scotland is pushing for more devolution, more powers? molly: that is something we heard from the leader of the snp , nicola sturgeon, that this vote is for the snp and not for scottish independence. she looks like she is likely to try to get as much from westminster as possible.

as we can see from the images, we do have labor leader ed miliband speaking. let's listen in. >> [cheers and applause] ed miliband: thank you for your kindness, friends. friends, this is not the speech i wanted to get today. i believe that britain needed a labour government. i still do, but the public voted otherwise last night. earlier today i rang david cameron to congratulate him. i take absolute and total response ability for the

results and the defeat of this election. i am so sorry for all of those colleagues who lost their seats and bulls, jim murphy, margaret, alexander, and all of the mp's and candidates who were defeated. they are friends colleagues, and standardbearers for our party. they always have been, and they always will be. [applause] i also want to congratulate all of my candidates who were elected yesterday and who will help take our party forward as well. [applause]

i want to thank those people who ran our campaign. it was the most united cohesive, and enjoyable campaign i have ever been involved in. i want to thank mr. alexander lucy powell, mr. liverm ore, and most upwardly, all of you, the incredible team of the labour party. [applause] and i also today want to thank the incredible team of labour party members activists and all those people who pounded the streets over the last few months. [cheers and applause] friends, britain needs a strong

labour party. britain needs a labour party back and rebuild after this defeat so we can have a government that stands up for working people again. and now it is time for someone to take forward leadership of this party. so i'm tendering my resignation taking effect after this afternoon's commemoration. i want to do so straightaway because the party needs to have an open and honest debate about a right way forward without constraint. let me say, harriet harman is the best deputy leader anyone could hope for. i worked for her more than 20 years ago, i am proud to have had her as my deputy for my term in leadership. [applause]

she will take over until a new leader is elected. for me, i am looking forward to reacquainting myself with just being -- but before i do, i want to say a few things for suffers of all, thank you to the british people, t white to the people -- thank you to the people he met me on train stations, workplaces, and schools will stop for sharing your thoughts with me. i have learned enormously from you. it has been a privilege. thank you for the selfies thank you for the support, and thank you for the most unlikely cult of the 21st century, and nearly fandom. [cheers and applause]

second, i want to address those who voted labour yesterday -- today you will feel disappointed, even bleak but while we may have lost the election, the argument of our campaign will not go away. the issue of our unequal country will not go away. this is the challenge of our time, the fight goes on, and whoever is our new leader, i know labour will keep making the case for a country that works for working people once again. [cheers and applause] third, i believe in our united kingdom, not just because it is our country, but because it is the best way of serving the working people of our country. you know i believe there is more that unites us than divides

us across the whole united kingdom, and all of us in the months and years ahead must rise to the challenge of keeping our country together. [applause] finally, i want to say something to my party. thank you to you. thank you for the privilege. i joined this party age 17. i never believed i would lead it. it has been incredible from workers rights to the minimum wage. no other party in british politics can boast these achievements, yet it will be a force for progress and change once again. to all of the labour party members, you are the most loyal supporters, amazing people. i thank all of you today for

some i'm truly sorry i did not succeed. i have done my best for these years. now you need to show your responsibility. your responsibility, not simply to mourn our defeat but to pick yourself up and continue the fight. we have come back before, and this party will come back again! [cheers and applause] and if i may, i think everyone in our party, conduct this leadership election with the same decency, stability, and comradeship that we believe is the way the country should be run. i believe i have taught a culture for this party an

ability to have disagreements without being disagreeable. i hope everyone will keep this in mind in the months ahead. finally come i want to say this -- the course of roberts and social justice is never simple or for straightforward -- the force of progress and social justice is never simple or straightforward. it never take no for an answer they keep demanding change -- this is my fate. when we see in justice, we must tackle it. in a couple of hours, i will no longer be leading this hearty but you see for me, that has never been the only way to achieve change because i believe it is not simply leaders who make change, it is the people who make change happen. i will never give up on that idea. i will never give up on that cause. i will never give up on fighting for the britain i believe in. that faith will always be my faith. that fight will always be my fight. that cause will always be my cause. and i will always be there in

that cause with all of you. thank you very much. [cheers and applause] molly: there we have it. labour party leader ed miliband will be party head for only a few more hours, as he announced he is resigning following his party's hit at the ballot box yesterday. we want to bring in kristof kristof -- christophe robeet again. christophe: absolutely, and we heard ed miliband say "i take full response ability for what happened," he said, "we need a contest, we need a new leader." he urged his supporters not to mourn this defeat but rather to look at the future and to build back what labour once was.

he said, "we will be back because we are a strong party." this was a very moving speech, of course. he started by saying, "this was not the kind of speech i was hoping to make today." remember, 24 hours ago, the odds were that mr. miliband could very well become the next prime minister of britain. that is not what happened. what is surprising election. he became the today the third casualty. as you know, nick clegg, the leader of the lib dems, resigned, and so did nigel farage the leader of the nt era, anti-immigration party. he resigned because he lost his seat, but we know that mr. farage might be back in the autumn. it is not the case with ed miliband. labour will be looking for a new leader, and there will be a lot of soul-searching as well because, as you know, the labour party won a landslide victory in

1997, and tony blair, the new labour, when the party managed to totally reinvent itself, as ed miliband tried to reposition this party more for the left but we solve it failed. the next thing that we really have to test the water and see how this party can once again become the largest party in britain, and the biggest challenge, of course, will be scotland. how do you win back the vote in scotland? let me remind you that the map in scotland used to be almost entirely red. today, the snp the scottish national party controls 56 seats out of 59 in scotland, and labour only got one seat. molly: that is impressive, impressive change. christophe: robeet thank you for that analysis. we are going to take a look at

the markets and business will suffer that come i'm joined in the newsroom by kate moody. how are you seeing things going? kate: i am seeing a surprising boost in the market and a pound of particular, surging since it emerged about the u.k. would not be facing a hung parliament, the british currency spiking nearly 2% overnight. for more on that, we will go directly to jane foley in london senior currency strategist at probably. jane, thank you for taking the time to speak to us. the boost in british currency was that expected as the result came in, and is it likely to be a one-day phenomenon or the start of a new trend? jane: if you look back, it had been straightened steadily strengthening. it had been politically growing in the last few days, and we have seen that's reflected, and this is a bit of a relief rally. the markets of course to not like uncertainty. we thought we would face negotiations, instead, we have a

majority market, so this result is the best one for the markets but if you look ahead to the new government, we know it will be a government that is going to push through more austerity. we know that from the last budget. from that, we can expect potential growth. it could mean interest rates in the bank of england stayed low for longer, and that could have somewhat of a depressive impact on sterling. of course with the ecb doing huge amounts of quantitative easing, i think sterling could gather some ground in the months ahead. kate: jane, let's talk about the business climate in london. there is a sense that the country has been growing less business friendly, if you will. will this affect those kinds of concerns? jane: it will, you're right the government is usually considered to be business friendly. but this conservative government will come with a big cloud

attached, and that is of course the relationship between the u.k. and the eu. prime minister cameron is of course for a referendum on the members of issue in 2017. for international investors, that will be a concern. if it does appear that the u.k. is moving toward and a fit of the system, we can see sterling down. the opinion polls going down and suggests that more of the u.k. wants to remain in the eu but the reputation is now tainted. kate: jane foley from rabobank, thank you so much for joining us from london. we are going to take a look at how the markets are doing midway through the trading day european market spiked, fears dissipated about a long,

protracted negotiation for a coalition government. you can see the london ftse is leading gains, up well over 1.7% paris cac and the frankfurt dax also around 1%. ç

aw. i just want to say a few things . i worked at the "l.a. times" for 30 years and -- so i know something about mainstream journalism. and i have a particular respect for chris hedges coming out of that environment, trying to work in these institutions, trying to maintain your integrity and up against everything from insufficientrable arrogance, bureaucracy, and timidity. and tunism. and it's really sort of been interesting to switch rules -- roles and be the editor of