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Election results - live: Corbyn under mounting pressure to quit as Boris Johnson tours north to celebrate victory

Follow all the latest developments

Adam Forrest,Lizzy Buchan
Saturday 14 December 2019 18:00 GMT
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We are the servants' Boris Johnson greets new MPs in Sedgeway after general election win

Boris Johnson has told traditional Labour voters who helped him win an 80-seat majority at the general election he would “repay your trust” during a visit to Tony Blair’s old constituency of Sedgefield.

It comes as Jeremy Corbyn faces fresh calls to stand down as Labour leader immediately, with David Blunkett condemning his “ultra-left wing sect of losers”. John McDonnell said he will not be part of the future shadow cabinet, stating: “I’ve done my bit … we’ll all go now.”

There were several arrests as hundreds of protesters came out onto the streets of the capital in the wake of Mr Johnson’s election victory, chanting “not my prime minister” and “defy Tory rule”.

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Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live post coverage of the general election’s aftermath, after the Tories won a Commons majority of 80 – the party’s biggest victory since 1987.

Adam Forrest14 December 2019 07:33
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PM heads north to mark ‘stonking mandate’

Boris Johnson will meet with newly-elected Conservative MPs in the north as part of a celebratory victory lap after winning a “stonking mandate” at the general election.

The PM secured an 80-seat majority and many of his gains came in Labour’s heartland areas across the North and the Midlands.

Some areas, such as Bishop Auckland in the North East, had never elected a Tory MP before Thursday.

Johnson, speaking outside No 10, said he would “work round the clock” to repay the trust of those who “voted for us for the first time” – including those whose “pencils may have wavered over the ballot and who heard the voices of their parents and their grandparents whispering anxiously in their ears”,

Johnson will make the first move to show newly-elected MPs that the concerns of their constituents will be heard with a visit on Saturday to some of those who overturned a Labour majority.

In a victory speech on Friday, Johnson recognised that there were concerns away from Brexit and, in a possible nod towards Labour voter concerns, confirmed he would prioritise the NHS.

“I believe - in fact, I know because I heard it loud and clear from every corner of the country – that the overwhelming priority of the British people now is that we should focus, above all, on the NHS, that beautiful idea that represents the best of our country,” he said.

Boris Johnson in Uxbridge for his election count (Getty) 

Adam Forrest14 December 2019 07:43
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‘Not my prime minister’ protesters march in London against PM

Hundreds of protesters came out onto the streets of the capital in the wake of Boris Johnson’s election victory. A heavy police presence was seen close to the Cenotaph in Whitehall, which was cordoned off as clashes broke out.

Demonstrators carrying placards with the slogans “No to Boris Johnson” and “Defy Tory Rule” cried out “Oh Jeremy Corbyn” and let off red smoke flares during angry protests. Some chanted “Boris Johnson: Not My Prime Minister” and “Boris, Boris, Boris: Out, Out, Out".

They travelled down Whitehall before moving towards Millbank and Horseferry Road. Others walked from outside Johnson’s Downing Street residence to Trafalgar Square and on to the theatre district, blocking traffic and drawing a heavy police presence.

Police were overheard shouting “box them in” as they tried to contain the crowds with a cordon. The Metropolitan Police confirmed two people were arrested in relation to the protest.

Anti-Tory protesters face off against police in Westminster (AP) 

Adam Forrest14 December 2019 07:52
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Boris Johnson wants ‘healing to begin’

The prime minister deployed a conciliatory tone to reach out across the political divide in his first address after cementing his landslide electoral victory.

Johnson attempted to bring former Labour voters and Remain supporters into the fold while lauding the NHS as a symbol of “the best of our country”.

Promising his “one nation” government would embrace the feelings of “warmth and sympathy” felt by remain voters towards the other nations of Europe while still “getting Brexit done”, he said: “Now is the moment, precisely as we leave the EU, to let those natural feelings find renewed expression in building a new partnership.

“I frankly urge everyone on either side of what are, after three and a half years, increasingly arid argument, I urge everyone to find closure and to let the healing begin.”

Adam Forrest14 December 2019 07:54
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Labour voters ‘defected over Corbyn, not Brexit,’ poll shows

More voters turned against Labour because of Jeremy Corbyn than Brexit, according a poll looking at the reasons behind the party’s crushing election defeat. 

Pollsters Opinium found that among 2017 Labour voters, 37 per cent of them cited the leadership of the party as their main reason. 

Only 21 per cent said they defected due to the party’s stance on EU membership while just six per cent said their main reason was Labour’s economic policies.

Of all respondents who said they did not vote for Labour, 43 per cent said their main reason was the leadership. A further 17 per cent placed blame with the triangulation on Brexit and 12 per cent of the economic policies put forward in Labour’s manifesto. 

More details here:

Adam Forrest14 December 2019 07:59
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Sadiq Khan tells Corbyn: ‘Stand down quickly’

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has said Jeremy Corbyn must stand down “quickly” as Labour leader in the wake of the party’s worst result of the post-war era.

Describing the poll as a “catastrophe” for the party, Khan said for the fourth time in a row Labour had “failed” to put forward a compelling case to the British public.

“The Labour Party will have to change fundamentally in order to rise to these challenges and confront the new political reality we face,” he said.

“Jeremy Corbyn has said he will stand down, and this simply must now happen quickly. But the changes we have to make will not end with his leadership.”

It follows harsh criticism of Corbyn by senior figures in the party, including former Labour home secretaries, Alan Johnson and David Blunkett and a slew of defeated Labour candidates.

Adam Forrest14 December 2019 08:04
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McCluskey blames Remainers for Labour defeat

Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite, said he believes the drift away from Labour began during the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown periods but was accelerated when the party went through a “slow motion collapse into the arms of the People’s Vote campaign”.

This alienated Labour heartland seats with “bluntly, more coalfield communities to lose than Canterburys to win”, he said.

Writing for the Huffington Post website, McCluskey urged the party to grasp that the cause of the defeat was “staring us in the face” and that it lay with too many in the party failing to accept the democratic vote to leave the European Union of 2016.

McCluskey said he accepts there were other failings in the campaign, citing both the “incontinent rush of policies” and the failure to apologise for antisemitism in the party.

He said his main argument was that too many in the party failed to accept the appeal of the Tories’ “get Brexit done” message to Leave voters who felt frustrated by parliament.

He added that this was compounded by shadow cabinet members vowing to back Remain in any second referendum, “totally undermining” Labour’s message that it would negotiate a credible Leave option to put to voters.

Len McCluskey outside the BBC in central London (PA) 

Adam Forrest14 December 2019 08:13
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Britain should align with EU regulations for good deal, says MEP

Belgian MEP Philippe Lamberts – a member of the European parliament’s Brexit steering committee – said whether or not the Tories can achieve a political declaration with zero tariffs on goods between the UK and the EU “depends on whether the Tory Party is, again, able to face up to its own contradictions”.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Lamberts said: “They want the deepest possible access to the European single market, yet they want to undercut significantly EU legislation, and you can’t have both.

“So either you want total regulatory freedom and you do whatever you like - and if you want to undercut EU legislation then you do it, but then you lose access. Or you want access and you have basically to remain aligned with EU legislation, that will be the decision that Boris Johnson will need to make.”

He added: “If the United Kingdom wants to retain full access, including for services, that will have the adverse consequence that it has to remain aligned to EU legislation in services as well, and I understand that some in the Government would want to deviate from that quite significantly.”

Adam Forrest14 December 2019 08:24
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Trade deal with EU can be done in 2020, says ex-No 10 advisor

Raoul Ruparel, former prime minister Theresa May’s special adviser on Europe, said an agreement with the EU can be done next year, but may be limited in ambition due to the short time frame.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “I think it is possible to get a free trade agreement in place that looks at quite standard provisions on level playing fields, such as the type that the EU have done with other countries, and also offers zero tariffs.

“But I think what it’s harder to do, is what Philippe Lamberts was alluding to, is removing the regulatory barriers and the checks behind the border which would require some level of alignment of rules.

“And I think at the moment, despite his large majority, I don’t think that’s the sort of deal that Boris Johnson envisages, and it's something that he's consistently fought against.”

On whether there is a prospect that the UK could leave without an agreement, he said: “I think it is possible to get something done in the next year but I think it does limit, the short time frame does limit the level of ambition potentially, because you would be looking at a narrower and shallower deal that you might have otherwise envisaged given the speed needed.”

Adam Forrest14 December 2019 08:26
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‘You had your chance and you fluffed it,’ Blunkett tells Corbynistas

The former Labour home secretary David Blunkett has blamed the party’s devastating defeat on Jeremy Corbyn and “ultra-left wing sect of losers”.

Blunkett, stating that an interim leader should take over in the short-term, said neither Corbyn nor his “cult-like followers” should try to put forward “another Corbyn” in the leadership contest that follows.

In a piece for The Daily Mail, the New Labour-era figure wrote: “The rump of the Corbynista cult within parliament itself should be clear in no uncertain terms that putting up another ‘Corbyn’, either male or female, is not acceptable.

“You have had your chance and you have fluffed it. You have made the offer to the British people and they have rejected it.”

Adam Forrest14 December 2019 08:54

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