UK Election 2015: Tory and SNP landslide as Lib Dems and Labour take huge hit

Tories outperform election expectations, Mr Cameron may be able to govern without coalition partners - at the head of a minority administration or with a wafer-thin overall majority.

A clearly crestfallen Ed Miliband described the election as "very disappointing and difficult" for Labour, saying that "the next government" would have a huge responsibility to hold the United Kingdom together.

Mr Miliband made no comment about his own position as he left for Westminster, though senior figures including veteran former minister Jack Straw said he would have to "make up his mind about his future" as party leader.

As the SNP swept up one Labour stronghold after another - toppling the party's Scottish leader Jim Murphy and shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander and snatching the former constituency of ex-prime minister Mr Brown - the party's former leader Alex Salmond said there had been an "electoral tsunami" north of the border.

Mr Salmond, who returned to Parliament as MP for Gordon, said: "There's going to be a lion roaring tonight, a Scottish lion, and it's going to roar with a voice that no government of whatever political complexion is going to be able to ignore."

But the party was denied the clean sweep some had predicted north of the border, as the Liberal Democrats held Orkney and Shetland, Ian Murray held on to Edinburgh South for Labour, and David Mundell remained the only Tory MP in Scotland, holding on to Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale.

Mr Salmond, who returned to Parliament as MP for Gordon, said: "There's going to be a lion roaring tonight, a Scottish lion, and it's going to roar with a voice that no government of whatever political complexion is going to be able to ignore."

Read Alex Thomson blog: Feeling threatened? Insults fired at the SNP But the party was denied the clean sweep some had predicted north of the border, as the Liberal Democrats held Orkney and Shetland, Ian Murray held on to Edinburgh South for Labour, and David Mundell remained the only Tory MP in Scotland, holding on to Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale.

Conceding his own defeat in Morley & Outwood, Mr Balls - who might otherwise have been a contender to replace Mr Miliband - said: "Any personal disappointment I have at this result is as nothing compared to the sense of sorrow I have at the result Labour has achieved across the UK ... and the sense of concern I have about the future."

Mr Balls predicted five years of public spending cuts and threats to the NHS, as well as questions about Britain's position in Europe and the future of the Union.

Liberal Democrats suffered painful reversals in what Mr Clegg termed a "cruel and punishing" night, with senior figures including Business Secretary Vince Cable, Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander, Energy Secretary Ed Davey and justice minister Simon Hughes ejected from the Commons by voters.

Mr Clegg held on to his seat of Sheffield Hallam, but appeared set to stand down as leader, saying he would speak to party colleagues "about the implications of this election, both for the country and the party I lead and for my position in the Liberal Democrats" on his return to Westminster later this morning.

Source: Channel4.com

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