LABOUR'S REACTION AS EXPLOSIVE EXIT POLL PREDICTS HUGE MAJORITY

• Sir Keir Starmer is predicted to become Prime Minister with a majority of 170 
• Follow MailOnline's live blog covering tonight's general election updates here 

Senior Labour figures reacted with happy tears and cheers as news broke that the party is set for a huge landslide general election victory - with Wes Streeting breaking down and Andy Burnham celebrating like a football fan.

Mr Streeting, lined up to be the country's new Health Secretary, 'welled up' as the exit poll was revealed at 1pm - tipping Sir Keir Starmer's party for a majority of 170.

And Greater Manchester mayor Mr Burnham, a former Health Secretary himself, punched their air and appeared lost for words on Sky News before eventually exclaiming: 'It's brilliant.'

But Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner was more cautious when interviewed on BBC News about the poll figures, saying she was 'not counting her chickens'. 

Sir Keir's projected majority would be just short of Sir Tony Blair's 179 in 1997, while Rishi Sunak's Conservatives are expected to win just 131 seats - 234 down from their general election victory under Boris Johnson five years ago.

The Liberal Democrats are predicted to make 50 gains, reaching 61 MPs, with Reform winning 13 seats and the SNP slumping from 

The BBC's chief political correspondent Henry Zefferman said: 'I’ve just watched Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, as he saw the exit poll announced in our Westminster studio.

'His eyes welled up with tears as Rachel Burden said the words "Labour landslide".'

Meanwhile, Mr Burnham hoisted his arms in the air as the figures were announced on Sky News where he was a studio guest alongside former Scottish Conservatives leader Baroness Ruth Davidson.

He also closed his eyes and held his hands together in front of his face in a praying motion, as he gasped in gleeful astonishment at the numbers. 

Former Labour cabinet minister Lord Mandelson, one of the key figures behind Sir Tony's 1997 landslide, tonight said he was 'gobsmacked' by the exit poll.

He noted Ms Rayner's caution but told the BBC: 'I'm allowed to be a little bit more gobsmacked. I think that an electoral meteor has now struck planet Earth.

'In a sense it's not surprising given everything the country's gone through over the last 10 years.

'I think it would have required Superman as leader of the Conservative Party to lead them back to some sort of victory and Mr Sunak is not Superman, but I would have to say this: this is an extraordinary achievement for Keir Starmer and his team.

'Nobody in 2019, nobody would have imagined this was possible and they and the team and all the people who've won this campaign deserve absolutely every piece of credit that's coming their way.'

Ms Rayner later told Sky News voters were voters were punishing the Conservatives for the last 14 years.

She described the exit poll as encouraging but stressed the results were not yet in.

She added: 'Keir has done a tremendous job in transforming the Labour Party and putting forward a programme for government that the country can get behind.

'After 14 years of the chaos and the scandals and the decline we have seen under Tories, I think they are getting punished for that - that's pretty clear in the polls as well.'

Sir Keir gave his first statement after the exit poll was revealed with a post on X, formerly Twitter, in which he said: 'To everyone who has campaigned for Labour in this election, to everyone who voted for us and put their trust in our changed Labour Party - thank you.'

The exit survey, run for broadcasters by polling guru Sir John Curtice, is not guaranteed to be exact, it has accurately reflected the outcome in recent elections.

Less than an hour before the exit poll dropped, Downing Street released a dissolution honours list - sending seven Tories and eight Labour politicians to the Lords.

They include Theresa May, Rishi Sunak's chief aide Liam Booth-Smith, Chris Grayling and former 1922 committee chair Graham Brady. 

Among Sir Keir's nominations for peerages are Blair-era Foreign Secretary Dame Margaret Beckett, as well as veteran Labour MPs Harriet Harman, Dame Margaret Hodge and Kevan Jones.

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2024-07-04T22:29:10Z dg43tfdfdgfd