The polls have closed and the results will soon start coming in. The exit poll appears to be predicting a hung parliament with Conservatives on top and a surprisingly low number of seats for the Lib Dems. Can this be trusted? Let us know your opinions!
22:45 First prediction for the night - Harriet Harman for Prime Minister?
22:55 First result in! Bridget Philippson (Labour) has taken a seat in Sunderland and is the first MP in the new Parliament.
23:10 Pictures of people queuing to vote after 10pm, and stories of people denied the chance because the polling stations were too slow - an interesting development
23:50 3 results now in from Sunderland - all have returned Labour candidates and the Tories have improved their results, but the range of the size of the swing suggests that each constituency result may vary considerably, and it would be unwise to draw too many conclusions from these early results
05:10 It's a new day and Ed Balls has just hung onto his seat, despite a big swing over 9%. The Conservatives are doing well but it looks unlikely they will hit the 326 target seats. It could be some while yet before we get a clear result...
05:40 The BBC are now predicting the Conservatives will gain 306 seats. Over the 300 marker but not enough to get a majority. Meanwhile the pattern of gains and losses continues to be mixed, with majorities varying widely between constituencies.
05:55 Caroline Lucas has become Britain's first Green MP, gaining the Brighton Pavilion seat.
06:00 Zac Goldsmith has gained Richmond Park from the Liberal Democrats. Meanwhile, Nick Griffin has failed to make headway in the Barking and Dagenham seat - indeed the Labour candidate has increased her majority.
06:45 It's breakfast time and there is still no clear result. Nick Clegg has finally had his result declared and has given little away so far on what his plans will be regarding a coalition. Clearly the Lib Dems are disappointed with their result, but the party will still wield great influence - his comments on the need for change suggest that electoral reform will be high on their list of demands, and possibly the removal of Gordon Brown...
06:55 Interesting article from the BBC on the history of hung parliaments, including the story of events in 1974, when Edward Heath hung on for 4 days before resigning in favour of Harold Wilson.
10:20 It's official - there are now not enough seats for the Conservatives to get a majority, so we will definitely have a hung parliament.
10:45 Nick Clegg is sticking to his view that the party with the most seats - the Conservatives - should SEEK to form a government - interesting.
